COIT20283 - Human Factors in Cyber Security

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Cyber security is often perceived as a largely technical domain. However, in this unit you will focus on the roles humans have in creating and defending against threats. You will gain an understanding of human vulnerabilities and motivations and learn how behaviours can be modified. You will examine the history and evolution of attacks and threat actors. You will learn about the role cyber security has in the current geopolitical environment and gain an understanding of the broad socio-political implications of cyber attacks.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level Not Applicable
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band 8
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

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Residential School No Residential School

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Higher Education Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2024

There are no Higher Education availabilities for this unit on or after Term 1 - 2024
Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Portfolio 100%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

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Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Contrast human-centric vulnerabilities and behaviours that weaken cyber security
  2. Appraise behaviour modification strategies and their effectiveness in minimising and mitigating attack vectors
  3. Profile sources of cyber attacks and differentiate motives and typical attack vectors
  4. Review the evolution of cyber security threats and their impacts on society and the geopolitical environment.

The Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) defines skills and competencies of ICT professionals. SFIA is used internationally in job descriptions, role profiles and to describe graduate outcomes. This unit contributes to the following workplace skills as defined by SFIA 7 (the SFIA code is included):

  • Information security (SCTY)
  • User research (URCH)

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Portfolio • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Advanced Level
• Professional Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Knowledge • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Advanced Level
• Professional Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8