Course search
2022 unit information
Unit delivery will be in line with the most current COVIDSafe health guidelines. We continue to tailor learning experiences for each unit to achieve the best possible mix of online and on-campus activities that successfully blend our approaches to learning, working and research. Please check your unit sites for announcements and updates.
Last updated: 4 March 2022
Nil
Students will on average spend 150 hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit.
2 x 1 hour online class per week, 1 x 1 hour workshop each week.
Online independent and collaborative learning including optional scheduled activities as detailed in the unit site.
The increased size of computer networks has led to the extensive generation of data collected for network defence. A need has arisen for security experts that understand how to build analytics that make use of this data in order to detect or prevent attacks. This unit will provide students with the fundamental tools to understand this area of cyber-security. Students will examine this challenge from multiple perspectives. The unit starts from the basics of building scripts to answer questions of large packet captures as a foundational skillset. Once students are comfortable working with large data sets, they will use this new skill to study several supervised machine learning approaches and apply them to real-world network datasets to build analytics that has been shown to be able to detect various malicious attacks. After becoming comfortable with supervised approaches, students will pivot to examining unsupervised methods for network defence, an important topic, since frequently there are insufficient available examples of malicious behaviour to train good models.
Finally students will study the ethical implications of dealing with large datasets that arise in these contexts by examining privacy attacks that have been developed against large datasets and their associated analytics. All these topics will be explored through scaffolded programming assignments designed to be challenging for a student of any level of programming or mathematical experience. At the end of the unit students will have a solid grounding in how modern analytics work and how they can be applied to network defence.
Scripting skills as they relate to large datasets that are encountered in cybersecurity, and the use of popular toolkits used to build analytics.
GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilitiesGLO3: Digital literacyGLO4: Critical thinkingGLO5: Problem solving
ULO2
Recognise and apply the relevant ethical, regulatory and governance constraints on organisations and professionals when dealing with data and analytics.
GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilitiesGLO4: Critical thinking
ULO3
Understanding the basics of supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms, including their basic mathematical underpinnings, and how they can be implemented using popular libraries.
GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilitiesGLO4: Critical thinkingGLO5: Problem solving
ULO4
Understand how analytics can be used to protect computer networks as well as what types of network defence data might be useful for building analytics. Explore what types of attacks have been successful mitigated by the current state of the art and where work still needs to be done.
ULO5
Understand the technical threats to privacy that may result from the use of analytics in cyber security.
These Unit Learning Outcomes are applicable for all teaching periods throughout the year
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
To be eligible to obtain a pass in this unit, students must meet certain milestones as part of the portfolio.
The texts and reading list for the unit can be found on the University Library via the link below: SIT719 Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Click on the fee link below which describes you:
