Overview

This unit is designed to introduce students to the ICT profession and the ethical, legal, and professional obligations required in the cybersecurity field. Topics covered include an introduction to cyber security roles in the industry, cyber threat modeling, the importance of secure software and network security, secure software design processes, common pitfalls in security deployment for cyber engineers, and compliance with ethical standards, laws, and governance.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Develop an understanding of the ethical and socio-technical challenges faced by ICT professionals, including human factors, accessibility, and usability
  • Evaluate the impact of standards, codes of conduct, and legislative/regulatory obligations on the professionalism within the ICT industry
  • Review the roles and responsibilities of ICT professionals, including cyber security teams, within organizations and society
  • Understand the importance of secure software and network systems, along with cyber threat modeling
  • Develop an understanding of secure software development processes, service management, and the pitfalls of security deployment for cyber engineers

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Lecture
1.00  12 weeks  12
On-campus
Class
1.00  12 weeks  12
Online
Lecture
1.00 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Activities
Various
9.50  12 weeks  114
TOTAL     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Assignment 1 Individual  20 - 30%  1,3,4
Assignment 2 Individual 20 - 30% 2,3,5
Online Tests Individual 40 - 60% 1,2,3,4,5

Content

  • Codes of Ethics
  • Teamwork concepts and issues, and cyber roles
  • Importance of software and network security
  • Societal issues/legal issues/privacy
  • Understanding the ICT profession
  • IT governance and organisational issues
  • IT project management
  • Systems acquisition
  • Threat Modelling
  • Secure software development 
  • Pitfalls of security deployments

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.