The cyber security landscape

Welcome to our course on the cyber security landscape, where we will explore cyber security management and look at the risks facing individuals and organisations.

Cyber attacks and threats are among the biggest challenges we face today. With advancement and transformation of our digital world, organisations need to focus on managing risks and reducing the cost of cyber crime.

In recent times, however, cyber attacks have become more specialised and criminals are focusing now on using deceptive techniques to target individuals. This growing trend of attack patterns have significant damages to an organisation that not only include financial losses and operational disruptions, but also significant reputational damage.

In the light of current regulations (eg the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation), these risks become particularly relevant for organisations that store financial, health or other personal information about an individual. Digital security risk management and strategies are therefore vital in aiding the readiness to detect, prevent, contain and respond to evolving threats in the digital environment.

Your journey here begins with the identification of some of the risks that you, as an individual, face and the organisation you work for. We will explore some of the key terminology used – such as phishing, ransomware, zero-day exploits or attacks – and find out what happens when cyber security fails.

This week

In the first week of this short course you will:

• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of security concepts and protocols and their application to contemporary internet- and mobile-based solutions and technologies.
• Critically evaluate the role of a security policy for protecting information assets and demonstrate self-direction in designing security policies to defend those assets within the context of global communication and the web.

This open course is the introductory two-week course for the program in Digital Security Risk that forms part of the online MBA Cyber Security from Coventry University.

Meet the team

Your lead educators are Rob Milford, lecturer in leadership at Coventry University, and Dr Anitha Chinnaswamy, senior lecturer in cyber security management at Coventry University.

You can follow your lead educators by selecting the link to their FutureLearn profile page and selecting ‘Follow’. That way, you’ll be able to see all the comments that they make.

Your task

Consider your home and work environment. What aspects are connected to the internet and what risks can you already identify?