Cyber Security-2025/2026
| Level 1 | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
Group 1 | ||||
| INFO-1218 | Operating Syst Fundamentals for Security | 3 | ||
| This course will introduce the student to the fundamentals common to operating systems. The system architecture of privilege ring levels to provide security protection of kernel level programs from user level operations will be discussed. How the OS handles hardware and software resources including program execution, interrupts and memory management for standard input and standard output operation will be examined. The basic implementation of both Windows and Linux operating systems will be presented with hands on activities. | ||||
| INFO-1220 | Networking Fundamentals for Security | 5 | ||
| This course provide students with a comprehensive overview of the concepts to build the foundations to implement secure practices on networks. The OSI and TCP/IP network communication models will be examined for network communication with special emphasis on Layers 2, 3 and 4. Students will examine the operation of networking devices and networking protocols and discuss the security issues of those protocols. | ||||
| INFO-1279 | Programming Fundamentals for Security | 4 | ||
| This course introduces the fundamental principles of procedural programming using the programming language C, with an emphasis on problem solving strategies. The course will introduce a variety of programming concepts and best practices for designing, implementing and deploying secure programs. | ||||
| INFO-1222 | Database Fundamentals for Security | 3 | ||
| This course introduces the student to the concept of relational databases. Using MySQL, emphasis will be placed on designing a database, while considering normalization. Students will learn how to maintain a database using basic SQL syntax, creating advanced queries and stored procedures. Steps will be introduced to secure a database. | ||||
| PHIL-1019 | Ethics | 3 | ||
| This course provides an overview of the nature of ethics by examining a wide range of issues that arise in the realm of cyber technology as well as other, broader social and ethical concerns that confront society today. Students will study traditional ethical theories, examine the foundations of a moral system, and learn how to formulate sound arguments in order to effectively debate moral issues. The course will also explore the nature of our moral obligations as members of our communities and profession. | ||||
| SRTY-1021 | Cyber Security | 3 | ||
| Cyber security is the protection of IT systems from damage or threats as well as disruption and misdirection of services. This course will provide students with an understanding of the main concepts and principles of cybersecurity including CIA (confidentiality, integrity and availability). Students will explore the common vulnerabilities in computer and network systems and understand current defenses. The methodology hackers use to exploit these systems will also be examined. | ||||
Group 2 | ||||
| TAKE WRIT-1043 OR WRIT-1034 | ||||
| WRIT-1043 | Reason & Writing 1 for IT | 3 | ||
| This course will introduce information technology students to essential principles of reading, writing, and reasoning at the postsecondary level. Students will identify, summarize, analyze, and evaluate multiple short readings and write persuasive response essays to develop their vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and critical thinking. | ||||
| WRIT-1034 | Reason & Writing 1-EAP | 4 | ||
| This course will introduce students whose first language is not English to essential principles of reading, writing, and reasoning at the postsecondary level. Students will identify, summarize, analyze, and evaluate multiple short readings and write persuasive response essays to develop their vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and critical thinking. Special attention will also be paid to developing academic vocabulary, correcting common ESL errors, enhancing academic listening and note-taking skills, and improving oral fluency and confidence. | ||||
| Level 2 | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| CRIM-1036 | Cybercrime | 3 | ||
| This course introduces students to the legal and social issues related to cybercrime. Students will explore the origins of cybercrime, the evolution of threats, and the motivations and methods involved in cybercrime. Students will develop an understanding of the digital environment, hacker subculture, cyber stalking, and data theft. | ||||
| INFO-1207 | Network Components | 4 | ||
| A comprehensive overview of the concepts and operation of networking equipment in enterprise networks. Concentrating on the principles of switching and routing and the protocols involved. Topics will include Ethernet, STP, VLANs, 802.1q, IP protocol, and routing protocols. Switch and router security measures are employed throughout the course. | ||||
| INFO-3175 | Scripting for Web Security | 3 | ||
| This course is designed to give students an overview of scripting languages used for implementing web sites. The students will learn the syntax and structural elements of PHP and JavaScript, needed to develop secure web sites, and understand both server and client-side security vulnerabilities, exploits and attacks. | ||||
| INFO-1209 | Cryptography & Authentication Systems | 3 | ||
| Introduction to modern cryptography with an emphasis on public key encryption, digital signatures, certificate and key management and basic protocols. Students will explore methods of protecting data by looking at how cryptography has evolved over the centuries to the complex methods of today. | ||||
| INFO-1210 | Securing Linux | 4 | ||
| This course builds on the basics of the Unix operating system. Students will learn the core utilities to work productively in a Linux environment and develop command line skills. Topics will include shell scripts, managing permissions, process management and network applications & services with an emphasis on the system-related security issues. | ||||
| INFO-1212 | Securing Windows Systems | 3 | ||
| Windows is still the most widely used operating system in business today, and, consequently, it is a major target to security attacks. Students will be able to recognize and understand the common vulnerabilities of Windows systems through the use of various tools and techniques to decrease and control these threats. The course also introduces defense strategies and techniques through a better understanding of system file permissions, group policies, Windows registry, PowerShell, active directory and malware prevention. | ||||
| SRTY-3008 | Security Management | 3 | ||
| The objective of Security Management is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of an organization's information, data and IT services. This course will concentrate on developing and implementing IT security strategies and methods. The necessary skills to identify and evaluate security management systems will also be provided. Students will prepare and determine how risk can be measured and managed. | ||||
| Level 3 | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| COMM-3077 | Communications for IT | 3 | ||
| This course, designed for students who plan to work in the field of information technology, focuses on professional written communication skills. Students learn to prepare a variety of work-related documents. In addition, students learn about research methods and documentation formats. The principles of effective writing organization, grammar, style, clarity and tone are reinforced throughout the course. The goal of the course is to prepare students for the communication tasks and considerations they will encounter in the workplace. | ||||
| COOP-1020 | Co-operative Education Employment Prep | 1 | ||
| This workshop will provide an overview of the Co-operative Education consultants and students' roles and responsibilities as well as the Co-operative Education Policy. It will provide students with employment preparatory skills specifically related to co-operative education work assignments and will prepare students for their work term. | ||||
| INFO-3127 | Network Protocols | 3 | ||
| Protocols are the backbone of networking and are formal sets of rules that dictate the ways in which computers communicate with one another over a network medium. This course will provide students with a detailed understanding of the protocols used in network communication. Students will explore the service definitions and analyze the protocols at each of the layers of the OSI and TCP/IP models. The implications of adding security mechanisms to high-level network protocols operating in an open-system environment are analyzed. | ||||
| INFO-3128 | Scripting for Security | 3 | ||
| In this course students will use a variety of tools and frameworks to write scripts that would handle common and repetitive tasks and system administration tasks such as managing files, services or security controls. Students will also write scripts for test automation and batch processes. | ||||
| SRTY-3004 | Web Security 1 | 3 | ||
| Students will learn about the security threats, software vulnerabilities, and hacker attacks that are commonly implemented against commercial applications, including SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting, and session hijacking. Students will also learn how to design and administer web services and applications using collaborative web tools and content management software. | ||||
| SRTY-3013 | Security Mechanisms | 4 | ||
| This course will investigate key concepts in the analysis of network traffic through deep packet inspection. Traditional perimeter defense systems such as firewalls, VPNs and Intrusion Prevention systems will be examined as well as the implementation of endpoint security systems. | ||||
| SRTY-3007 | Auditing & Security Controls | 3 | ||
| A primary security focus is the safeguards implemented to protect businesses and their assets, but it is imperative to determine if those protective measures are actually working. This course will concentrate on the concepts of auditing, controls and security in an IT environment. | ||||
| SRTY-3014 | Penetration Testing | 3 | ||
| This course examines the legal issues involving ethical hacking to test corporate defense systems. The critical phases of an attack - scanning, enumeration, foot- printing, and social engineering will be explored. Students will also be introduced to the latest ethical hacking tools and techniques to test corporate security systems. | ||||
| Level 4 | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| COMM-1127 | Technical Writing & Presentation | 3 | ||
| Students will be expected to apply academic conventions and proper citation in the writing and presentation of appropriate documentation. Effective team building and communication in a culturally diverse and international environment will also be explored. | ||||
| CRIM-3001 | Criminology | 3 | ||
| This course introduces students to the study of crime and delinquency within a Canadian context. Topics included for study are: the making of laws, the elements of crime, crime statistics, correlates and theories of crime, specific forms of crime and strategies for crime control. | ||||
| INFO-3126 | Wireless & Mobile | 3 | ||
| This course will examine the risks and vulnerabilities in the use of wireless and mobile networks. Students will implement and actively manage the security configuration of wireless and mobile devices in order to prevent attackers from exploiting vulnerable services and settings. | ||||
| INFO-3129 | Network Security Monitoring | 4 | ||
| This course will explore the components of a log collection system as well as log file management and optimization of the log review process through the correlation of events and real time alerts. Students will explore how to introduce and manage change in a controlled and coordinated manner. | ||||
| INFO-3131 | Evolving Technologies & Threats | 3 | ||
| This course will provide an understanding of the developing changes to technology and threats that impact modern networks. Students will examine the evolution of these technologies and study how these advancements may alter the security and the potential impact to the integrity and availability of the data of an organization. | ||||
| SRTY-3009 | Computational Intelligence for Security | 3 | ||
| Security intelligence is the real-time collection and analysis of data, generated by users and applications used to learn and understand about constantly evolving security threat. This course will introduce the student to cognitive systems that interpret data, add to their base of knowledge, and help you take action based on consideration of relevant variables. | ||||
| SRTY-5008 | Web Security 2 | 4 | ||
| Students will build on concepts and techniques introduced in the Web Security course in order to enhance security on servers that handle email and web applications. Socket programming and browser exploitation methods will also be explored. | ||||
| Level 5 | ||||
| Gen Ed - Take a 3 credit General Education elective course. | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| INFO-5118 | Perimeter Defence & Design | 4 | ||
| This course will further examine the principle of perimeter security as introduced in the Security Mechanisms course. Hands on implementation of security appliance products will provide an in depth examination of perimeter security solutions. | ||||
| INFO-5119 | Attack Vectors & Analysis | 3 | ||
| Students will analyze and investigate the various techniques hackers use to gain access to corporate data and bypass security measures. This course will examine a variety of real-life case studies that include study attack data and analysis of threats. | ||||
| SRTY-5011 | Incident Response & Digital Forensics | 3 | ||
| This course will cover implementing incident and digital forensics management techniques to investigate and report security breaches and incidents. Students will learn effective responses to security incidents, digital forensic techniques, and proper evidence acquisition and handling through hard drive examination and network-based evidence. | ||||
| INFO-5127 | Windows Security-Adv | 3 | ||
| This course will concentrate on managing network users and clients with active directory services and end point security solutions. | ||||
| INFO-5149 | Linux Security-Adv | 4 | ||
| This advanced course builds on existing Linux skillsets. Students will study security challenges of the Linux operating system and learn how to protect against those weaknesses. This course will focus on mitigating the risk of Linux systems being attacked or compromised. | ||||
| Level 6 | ||||
| Gen Ed - Take a 3 credit General Education elective course. | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| SRTY-5012 | Research for Security | 4 | ||
| Students will apply the theoretical and practical skills gained throughout the program to a research project that addresses a specific cyber security issue. Students will explore current cybersecurity research trends and apply various aspects of the research cycle to develop a project proposal that meets current industry needs. | ||||
| INFO-5150 | Secure Network Architecture | 4 | ||
| Students will apply the various security solutions learned over the course of the program to develop and deploy a security Infrastructure based on a theoretical corporate scenario. This course will incorporate planning policies with offensive and defensive techniques to defend a network from all threats. | ||||
| SRTY-5013 | Integrated Project | 4 | ||
| In this course students will participate in creating environments for an organization's specific training, exercise, or research needs through automated user and traffic simulation software. These projects will be based on real-world security scenarios identified in consultation with the Cyber Range team. | ||||
| SRTY-5005 | Penetration Testing-Adv | 4 | ||
| Student will acquire in-depth knowledge of attack vectors. Using an environment in which to perform these attacks as part of numerous hands-on scenarios. The methodology of a given attack is discussed to find significant flaws in a target environment and demonstrate the business risk associated with these flaws. | ||||
| SRTY-5006 | Malware Analysis & Response | 4 | ||
| This course will examine the behaviour of a program to provide deeper insight into attacker tools and tactics and key characteristics of malware present on compromised systems. Concepts of reverse engineering and behavioural and code analysis will be used to analyze the malware attack lifecycle from the initial exploit. | ||||
| Gen Ed - Electives | ||||
| Take 6 General Education credits - Normally taken in Levels 5 and 6 | ||||
| Program Residency | ||||
| Students Must Complete a Minimum of 34 credits in this program at Fanshawe College to meet the Program Residency requirement and graduate from this program | ||||