Type: Unrestricted Elective Module
Difficulty: Normal
Workload: Mildly Heavy
Lecturer(s): Prof Yu Chien Siang & Prof Leung Ka Hin
Lecturer(s): Prof Yu Chien Siang & Prof Leung Ka Hin
Assessment: Midterm Presentation, 2 Tutorials, Individual Powerpoint Presentation, Group Project and CA1 & CA2
This module covered several topics on cybersecurity, but focused more on the mathematical side of cyber security as the module belonged to the Mathematics department. A similar module which I took later was CS2107 - Introduction to information security, which covered more or less the same topics, but focused on the applications of such techniques. On hindsight, I felt that CS2107 was more fun as we got to play around with spoofing and code injection techniques. However this module helped me understand the mechanics behind these techniques.
This module was an evening module, which meant that the lecture slots were conducted from 6pm - 9pm. As such, the lecture hall tend to be pretty empty as no students like to stay in school so late. There was, however, no webcast to this module.
Out of all the weekly 3h lectures, 70% of the lectures were conducted by Prof Yu who covered the theoretical portion and 30% of the lectures were conducted by Prof Leung who covered the mathematical portion of the module.
The theoretical lecture slides tend to be full of pictures, as the lecturer would explain the concepts verbally. In these lectures, you would not need to take notes, simply sit back and relax and just know the events / concepts which the lecturer mentions. Just make sure that you understand any technical jargon brought up, for example phishing, spear phishing, espionage, malware, trojan, keyloggers etc.
The mathematical portion of the module, on the other hand, is very important in this module. This is still a mathematics module after all. Though there are few lectures, these concepts are especially important. Prof Leung would go through concepts like how the various ciphers work, the mechanics behind RSA cryptography, modulus arithmetic etc. There will be a couple of tutorial questions for this part, and it is really important that you understand how to do all these tutorial questions. Due to the nature of this module, there are only a few types of (theoretical) questions they can ask you.
For this module, I mentioned that the workload is mildly heavy. This is because there were a couple of reports / presentations
However, this segment was purely for you to learn about a topic outside what was taught, hence it wasn't stressful at all. The presentations were held in a very casual setting, hence there is no need to wear formal at all. Just that the report writing and presentation preparation requires some time to prepare for.
CA1 and CA2 were conducted in the lecture theater. The test consists of a theoretical part (fill in the blanks style) and a mathematical part whereby you need to show your mathematical workings.
In summary, this module was not difficult at all, and it helped my gain a better understand of the mechanism behind cryptography. However if you are the more "hands-on" type of person, CS2107 will be a better module for you.
* A Hint: For the theoretical part, understand all the keywords. Know what these cybersecurity terms are and how they work. For the mathematical part, just know how to work out all the examples in the lecture notes and the tutorials and you will be fine.
This module covered several topics on cybersecurity, but focused more on the mathematical side of cyber security as the module belonged to the Mathematics department. A similar module which I took later was CS2107 - Introduction to information security, which covered more or less the same topics, but focused on the applications of such techniques. On hindsight, I felt that CS2107 was more fun as we got to play around with spoofing and code injection techniques. However this module helped me understand the mechanics behind these techniques.
This module was an evening module, which meant that the lecture slots were conducted from 6pm - 9pm. As such, the lecture hall tend to be pretty empty as no students like to stay in school so late. There was, however, no webcast to this module.
Out of all the weekly 3h lectures, 70% of the lectures were conducted by Prof Yu who covered the theoretical portion and 30% of the lectures were conducted by Prof Leung who covered the mathematical portion of the module.
The theoretical lecture slides tend to be full of pictures, as the lecturer would explain the concepts verbally. In these lectures, you would not need to take notes, simply sit back and relax and just know the events / concepts which the lecturer mentions. Just make sure that you understand any technical jargon brought up, for example phishing, spear phishing, espionage, malware, trojan, keyloggers etc.
The mathematical portion of the module, on the other hand, is very important in this module. This is still a mathematics module after all. Though there are few lectures, these concepts are especially important. Prof Leung would go through concepts like how the various ciphers work, the mechanics behind RSA cryptography, modulus arithmetic etc. There will be a couple of tutorial questions for this part, and it is really important that you understand how to do all these tutorial questions. Due to the nature of this module, there are only a few types of (theoretical) questions they can ask you.
For this module, I mentioned that the workload is mildly heavy. This is because there were a couple of reports / presentations
- 1 individual presentation
- 1 group presentation + report
However, this segment was purely for you to learn about a topic outside what was taught, hence it wasn't stressful at all. The presentations were held in a very casual setting, hence there is no need to wear formal at all. Just that the report writing and presentation preparation requires some time to prepare for.
CA1 and CA2 were conducted in the lecture theater. The test consists of a theoretical part (fill in the blanks style) and a mathematical part whereby you need to show your mathematical workings.
In summary, this module was not difficult at all, and it helped my gain a better understand of the mechanism behind cryptography. However if you are the more "hands-on" type of person, CS2107 will be a better module for you.
* A Hint: For the theoretical part, understand all the keywords. Know what these cybersecurity terms are and how they work. For the mathematical part, just know how to work out all the examples in the lecture notes and the tutorials and you will be fine.
Expected Grade: B+
Achieved Grade: B+
