MSc

Cyber Security, Risk and Resilience

Want to join the fight against the rapidly growing sophistication of cyber threats? Highly skilled cyber security graduates are in demand by both individuals and organisations to identify risks, respond to threats, and boost cyber resilience.

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Newport

  • Campus Code

    C

Fees

  • Home students

    £11,060*

  • International students

    £17,900*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Newport

  • Campus Code

    C

Fees

  • Home students

    £1,229*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
Make an Enquiry

We’ll empower you with the skills and knowledge to help organisations spot, tackle, and prepare for cybercrime. Through hands-on learning backed by the expertise of our staff, you’ll learn how to manage risk and build resilient security plans that keep operations running and threats under control.

Designed For

Looking to elevate your cyber security career? This course empowers you to lead cyber security risk identification and resilience efforts in a variety of sectors, including technology, automotive, engineering, business, and healthcare. Designed for students from non-technical backgrounds, it bridges the gap between professionals and senior leadership in cyber-focused organisations.

Career Paths

  • Server Security Officers
  • Penetration Testers
  • Cyber Risk Management
  • Project Management
  • Academia

Skills taught

  • Incident response and preparation
  • Risk identification
  • Planning and leadership skills
  • Presentation and communication skills
  • Analytical skills

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

A video thumbnail showing two students talking on a sofa with the text
A cyber security academic wearing a grey coat and a green lanyard talks to a student off camera while working at a desktop computer with a student in a red puffer jacket and large windows behind themin a cyber security workshop

Course Highlights

Cyber University of the Year Winners

Winners of Cyber University of the Year at the National Cyber Awards in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Organisational Links

Gain real-world experience through our close connections with police, law enforcement, and the private sector.

Industry-Leading Tools

Industry-leading cyber tools feature throughout the course, enhancing your learning experience.

Standards of Excellence

The first Welsh university awarded Gold Standard Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security, and one of only 13 in the UK.

Course Overview

Gain invaluable skills from our cyber security professionals to help tackle real-world problems and through projects with industry partners. Build your expertise as you dive into networking, digital leadership, incident response, and protecting critical infrastructure. Enhance your problem-solving and research skills as you complete an original dissertation that interests you.

Networking Technologies
Develop technical, practical, and theoretical skills and knowledge as you explore structures and architectures. Develop network solutions, based on international standards, using appropriate analysis and design techniques.

Leadership and transformational change in a digital era
Explore organisational change in the digital era, from an organisational and personal perspective, focusing on IT and cyber security processes. Develop problem-solving and analytical skills through discussions, case studies, and time-sensitive decision-making exercises.

Crisis and Operational Resilience
Build your knowledge of risk management, crisis management, and resilience when it comes to industrial security concerns and operational risks.

Protecting Critical National Infrastructure
Enhance your knowledge of protecting essential national infrastructure and assets by exploring Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), risk mitigation, resilience strategies, IoT devices, IoT security, and related threat mitigation techniques.

Legislation, Risk and Governance
This module aims to develop a critical understanding of UK and EU legislation and organisational responsibility in relation to Cyberspace and Information Technology.

Security Management and Incident Response
Develop advanced skills and knowledge of complex issues surrounding security management, operations and incident response. Demonstrate your understanding of the associated principles and practices through critical discussions, analysis and an incident response simulation.

MSc Dissertation Project
You will use your computing and research skills to investigate a topical and original award-relevant issue of your choice before producing a justified and informed solution.

Course Highlights

How you'll learn

You’ll learn in blocks of eight weeks, spending between 12-16 hours each week on lectures, tutorials, and practical sessions and around four hours per week on coursework, general reading, and other preparation. There are no exams, and you’ll be assessed on a dissertation project that will allow you to develop and demonstrate data collection, analysis and development management techniques.

You’ll enjoy practical workshops aligned to the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) and working on various projects with industry partners while looking at networking technologies, digital leadership, crisis and operational resilience, and critical national infrastructure protection.

 

Teaching staff

You will be taught using the latest tools and technology by our highly qualified academics. Our staff are backed by both academic qualifications and years of experience working in the cyber industry, including in banks and for the oil and gas sector. You’ll gain the very latest techniques from our cyber security professionals and industry partners – in practical workshops aligned to the NCSC’s Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK).

Facilities

Enjoy cutting-edge cyber facilities, including the latest technologies and software in our high-spec labs. You will learn using our Secure Operations Centre (SOC), our own dedicated cyber laboratories and Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) kit, and the Hydra suite – all of which allow students to experience and tackle cyber-attacks in an authentic, contained environment. 

You will also use our digital investigation lab, which is typical of those used in law enforcement and corporate organisations to analyse digital files and media in supporting corporate and criminal investigations. You can also expect industry engagement along with additional networking events to support your learning throughout the course.

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Our course will empower you with the skills and invaluable expertise you need to confidently progress in your career. The demand for cyber specialists continues to rise alongside the advancement of technology and the growing dependency of companies on the internet and computers.

Our graduates are ready for a variety of roles such as systems administrators, security penetration testers, information security consultants, information security analysts, and IT security coordinators. After you’ve graduated, you could also choose to pursue a route in academia through either a computing research degree or a PhD.

Careers support

As a USW student, you will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.

This includes one-to-one appointments from faculty-based Career Advisors, in person, over the phone, or even Teams and through email via the “Ask the Question” service. We also have extensive online resources for help with considering your career options and presenting yourself well to employers.

Our careers service has dedicated teams, including an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.

Industry Partners

We work closely with experts across the cyber security industry, enabling our students to gain real-world experience. You will be equipped with essential skills and knowledge through our close connections with the police, law enforcement and the private sector. Within the private sector, we have strong links with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Thales, Airbus, Cyber Wales, The Royal Mint, Bridewell, to name just a few. 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

This course is aimed at graduates with a minimum 2:2 Honours degree or equivalent who would like to broaden their existing knowledge and open up a new career path.

Applications from engineering, IT, science, mathematics or business graduates in particular are welcomed.

All entrants must have strong numeracy and IT skills.

If an applicant does not meet the desired entry criteria, an interview should be offered with the Course leader.

 

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£11,060

per year*
UK Full-time Fee

£11,060

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£17,900

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£17,900

per year*
UK Part-time Fee

£1,229

per 20 credits*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.

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Student Life
University of South Wales Newport Campus.
Newport Campus
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Accommodation

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Related Courses

Applied Cyber Security - MSc Learn more
Computing and Information Systems - MSc Learn more

Next Steps

How to Apply
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