Cyber Security Executive MBA

This module provides you with a conceptual framework of finance in order to understand the underlying theoretical reasoning behind financial reporting and economic decision making in practice. It aims to provide you with a degree of economic and financial literacy sufficient for you to interpret and make use of both published and internally generated financial information and understand the decision-making process involving financial information.

At the most fundamental level managers should possess a high level of competence in the use of financial information whether it is information generated for internal consumption such as cost or budgeting information or published financial and economic information of suppliers, customers, competitors or the manager’s own organisation. This course aims to treat the principal topics and issues in finance and economics that are of concern to the general manager and to all those needing to make decisions, especially those that may make the organisation vulnerable to cyber risks.

This module seeks to provide the core technological grounding needed for managers and leaders to have proactive conversations with technical staff to achieve the overall business aims. Although this module has a technology focus, it assumes no technological background and provides an easily accessible way into the technological aspects of cyber security. The module will take you through all the key foundational elements and capstone this with elements of current research to provide you with a breadth of technological knowledge ready to tackle the challenges of cyber security management and leadership.

You will participate in two practical challenges, drawn from real-world situations, which require you to synthesise the disciplinary knowledge base you have gained through the previous modules. There will be no specific taught component to this module the focus is on integrating the knowledge and skills gained in the taught element of the programme.

You will work in groups with each group member allocated a role within the organisation. For each challenge, teams will be given a cyber security scenario collectively to manage. They will have decisions to make for the safety of their own organisation while managing the overall aims and objectives of the organisation. Key methods and models have already been delivered through the preceding modules. You will need to apply the models through multi-disciplinary, integrative practice. You will take part in challenges at suitable points throughout the first year of the programme to consolidate your learning.

Security Operations and Incident Management (SOIM) has developed into a mature process, deployed in many environments; from the early adopters of ICT-intensive sectors such as telecoms and banking and now penetrating all sectors as they become increasingly reliant on digital technology. SOIM can be considered as the ability for organisations to respond to, learn from, and adapt to incidents. This module covers the fundamentals of SOIM and the ways it can be incorporated into organisational structures, process and culture. It will cover the core technology, processes and architectures, focusing on approaches to monitoring and detection of incidents.

The module will provide you with a solid foundation in the fundamental principles of cyber risk assessment, management and governance, whilst expanding on these domains to cover the knowledge required to gain a working understanding of the topic and its sub-areas. You will learn about the relationship between risk and today’s interconnected, digital, business environment, and explore why effective risk assessment and management is needed to support the communication of risk concepts and values within organisations.

The module describes different perspectives on cyber risk assessment – from individual assets, to whole-system goals and objectives, and covers common risk assessment methods and highlights their uses and limitations. The module will cover features of good risk measurement (and metrics), how to measure risk, why to measure risk, and how these concepts impact risk assessment and management.

The main educational aim of the module is to improve your understanding of operations management and marketing and their joint contribution to the success of an organisation. The key integrating role of operations as the connection between strategy and the delivery of a product or service to a customer is discussed. Issues of process design, planning and control and capacity management are explored as well as the influence on the effectiveness of the operational and marketing functions of the nature of a task, the resource availability and process and quality management. In addition, performance improvement and the experience of customer as critical aspects of organisational are reviewed. The tools and concepts that will be covered in this course will be applied to specific cyber security contexts and problems.

The main educational aim of this module is to provide you with a critical and practical understanding of the complexities involved in leading in a cyber security context. To accomplish this, you will learn how individuals learn to lead and develop an understanding of what it takes to lead responsibly and inclusively in consideration of economic, social and environmental factors. You will gain knowledge and understanding of key issues such as leadership learning, leading change, and ethical, spiritual, servant, and authentic leadership.

You will develop key skills that will enable you to understand your purpose as a leader, define a vision from this purpose, and develop the character you feel necessary to lead in an inclusive manner. Specifically, you will explore the unique challenges of leading in uncertain and highly changeable contexts as it relates to cyber security and literacy. Knowledge of the changing nature of managing and leading within this context is vital for sustainable organisational success.