Cyber Security

Cyber Security covers the range of threats to systems, malware, social engineering, and the technical and human measures used to detect and prevent attacks, including penetration testing.

The unit divides into technical threats and human ones, and students consistently underestimate the second. Attackers target people because it is easier than defeating well-designed protections, and no firewall stops a user who gives away their password voluntarily — which is why staff training belongs in any answer about prevention. Malware types need distinguishing precisely: a virus needs a user action to spread while a worm does not, and that difference is examined directly. Penetration testing requires permission, and saying so matters, since the same actions without it are an offence under the Computer Misuse Act.