Our MSc in Cyber Security, Privacy and Trust now fully certified by the National Cyber Security Centre

The programme, launched in 2019, delivers intellectual and practical experience in all aspects of cyber security, privacy, and trust: dealing with real-world applications; applying and extending state of the art defence mechanisms; engineering end-to-end secure and trustworthy systems; communicating results through oral and written reports.  

Our societies are critically dependent on computer software. Electronic systems are everywhere, and governments, financial and transport organisations, or telecommunication companies all possess and manage huge amounts of sensitive information concerning all of our everyday activities. 

With the emergence of new systems and services, every aspect of our life is relying on / is recorded by some computerised system, such as electronic IDs and passports; electronic payment systems and loyalty schemes; electronic tickets and telecommunication systems. 

As such, we have been witnessing a significant increase in attacks targeting computing infrastructure.  

Cyber security and privacy is the study of the computational principles, methods and mechanisms for safe-guarding these sensitive applications. Graduates of the programme will learn how to evaluate, design, and implement secure and trustworthy systems in complex distributed systems. 

Many research areas have tackled parts of this problem – students on this degree will experience training from academic experts in a uniquely broad combination of theory and practice: secure software, cryptography, secure hardware, verification, post quantum, data privacy, usability, fintech, health, smart contracts, distributed ledgers and privacy preserving data mining. 

The teaching team of the MSc in Cyber Security, Privacy and Trust is lined up with world class researchers and educators.  

The Security, Privacy and Trust group in the School of Informatics is the largest grouping in the field in the UK, with 18 academic staff and 15 affiliated staff from around the University. Students will be welcome to attend monthly security seminar series hold by the group, featuring world experts in the field. 

Students will benefit from direct access to expertise, events and network of further groupings within the University, such as the Blockchain Lab led by Professor Aggelos Kiayias which aims at studying all aspects of distributed ledger technology. The University of Edinburgh is also home to the Bayes Centre innovation hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. The Bayes Centre occupies a building neighbouring Informatics Forum and has numerous links with the School. 

The University has been recognised by the NCSC as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research in 2017, in acknowledgment of its critical mass in leading edge cyber security research. This recognition was recently renewed for another 5 years.