Bachelor of Cyber Security (BCS)

    Programme Background and Rationale

    Cyber security is one of today’s most critical emerging disciplines in the field of computing. It involves technology, people, information, and processes to enable assured operations in the context of adversaries. It is crucial to Information Systems (ISS) due to the need to protect information and devices housing essential data and to plan safeguards and backup plans against potential attacks.

    Globally, individuals within and outside the organization are most likely to pose a threat. It is critical to have the right safeguards in place and to keep staff alert through cyber security experts, whether it is cyber criminals attacking the organization maliciously with phishing emails, malware, ransom ware, or social engineering attacks – or it is employees “accidentally” deleting crucial data.

    East Africa has one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, and the world. This has increased the digital infrastructure in the region, with the integration of fibre-optic cable, stronger satellite connections and faster broadband. The ICT sector has balooned as well as the number of people using the internet. This has unintentionally paved the way for cybercrime to prey on the opportunities presented in the internet market.

    In Somaliland, government agencies, Internet Service Providers (ISP), ICT Solutions companies, Telecom operators, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), critical infrastructure providers, academia, and citizens including Child Online Protection (COP) need help to solve the most critical cyber security issues. The Somaliland government needs to build its own internal capacity to be able to protect the national assets (data) and keep its integrity, and foster a culture of security, including cyber security for its citizens’ national security. In this new interconnected world, cyber security is a global challenge, security of everyone is intertwined. As Somaliland builds its own electronic government and digital ecosystems, there is opportunity to adopt approaches that are secure by design. This will increase trust in government platforms to deliver public services digitally to all corners of the country. It will also help boost investor confidence and create an environment conducive to developing homegrown talent, which, in turn, will be key to unlocking Somaliland’s potential to become a regional leader in the digital sector.

    Bachelor of Cyber Security programme focuses on developing graduates with strong digital defenses to keep organizations and clients’ data safe, monitor potential threats, perform routine security checks, develop software to identify and destroy malicious viruses, and advise organizations on best practices to keep data safe. The programme focuses on the assessment, evaluation and communication of key aspects of Information Systems/Information Technology as enablers of modern organisations, protection of corporate data, and customers’ personal information, in order to stay profitable and trustworthy. Therefore through this programme, Amoud University and the faculty of computing and informatics intends to produce highly skilled and relevant Cyber Security graduates, who are well endowed with the theories, skills and competencies in Data Security, Software Security, Component Security, Connection Security, System Security, Human Security, Organizational Security, Societal Security. This is in line with Amoud University’s vision and mission in that it is anchored on investing in information technology with a view to nurturing innovators.

    This programme has been developed in consonance with Competencies for Undergraduate Cyber security Curricula, ACM/IEEE-CS The Joint Task Force on Cyber security education, December 2017 (Web link: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3184594).

    Programme Objectives
    General Objective

    The general objective of this programme is to produce students who can assess, evaluate and communicate key security aspects of IT/IS as enablers of modern organizations and provide a risk-free and secure environment in which data, networks, and devices can be protected from cyber attacks to remain profitable and trustworthy.

    Specific Objectives

    By the end of the programme, students should possess the following characteristics:-

    1. Ability to implement confidentiality in organizations to prevent unauthorized disclosure of information through encryption, access control, authentication, authorization and physical security.
    2. Capacity to provide integrity for guaranteeing that data is real, correct, and protected against unauthorized user modification and assured integrity through backups, checksums and codes for data correction.
    3. Competence to ensure availability of information and data, and capacity to access and modify them in a timely manner through physical protection and computational redundancy.
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