SWITZERLAND DIGITAL THINKING GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Postgraduate / MSc Pathways Programme Code 209 Cybersecurity & Digital Trust

MSc in Cybersecurity

An applied Swiss-inspired curriculum combining algorithmic rigour, systems architecture, digital trust and practical engineering capability for modern technology leaders.

Duration 2 Years (4 Semesters)
Curriculum Model Postgraduate Degree Candidate
Delivery Mode Full-Time / Hybrid Delivery
Next Intakes October & February
CURRICULUM ARCHITECTURE

Academic Overview & Learning Objectives

The MSc in Cybersecurity at Brookfield School of Computing is engineered to provide deep competency across core computer science, systems design, and targeted domain applications. Students develop fluency in software craftsmanship, distributed architectures, algorithm optimization, and data governance.

Instruction balances rigorous theoretical foundations with practical code repositories, laboratory simulations, and ethical technology review aligned with modern international computing standards.

Modular code development & test coverage
Secure systems design & vulnerability mitigation
Distributed computing & cloud orchestration
Ethical technology & algorithmic transparency
MODULAR SYLLABUS

Curriculum Structure by Academic Section

Semester 1
9 Modules
Code Module Title Type Discipline & Learning Outcome
SEC711 Advanced Cryptographic Protocols & Applied Cryptanalysis in Cybersecurity Theory Evaluate post-quantum lattice cryptography, elliptic curve pairings, zero-knowledge proofs and timing attacks.
SEC712 Advanced Penetration Testing & Binary Exploitation Lab Practical Execute return-oriented programming (ROP), heap exploitation, format string bugs and bypass ASLR/NX defenses.
SEC713 Adversary Modeling, MITRE ATT&CK & Cyber Threat Intelligence Theory Model advanced persistent threat (APT) actor playbooks, diamond model campaign analysis and TTP taxonomy.
SEC714 Kernel Internals, Rootkit Analysis & Memory Defense Lab Practical Inspect Windows/Linux kernel data structures, hook system calls and analyze ring-0 kernel driver vulnerabilities.
SEC715 Zero-Trust Architecture & Identity Federation Engineering Theory Architect enterprise zero-trust perimeters, SPIFFE/SPIRE workload identities and passwordless FIDO2/WebAuthn.
SEC716 Enterprise Network Defense, Zeek & Threat Hunting Lab Practical Deploy Zeek protocol analysis, Suricata IDS clusters and hunt for covert adversary command-and-control channels.
SEC717 Empirical Research Methods in Information Assurance & Cyber Security Theory Design empirical honeypot telemetry experiments, vulnerability measurement studies and statistical incident models.
SEC718 DevSecOps Pipeline Security & Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Hardening Practical Automate Terraform security linting (tfsec), container runtime defense (Falco) and secrets scanning in CI/CD.
SEC719 Swiss & Global Cyber Law, Privacy Regulations & Critical Infrastructure Theory Analyze Swiss NIS guidelines, critical infrastructure protection mandates, GDPR compliance and cyber fraud law.
Semester 2
9 Modules
Code Module Title Type Discipline & Learning Outcome
SEC721 Cloud-Native Security Architecture & Microservices Hardening Theory Analyze Kubernetes attack surfaces, container escapes, IAM privilege escalation vectors and service mesh security.
SEC722 Cloud Security Posture Management & Red Teaming Workshop Practical Simulate AWS/Azure multi-cloud compromise scenarios, exploit misconfigured S3/IAM and remediate posture drift.
SEC723 Advanced Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR) Lifecycles Theory Coordinate enterprise breach investigations, volatile memory acquisition, timeline reconstruction and anti-forensics triage.
SEC724 Volatile Memory Forensics & Enterprise Triage Studio (Volatility) Practical Analyze large enterprise memory dumps to detect code injection, reflective DLL loading and rootkit persistence.
SEC725 Malware Reverse Engineering & Dynamic Behavioral Analysis Theory Deconstruct modern malware evasion techniques, API hashing, anti-debugging tricks and dynamic unpacking.
SEC726 Ghidra Reverse Engineering & Malware Disassembly Workshop Practical Reverse engineer obfuscated ransomware binaries in Ghidra, decrypt config payloads and extract IOC indicators.
SEC727 Enterprise Cyber Risk Quantification & Security Economics (FAIR) Theory Apply Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) models, Monte Carlo loss calculations and security ROI metrics.
SEC728 SOC Engineering, SIEM Analytics & SOAR Automation Lab Practical Develop automated incident response playbooks in SOAR tools (Cortex/Shuffle) triggered by SIEM alerts.
SEC729 Collaborative Enterprise Red-Team vs Blue-Team Simulation Practical Participate in live enterprise attack-and-defense cyber range simulations defending critical infrastructure in Cybersecurity.
Semester 3
9 Modules
Code Module Title Type Discipline & Learning Outcome
SEC731 Frontiers in Cyber Defense: AI-Driven Security & Post-Quantum Cryptography Theory Critically assess neural network malware evasion, automated vulnerability discovery and NIST post-quantum standards.
SEC732 Post-Quantum Cryptographic Implementation & Migration Lab Practical Implement CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithium algorithms and migrate legacy TLS infrastructure to post-quantum suites.
SEC733 Strategic CISO Leadership, Governance & Crisis Management Theory Prepare board-level cyber risk presentations, crisis communication protocols and regulatory breach notifications.
SEC734 Automated Vulnerability Research & Fuzz Testing Lab (AFL++) Practical Construct coverage-guided fuzzing campaigns using AFL++ to uncover zero-day memory corruption bugs.
SEC735 Industrial Control Systems (ICS/SCADA) & IoT Security Architecture Theory Analyze Modbus, DNP3, OPC-UA protocol security, Purdue model boundaries and physical process cyber attacks.
SEC736 MSc Cybersecurity Thesis Proposal Colloquium & Defense Practical Formulate and defend a formal scientific master's research proposal specifying empirical security testbeds.
SEC737 Commercialization of Security Products, Bug Bounties & Venture Capital Theory Examine commercial cybersecurity startup ecosystems, responsible disclosure coordination and venture funding.
SEC738 Pre-Thesis Security Artifact Prototype & Testbed Lab Practical Build the initial defensive security prototype or automated analysis engine supporting the master's dissertation.
SEC739 Real-World Penetration Testing & Threat Assessment Practicum Practical Conduct an authorized comprehensive security assessment of production-grade systems in Cybersecurity.
Semester 4
9 Modules
Code Module Title Type Discipline & Learning Outcome
SEC741 MSc Cybersecurity Dissertation: Research Methodology & Threat Modeling Practical Formulate the formal adversary model, experimental cyber range setup and baseline metrics in Cybersecurity.
SEC742 MSc Cybersecurity Dissertation: Security Artifact Engineering & Defense Design Practical Engineer the complete security platform, automated defense mechanism or analysis system in Cybersecurity.
SEC743 MSc Cybersecurity Dissertation: Empirical Verification & Adversarial Stress Testing Practical Execute rigorous penetration benchmarks, red-team attacks and statistical efficacy evaluations.
SEC744 Critical Literature Synthesis & State-of-the-Art Analysis in Cybersecurity Theory Synthesize academic publications from IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, ACM CCS and NDSS conferences.
SEC745 Scalability Benchmarking, Telemetry Hardening & Audit Lab Practical Subject the dissertation artifact to large-scale network traffic loads and automated security audits.
SEC746 Scientific Manuscript Preparation & Peer Review in Cybersecurity Theory Author a conference-ready scientific manuscript conforming to top-tier cyber security symposium standards.
SEC747 Strategic Technology Leadership & Executive Advisory in Cybersecurity Theory Translate technical cybersecurity research findings into executive risk mitigation strategies for leadership.
SEC748 Comprehensive Security Portfolio & Reproducible Testbed Delivery Practical Package reproducible virtual cyber range environments, exploit proof-of-concepts and mitigation scripts in Cybersecurity.
SEC749 MSc Cybersecurity Thesis Oral Defense & Public Academic Examination Practical Defend the novel scientific thesis and defensive security prototype before an academic examination committee.
Pathway Snapshot
  • Target Award Private Master of Science Candidate
  • Study Level Postgraduate / MSc Pathways
  • Language English
  • Delivery Full-Time / Hybrid Delivery
Eligibility Guidelines

Recognized Bachelor Degree in computing, engineering, mathematics, quantitative discipline or relevant technical equivalence. English proficiency IELTS 6.5+ or equivalent.

Institutional Disclosure

Brookfield School of Computing is an independent private education institution in formation. Academic programmes, entry requirements, fees and awards are subject to institutional review and applicable Swiss legal regulations.