ACIT5920 Master's Thesis, Phase 2 Emneplan

No formal requirements over and above the admission requirements.

ACIT5910 Phase 1 must have been passed before the student can start work with Phase 2.

A student who has completed this course should have the following learning outcomes, defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

On successful completion of this course the student:

• has specialized knowledge on the specific areas of their Master thesis
• understands that scientific writing is a process of both constructing and communicating meaning.
• understands the structures and conventions of methods and results chapters of a thesis.

Skills

On successful completion of this course the student can:

• plan and carry out limited research or development projects
• identify types and scopes of results which are required to ensure the claims and conclusions are scientifically valid
• reflect on the decisions made and their consequences for the project
• produce effective methods and results chapters which conform to disciplinary conventions and the program's formal requirements.
• effectively draft and revise their work

General competence

On successful completion of this course the student can:

• execute projects according to a defined project plan
• execute rojects on the basis of a problem statement and defined research questions
• perform comprehensive independent study
• apply the methods and results-reporting skills to other academic writing situations, such as the writing of academic research articles.

• Online course material for preparatory reading (flipped classroom approach)
• Lectures
• Group tutorials with live demonstrations
• Group exercises applying tools and techniques for attack, testing and defense
• Home assignments (written and practical, e.g. attacking or securing virtual machines)

• Blue-Red-team competitions in defender and attacker roles

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• Five assignments composed of the following: search for information, find vulnerabilities in virtual servers, scan/attack virtual machines, find attack patterns, competitive exercises (capture the flag, red-blue-teaming). Assignments may need presence or collaboration with other students on campus.
• Participation in a round of hacking or defense-attack competition and a written report based on the activity

An individual written portfolio consisting of five assignments based on activities undertaken in the course. Each of the assignments has a word limit of 1000 words (+/- 10%), or 7 minutes (+/- 1 minute) for video or audio submissions.

The portfolio is assessed as a whole and given one single grade, but all assignments must be passed in order for the portfolio to receive a grade E or higher.

All assignments in the portfolio must be written in either English or a Scandinavian language.

The exam can be appealed.

All aids are permitted, provided the rules for plagiarism and source referencing are complied with.

A-F

Two internal examiners. External examiners are used regularly.

Lothar Fritsch