Cyber Security (CSE)

Entry points, 1st year, Common Courses

Academic year 2023/2024

University of Rennes 1 (UR1)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Mohamed Sabt, mohamed.sabt@irisa.fr

FIRST SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (20 ECTS)ECTS
Introduction to Security5
Software Engineering and Security5
Operating Systems and Security5
Network Security5
Elective Courses 
I&E 
Introduction to Innovation and Business5
Knowledge and Intangible Assets Management5
Business Development Laboratory 15


SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (20 ECTS)ECTS
Algorithmics for Security5
Privacy5
System Security5
Software Security5
Elective Courses 
I&E  
Business Development Laboratory 25
Summer School4

University of Trento (UniTN)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Bruno Crispo, bruno.crispo@unitn.it

FIRST & SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (36 ECTS)ECTS
Introduction to Computer and Network Security6
Cryptography6
Software Security Testing6
Cyber Security Risk Assessment6
Network Security6
Privacy and IPR6
Advanced and Eligible Courses 
Machine Learning6
Data Hiding6
Formal Techniques for Crypto Protocol Analysis6
Laboratory on Offensive Technologies12
Finite Fields and Symmetric Cryptography6
Distributed Systems 26
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Courses 
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Basics (Economics and Management)6
Business Development Lab9
ICT Innovation - Product Design and Development6-9
I&E Studies6

University of Turku (UTU)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Dr Seppo Virtanen, seppo.virtanen@utu.fi

FIRST & SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (31 ECTS)ECTS
System and Application Security5
Network Infrastructure Technologies and Security5
Human Element in Information Security5
Management of Information System Security and IT Service6
Foundations of Cryptography5
Cryptography I5
Innovation and Entrepreneurship 
Introduction to Innovation and Business5
Business Development Laboratory7
Enterprise Architecture6
Business Management of Startups3
Summer School4
Elective Courses 
Selected together with student from available courses during personal study planning. 

University of Twente (UT)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Florian Hahn, f.w.hahn@utwente.nl  

FIRST SEMESTER

Compulsory Major Courses (15 ECTS)ECTS
Cyber Risk Management5
Security and Cryptography5
Software Security5
Compulsory I&E Courses (15 ECTS) 
I&E Basics: Innovation and Entrepreneurial Finance for EIT5
Business Development Lab I5
Computer Ethics5
Optional Courses 
Economics of Security5
System Validation (only in comb. w/ SeV, if needed)5
Basic Machine Learning (only in comb. w/ CDA, if needed)5
I&E: Brand Management5
I&E: Bioresource Business Development & Management5
Introduction to Biometrics5
Cyber Security Management5
Distributed Systems (only in comb. w/ BCT, if needed)5
I&E: Bioresource Supply Chain Management5

 

SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Major Courses (15 ECTS)ECTS
Internet Security5
Privacy-Enhancing Technologies5
System Security5
Compulsory I&E Courses (5 ECTS) 
Business Development Lab II5
Optional Courses 
Software Testing and Reverse Engineering5
Blockchain & Distr. Ledger Tech. (check w/ teacher if DiS req.)5
Security Verification (check w/ teacher if SyV req.)5
Cyber Crime Science5
I&E: Global Strategy and Business Development5
Cyber Data Analytics (check w/ teacher if MaL req.)5
E-Law5
Security Services for the Internet of Things5
I&E: Information Systems for the Financial Services Industry5
I&E: Empirical Methods for Designers5

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Dr. Peter Burcsi, bupe@inf.elte.hu

FIRST SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (16 ECTS)ECTS
Research Methodology5
Introduction to Computer Security6
Cryptography5
I&E (10 ECTS) 
I&E Basics6
Business Development Lab I.4


SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (20 ECTS)ECTS
Design and Analysis of Algorithms4
Network and System Security6
Information Security and Privacy6
Advanced Software Technology4
I&E (10 ECTS) 
Business Development Lab II.4
Innosocial Aspects of the Entrepreneurship6

Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Dr. Darius Bufnea, darius.bufnea@ubbcluj.ro, cyber-master@cs.ubbcluj.ro

FIRST SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (17 ECTS)ECTS
Cryptography7
Security Audit and Risk Management6
Computer Ethics and Academic Integrity4
I&E Compulsory Course (8 ECTS) 
Digital Economy Principles - I&E basics8
I&E Elective Courses (5 ECTS) 
Agile Project Management5
Strategic Business Process Automation5


SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (12 ECTS)ECTS
Web and Internet Security6
Quality Aspects of Security in Software Testing6
I&E Compulsory Courses (11 ECTS) 
Innovation Management - I&E Business Dev Lab7
(Thematic Project with Innovation Challenge) EIT Digital Summer School4
Elective Courses (7 ECTS) 
Network Security and Administration7
Blockchain Security7
Complex Networks in Security7

Exit points, 2nd year, Specialisation

Academic year 2024/2025

University of Trento (UniTN)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Bruno Crispo, bruno.crispo@unitn.it

SPECIALISATION: Applied Security

In recent years, the most popular computing and communications platforms have changed dramatically from old desktops and personal computers to a myriad of new devices, often embedded and personal. New devices used not only to navigate the web, send email and write document but rather to support pervasively most of the activity users perform during their everyday life. This revolution has touched private, business and governmental domains (e.g., industry 4.0, Internet of Things, critical infrastructures, smartphones, smart cities, etc.). This in turn has created entire new ecosystems that include technical, social and economic factors.

The specialisation Applied Security focuses on addressing security and privacy for these new ecosystems trying a holistic approach that does not focus only on technical issues. It covers the technological aspects such as investigating and experimenting new class of threats and vulnerabilities that apply to these new systems or designing user authentication mechanisms for devices were passwords cannot be an option. It also covers the economic aspects that are crucial to understand attackers, their motivations and the best defence strategy (i.e., When is worth patching a vulnerability? Which vulnerability is worth patching? Are economic-related questions rather than technical-related ones).

THIRD & FOURTH SEMESTER

Specialisation CoursesECTS
Multimedia Data Security6
Offensive Technologies12
Project course6
Research course12
Security Testing6
Distributed Systems 26
Privacy and Intellectual Property Rights6
Machine Learning6

University of Turku (UTU)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Dr Seppo Virtanen, seppo.virtanen@utu.fi

SPECIALISATION: Security of Networked Systems

The specialisation Security of Networked Systems focuses on researching cyber security technologies for networked systems and applications of the communication-intensive future. The technological topics covered include system and network security, security of communication systems and applications, and designing secure systems.

The goal of this specialisation is to give its students profound and substantial education and expertise in the field. Optional studies selected personally for each student build a special individual information security expertise profile. The curriculum consists of both theoretical and hands-on study modules. Also a large group project module called 'Capstone project' can be included in the studies.

The graduates of this specialisation will have strong technological, theoretical and practical understanding in security of networked systems. With their new knowledge and skills the graduates can proceed to building a successful career in securing the information and communication technology in the industry.

THIRD & FOURTH SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (15 ECTS)ECTS
Firewall and IPS Technology5
Security Engineering5
Protocol Processing and Security5
I&E (6 ECTS) 
I&E Study6
Elective Courses 
Communication Technologies and Security in IoT5
Capstone Project10
Cryptography 25
Algebraic Structures in Cryptography5
Privacy and Security for Software Systems5
Ethical Hacking5
Seminar 1 (TurkuSec meetings)1-5
In addition to the courses listed above, a variety of courses qualifying as elective studies are available annually. Electives are chosen individually for each student when their personal study plan is made. 


Dr Seppo Virtanen is Associate Professor of Cybersecurity Engineering at University of Turku, Finland. He is the Vice Head of the Department of Computing. Dr Virtanen received his MSc degree in Electronics and Information Technology in 1998 and DSc (Tech.) degree in Communication Systems in 2004 from the University of Turku. He serves regularly as a programme committee member and referee for international journals and conferences. Currently the focus in his research is on information security issues in the communication and network technology domain, specifically focusing on design and methodological aspects of reliable and secure communication systems and secure communication for IoT. He has acted as the supervisor or the examiner of 10 PhD theses, 135 Master’s theses and 35 Bachelor’s theses.

University of Twente (UT)

Programme website

Programme Leads: Dr Florian Hahn, f.w.hahn@utwente.nl, Dr Andreas Peter, a.peter@utwente.nl

SPECIALISATION: High Tech, Human Touch

Although cryptography has been around for quite some time, emerging concepts such as “Bring Your Own Technology”, the “Internet of Everything”, or 'Crypto Currencies' that increasingly exploit mobility and personalisation, put new requirements on security technologies; think about the e-cigarette USB-charger that infects a big corporation with malware. Today’s high diversity of Internet-connected systems and services led to a substantial increase of (new) cyber-attacks in the past years.

Such Internet-connected systems can be found in almost every domain, including critical infrastructures (e.g., water supply), as well as in large-scale services (e.g., hospitals) and embedded systems (e.g., in-car control systems). Notably, many risks for such systems are not solely technical but use the human factor as a characteristic element (e.g., through social engineering).

Our specialisation looks at the many risks in the above-mentioned settings and provides mitigations that can be used at design time and at operation time, while taking into account the specific requirements of the various systems and the impact that risks might have. As a distinguishing element, we include the 'human touch' in our attack analysis and mitigation techniques (e.g., replacing password-checks with biometric-verification or raising situational awareness to mitigate social engineering attacks).

Specialisation CoursesECTS
Secure Data Management5
Secure Cloud Computing5
Cloud Networking5
Introduction to Biometrics5
Economics of Security5
Cyber Risk Management5
Cyber Security Management5
System Validation5
Basic Machine Learning5
Advanced Machine Learning5
Security Verification5
Governance of Cybersecurity5
Distributed Systems5
Internet of Things5
Fundamental of Quantum Information4
Quantum Cryptography5
Computer Ethics5


The University of Twente (UT) holds the title of the most entrepreneurial university in Europe. As such, it has an extremely large network in industry that includes around 1000 university spin-offs (e.g., Booking.com was founded by a UT alumni). This provides excellent opportunities to connect to industry and access to a multitude of internship offers.

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Dr. Peter Burcsi, bupe@inf.elte.hu

SPECIALISATION: Advanced Cryptography

The specialisation focuses on the general ideas, techniques and methods of applied cryptography as well as on the theoretical background and solid knowledge, putting security in a wider context. Security and privacy are considered both from the technological and from the economical point of view, which supports decisions in many practical cases. Applied cryptography serves as a base for most of the secure IT-systems (e.g. in Future Media and Content Delivery, Smart Spaces, Digital cities, Health and ICT-Mediated Human Activity, and Enabling the Internet of the Future).

THIRD & FOURTH SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (24 ECTS)ECTS
Cyber Security Lab I.4
Advanced Cryptography6
Cryptographic Protocols6
Provably Secure Modular Design of Cryptographic Protocols6
Preparation course for master studies and developing learning skills (It can be substituted with any other technical CSE course)2
I&E (6 ECTS) 
I&E Study6


Peter Burcsi is an Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Computer Algebra at the Faculty of Informatics, ELTE - Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. His research areas are algorithms in elementary number theory and cryptography. He has participated in several security-related research and industrial projects at ELTE.

EURECOM

Programme website

Programme Leads: Prof. Philippe Benassi, Dr. Antonio Faonio, master-eit-cse@eurecom.fr

SPECIALISATION: Mobile and Cloud Security

The specialisation Mobile and Cloud Security focuses on mobile systems and the security and privacy issues thereof, with a strong focus on android based smartphones and wireless protocols.

THIRD & FOURTH SEMESTER

Semester 9 (30 ECTS)ECTS
UE Fundamentals EIT Digital Security (5 ECTS) 
Security and Privacy for Big Data and Cloud2.5
Multipary Computation and Blockchains2.5
Mobile Systems and Smartphone Security5
UE Electives EIT Digital Security (10 ECTS) 
Machine Learning and Intelligent5
Distributed Systems and Cloud Computing5
Mobile Communication Systems5
Mobile Application and Services5
UE I&E (6 ECTS) 
Innovation and Entrepreneurship EIT Digital (external course)6
UE Project (8 ECTS)8
UE Languages (1 ECTS)1


MASTER THESIS (30 ECTS)

Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Dr. Darius Bufnea: darius.bufnea@ubbcluj.ro, cyber-master@cs.ubbcluj.ro

SPECIALISATION: Software Security

The courses in the 2nd year will have a strong focus on knowledge about 'Software Security', which is also the specialisation of the exit year. Students will be able to take courses like: Advanced Software Security, Securing Mobile Applications, Program Analysis for Software Security, and Cloud Application and Infrastructure Security. These courses will address advanced topics such as: software quality models, security as a quality factor in software, security analysis and verification of software, design of security checking tools, cloud and mobile application security. The overall goal of this specialisation is for students to understand and assess different software security issues, in order to learn how to detect security vulnerabilities as soon as possible in the development cycle and to develop a more secure software from design to implementation.

This master’s programme offers a multiple perspective on the field of cyber security, addressing issues related to its various components: operating system security, network security, organisation and business process security, and, of course, security of the software itself.

THIRD SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (24 ECTS)ECTS
Advanced Software Security6
Securing Mobile Applications6
Program Analysis for Software Security6
Cloud Application and Infrastructure Security6
I&E Compulsory Course (6 ECTS) 
Entrepreneurship in IT - I&E Study6

 

FOURTH SEMESTER

(30 ECTS)ECTS
Internship in Specialisation20
Project in Cybersecurity6
Elaboration of the Dissertation Thesis4


The programme also has a strong emphasis on practical knowledge in the field of cyber security, the curricula being discussed with a number of companies that offer services and solutions in this field. Some of the students’ activities, such as the internship or the thematic projects, can be carried out in partnership with the partner companies/industry in the field. The latter have a strong local presence, the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, being known as a strong development hub in the field of IT&C.

Scroll up

Co-Funded by the European Union