Undergraduate Module Descriptor

SOC3129: Cybercrime

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

This module has two main aims. The first is to provide you with a broad understanding of the various forms of cybercrime; such as phishing scams, malware attacks, intellectual property theft, online sex crimes, disinformation, cyber-terrorism, and cyber-war. Developing your understanding of these different types of crime will also involve you gaining an understanding of how the internet works, the current and ever-changing legal frameworks concerning such online behaviours, and the different forms of cyber-criminals that exist and the different types of targets that their acts cause issues for, such as individuals, organisations, and nation states.

The second involves introducing you to some of the basic techniques used by both law enforcement agencies and the private sector in order to detect, investigate and prevent cyber-attacks. This will involve you learning about investigative tools pertaining to areas such as domain registration data, IP address data, and geolocation. This aspect of the module will be taught to you via practical lab-based sessions which will teach you some of the open source tools that are used by investigators in order to demonstrate how threat actors can be identified and their webs of connected holdings can be mapped for defensive (or offensive) purposes, and how these techniques have been used in high-profile cybercrime cases.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Demonstrate a good knowledge of cybercrime and related behaviours, their various forms, their wider implications, and methods used to investigate them 2. Develop a high level of confidence in the use of basic investigative tools and critically assess the data gained from them 3. Demonstrate a high level of computer literacy so as to understand the ramifications of cybercriminal behaviours
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. Critically reflect on the role and impact of cybercrime within the wider context of crime more generally 5. Demonstrate an understanding of the evolutionary arms race between new methods for committing crime and crime detection and investigation methods 6. Critically evaluate the impact on theoretical criminological models of increased, and diversified, internet-crimes and subsequent changes to law enforcement approaches
Personal and Key Skills	7. Demonstrate ability to work as part of a group on a joint project 8. Demonstrate written analytical skills by producing an essay and technical report to a deadline 9. Demonstrate the ability to present group-based work in a professional manner

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following themes:

Introduction: What is cybercrime? How do computers and the internet work? The deep and dark webs.
Challenges to law enforcement
Hacking and intellectual property theft
Fraud and Malware
Sex crimes and online harassment
Disinformation
Cyber-terrorism
Cyber-warfare
Digital forensics, examining forensic evidence, and legal challenges
Cybercrime, social theory, and the future of internet-based crimes and deterrents

Lectures will be complemented by practical lab-based sessions, which will focus on teaching basic open-source investigation tools that the students will use for their assignments and which will enable them to better understand law enforcement and private sector approaches to tackling cybercrime.

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
33	117

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	11	11 x one hour lectures
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	12	6 x two hour labs
Guided independent study	35	Course readings and other multi-media content
Guided independent study	25	Reading/research for essay
Guided independent study	59	Group work/research for technical report

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).