COMP1002
Cyber Security & Networks
20 CREDIT MODULE
ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework W1: 30% Set Exercises
W2: 70% Report
MODULE AIMS
• To familiarise students with fundamentals of information security and networking.
• To develop an understanding of security threats, vulnerabilities and countermeasures.
• To understand common network protocols and design common network infrastructures.
ASSESSED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ALO):
1. Describe the types of risk that may threaten an IT system and available countermeasures.
2. Explain the conceptual underpinnings of computer networking architecture, protocol, and application.
3. Explain the nature and role of networking and security protocols/controls and how they combine to provide system-level objectives.
Overview
This document contains all the necessary information pertaining to the assessment of COMP1002 Cyber Security & Networks. The module is assessed via 100% coursework, across two elements: 30% Set Exercises and 70% Report.
The sections that follow will detail the assessment tasks that are to be undertaken. The submission and expected feedback dates are presented in Table 1. All assessments are to be submitted electronically via the respective DLE module pages before the stated deadlines.
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Submission Deadline
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Feedback
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Set Exercises (30%)
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Monday 3 March 2025, 3pm
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31 March 2025
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Report (70%)
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Tuesday 6 May 2025, 3pm
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4 June 2025
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Table 1: Assessment Deadlines
All assessments will be introduced in class to provide further clarity over what is expected and how you can access support and formative feedback prior to submission. Whilst the assessment information is provided at the start of the module, it is not necessarily expected you will start this immediately - as you will often not have sufficient understanding of the topic. The module leader will provide guidance in this respect.
Assessment 1: Set Exercises
Task:
The Set Exercises task in this module is focused upon answering two questions. Both questions carry equal marks.
Scenario: NHS is seeking to improve their patient data management system and internal networking infrastructure. Recently, The Times Health Commission has published ten recommendations to address the areas the NHS is struggling with. One of them is to create digital health accounts for patients, called patient passports, accessed through the NHS app to book appointments, order prescriptions, view records, test results or referral letters and contact clinicians. It would track a patient’s records for life, allowing any GP, NHS hospital, pharmacy or social care agency to access information.
1. Cyber security - Develop an attack tree (at least 10 leaf nodes) in which the root node represents disclosure of patients’ sensitive information. The tree may contain both AND and OR nodes.
2. Networking – When healthcare providers access patient records from the central database, they often experience delays. These delays may impact the decision-making process when accessing data-intensive files such as medical imaging (assuming the delay problem is network-related and not due to database server performance) . In such scenarios, the transport protocol must match the requirements brought in by the sensitive nature of patient data and the increasing reliance on telemedicine and digital health records.
a) Discuss, in a short paragraph (maximum 10 lines), which transport protocol should be used to build the communication between the healthcare provider and database.
b) Analyse the impact of the file size and the number of intermediate devices on the end- to-end delay in the examples below.
i. A central database A is directly connected to a healthcare provider B, by a single link of rate R bps. The distance between the two hosts is m meters and the propagation speed along the link is s m/s. Host A sends a packet of size L bits to Host B. Ignoring processing and queuing delays, write a mathematical expression for the end-to-end delay. Briefly explain how you derived the mathematical expression.
ii. Consider sending a large file of F bits from the central database A to a healthcare
provider B. There are two links and one intermediate node C between A and B. The distance between A and C is different from the distance between C and B. Neglect queueing and processing delays. Host A segments the file into segments of S bits each. Assume that F/S is an integer. Host A adds h bits of header to each segment forming packets of size h+S each. As soon as host C receives a segment, it will directly forward it to B. Each link has a transmission rate of R bps. Find the mathematical expression of the end-to-end delay in sending the file. Briefly explain how you derived the mathematical expression.
iii. The same large file of F bits is sent from the central database A to the Healthcare provider B. Suppose now that there are q intermediate devices, equally distant, between A and B. Find the mathematical expression of the end-to-end delay in sending the file. Briefly explain how to derive the mathematical expression.