Online Masters in Security & Risk Management

This module lays the foundation for the rest of the course in two ways. Firstly, it introduces and allows you to practice a range of academic skills including assignment planning, critical reading and writing, and the all-important issue of referencing.  All of which are designed to help you achieve you very best across all assignment types. The module then moves on to introduce you to key themes and concepts relating to security and risk management, providing you with essential knowledge for the rest of the modules in the degree. The module also acts as a theoretical resource and presents a number of contemporary theoretical debates relating to risk. It looks at ways of measuring and managing risk and discusses these in terms of systems or organisations. It makes use of a series of case studies to bring these important themes to life. In addition to this it will give you the opportunity to ‘virtually’ meet with your Personal Tutor as well as your fellow students in a series of online events.

This module considers approaches to managing security, regulation and governance. It will encourage you to critically consider the extent to which the study of crime at work can inform the study of security and risk management.  It will allow you to examine the causes and patterns of offending and the types of environments in which victimisation occurs.  Having done so we will consider how this knowledge can be applied to improve how security and risk managers can respond to workplace offending. This application is considered through the different lenses of regulation, standards and governance allowing you to explore how legislation, guidance and security interact with one another in different ways and on different levels.  Rather than focusing on specific laws alone, the module reflects on overarching principles to ensure it’s applicable to a range of legal systems across the world.

Research Methods 1 provides you with comprehensive knowledge and understanding of methodological issues in security and risk research. It introduces you to research methodology on both a theoretical and practical level. You are encouraged to critically analyse the process of social scientific enquiry and to examine the relationship between research problems, theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches.

This module will explore cyber and online crime and the impact is can, and does have, on organisations. It begins by developing an understanding of what the internet is, historical perspectives in relation to its development and definitions of cyber and online crime.  It then considers types of cybercrime: including Cyber dependent, cyber enabled crime and the Internet of Things by considering a variety of forms of cybercrime – such as fraud, hacking/cracking, illegal marketplaces, child sexual exploitation, cyberespionage and cyberwarfare.  The module then moves on to consider the challenges that cybercrime presents for organisations in terms of regulation and policing – how/to what extent these offences can be prevented and how are/can offenders be caught and brought to justice.

This module will introduce you to a number of key concepts that will help you to develop essential research skills. These skills will have direct relevance to both the type of research tasks you carry out in the workplace, but also those you will need to complete your end of programme dissertation project.  The module will help you to understand how to design an ethical research project, how to conduct a literature review and how to draft a full research proposal in preparation for your dissertation.

This module will provide you with a comprehensive overview of terrorism, drawing on a range of contemporary issues. The module begins by exploring definitions of terrorism and the types of acts that are defined as being terrorism. Full consideration is given to the historical perspectives before the module turns to understanding the threats and vulnerabilities from terrorism and how terrorism might be prevented. This includes an overview of relevant laws and regulations and the protection organisations and employees.