Prospectus

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Cyber security Governance

Course
2016-2017

Admission requirements

Admission only after intake, see https://www.csacademy.nl/en/education/master-s-programmes/executive-master-s-programme-cyber-security.

Admission only for those students who are enrolled in the governance track.

Description

‘Contested spaces’, where a state is unable or unwilling to exert its authority, have frequently been defined as threats to international security in the past twenty years. These were often geographical areas synonymous with ‘failed states’, where non-state actors such as terrorists or criminal organisations would seek sanctuary. According to public perception cyberspace has now become one of these ‘ungoverned spaces’, out of reach for governments and businesses alike. Cybercrime and cyber terrorism have proliferated as a result, and according to some the threat of cyber war looms ahead. This cyber-governance module will look at where responsibility for cyber security in the public-private-individual triangle is placed and how government institutions have shared, distributed or obtained cyber tasks and duties. Strategies and doctrines will also be covered, and how they combine with traditional state responsibilities such as defence and intelligence (espionage).
In practice, however, internet is not so much ungoverned as subjugated to alternative forms of governance, often by non-state actors. Although relatively little has as yet been written in academia on cyber governance, this module will explore the customary theories from public administration and legal perspectives.
Cyberspace also has important repercussions for conflict studies. Traditional concepts such as sovereignty, power, war, espionage and terrorism could face fundamental changes as global internet connectivity and dependence continues to grow. This module will look at competing views on cyber threats (from a ‘digital pearl harbour’ to cyber-operations in support of conventional military attacks), working through definitions, concepts and policies to sketch some of the possible implications for future inter and intra-state relations.

Course objectives

Participants have:

  • Knowledge and understanding of the different theories on cyber-governance, the implications of cyberspace, the internet for traditional notions such as sovereignty, power, war and conflict, espionage, terrorism and crime and historical developments in cyber governance and how key events have led to the current state of affairs.

Participants are able to:

  • Apply conceptual knowledge of cyber governance theories in relation to involved technical aspects to specific situations and case-studies (deduction) and,

  • Translate understanding of cyber-events (empirical observations) into concepts, trends and theories and communicate about these concepts in a clear and concise way (induction).

  • Apply knowledge of cyber-governance to practical, policy-orientated questions, to reduce these questions to the essentials and to communicate about the answers in a precise and academic way.

  • Use a sound knowledge base of cyber-governance to determine reliability of reporting on issues and contextualise new developments within a conceptual framework.

Timetable

7 days from 9.30 until 17.00:

  • Friday 28 October 2016

  • Thursday 3 November 2016

  • Friday 4 November 2016

  • Friday 11 November 2016

  • Friday 18 November 2016

  • Friday 25 November 2016

  • Friday 2 December 2016 (assessment)

Mode of instruction

Lectures, seminars, exercises, class discussion.

Lecturers: mr. Sergei Boeke, dr. Dennis Broeders (EUR) and others.

Course Load

5 EC.

Assessment method

Written exam (60%) and assignment (40%)
No compensation is possible for assignments of 30% or more.

You can find more information about assessments and the timetable exams on the website.
Details for submitting papers (deadlines) are posted on Blackboard.
On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website, uSis and Blackboard.

Resit
Students will be permitted to resit an examination if they have taken the first sit and have a mark lower than 5.5 or with permission of the Board of Examiners.

Resit written exam
Students that want to take part in a resit for a written exam, are required to register via uSis. Use the activity number that can be found on the ‘timetable exams’.

Blackboard

Yes, for posting slides of lectures, relevant literature and assignments.

Reading list

Compulsory literature and literature for further consultation will be announced via Blackboard.

Registration

Use both uSis and Blackboard to register for every course.
Register for every course and workgroup via uSis. Some courses and workgroups have a limited number of participants, so register on time (before the course starts). In uSis you can access your personal schedule and view your results. Registration in uSis is possible from four weeks before the start of the course.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted here.

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

NVT.

Contact

Mr. Sergei Boeke

Drs. Mireille Snels, programme manager:
m.m.snels@fgga.leidenuniv.nl

Pauline Hutten MSc, programme coordinator:
p.e.hutten@fgga.leidenuniv.nl

Remarks

See https://www.csacademy.nl/en/education/master-s-programmes/executive-master-s-programme-cyber-security.