Cyberspace, Policy and Security

Cybersecurity is the practice of deploying people, policies, processes and technologies to protect systems and information. 

In a world that increasingly relies on information technology, cybercrimes have emerged as a major global security threat – costing around $1 trillion a year.

The Cyberspace, Policy and Security major provides you with critical understandings of contemporary challenges to security, particularly how transnational crime, terrorist organisations and state actors seek to exploit our reliance on information technology. 

This major combines technical, security and criminology units to provide students with professional skills in security, intelligence, policy, governance, investigation and law enforcement.  You'll gain understandings of the architecture, operation and protection of IT systems, consider critical issues in the governance and implementation of cyber security, explore the roles of government and industry in ensuring cybersecurity, and identify the processes by which cybercrime is investigated and prosecuted.

3 reasons to study Cyberspace, Policy & Security at Murdoch

1. In Australia, cybersecurity is recognised as one of the country’s principal security risks – a concern that escalated during the Covid pandemic due to our increased dependence on the internet, meaning there are many employment opportunities. 
2. Explore work integrated learning opportunities to work alongside industry partners and gain practical experience.
3. Explore national and international security issues, particularly in relation to the Middle East, Southeast and South Asia, where our teaching staff have special expertise.

What you’ll learn

• Cyber security and its challenges in policy, governance, technical, and enforcement contexts.
• Competing strategies, theoretical understandings, and sources of knowledge that inform approaches to cyber security.
• How to apply technical skills, investigative strategies and theoretical approaches in order to solve real-world problems and design cyber security solutions.
• How to design and manage projects of increasing sophistication, involving ethical inquiry, while working independently and with others. 

Your career

Your major could be a step towards an incredible career. You could put your creative thinking and language skills to work in a range of roles, such as:

• Cyberspace Policy Analyst
• Systems Analyst
• Cyber Security Consultant
• Information Security Officer
• Policy Advisor