Mobility path

The students will be organized in a cohort that will jointly move around the four universities in the master consortium. This way, they will stay:

• at the University of Padova for the first semester (face-to-face classes), and extra classes for a single course taught by the University of Minho;
• at Vilnius University for the second semester (face-to-face classes);
• at the University of Granada for the third semester.
• Finally, the fourth semester will be dedicated to the master’s Thesis (with remote or local tutoring, as preferred by students), ending with the graduation week to be held face-to-face at the University of Minho.

Curriculum

The curriculum is structured into four semesters, for a total of 12 mandatory classes and 4 optional classes to be chosen among 12.

The core of the curriculum consists of the following mandatory classes:

• Fundamentals of cryptography (I semester, Padova)
• Digital Forensics (I semester, Padova)
• Secure software development (I semester, Padova)
• Fundamentals on international cybersecurity (I semester, Minho)
• Operating systems security (II semester, Vilnius)
• Security of applications (II semester, Vilnius)
• International management of cybersecurity (II semester, Vilnius)
• Research projects (II semester, Vilnius)
• Ethical hacking (III semester, Granada)
• Cyberprotection systems (III semester, Granada)
• Network security (III semester, Granada)
• International cyberintelligence (III semester, Granada)

The students will then choose:

one class among the following electives in the I semester (Padova):

• Mobile security
• Cyberphysical and IoT security
• Machine Learning techniques for event correlation
• Formal methods for cyberphysical systems
• Quantum cryptography and security
• Privacy preserving information access
• Law and data

one among the following electives in the II semester (Vilnius):

• Malware
• Rapid reaction and first response

and finally, two classes among the electives in the III semester (Granada):

• International cooperation in cyberspace
• Cyberwarfare
• Post-quantum cryptography

The IV semester will be mainly devoted to the thesis work and writing. It will be spent by the students as an internship either in a company or in a research institution.

The program conclusion will be held at the University of Minho with the thesis defense by all students which will be preceded by a practical laboratory exercise.

In addition to this, as an academic program, our master's seeks to be agnostic, prioritizing training in open-source tools and platforms. The following table includes the platforms and tools used, highlighting those that are used more intensively.

Cybersecurity and cyberintelligence are recognized for their multidisciplinary nature, scope, and demand in training. The skills, knowledge, and disposition for the tasks involved are complex, requiring continuous updating and research. Cyberspace is global, as is the effort to keep supporting Information Systems secure, which justifies the international approach advocated in this program.

ENISA, the EU Agency for Cybersecurity, published in September 2022 a document known as the European Cybersecurity Skills Framework Role Profiles. This document describes twelve professions, including, among other characteristics, alternative designations, the necessary knowledge, associated professional acts, and basic skills – in this case, linking to another initiative that seeks to categorize skills in the area of ​​ICT, known as European e-Competence Framework (e-CF). Although more focused on recognized professions, the reference produced is not far from similar ones, such as the framework developed by NICE known as NCWF (NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework) and based on areas of expertise linked to skills and professions typically associated.

The master’s in international Cybersecurity and Cyberintelligence is designed with these frameworks in mind to guarantee that the learning outcomes will fulfill the requirements for these professions in the field of cybersecurity:

• Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
• Cyber Incident Responder
• Cyber Legal, Policy & Compliance Officer
• Cyber Threat Intelligence Specialist
• Cybersecurity Architect
• Cybersecurity Auditor
• Cybersecurity Educator
• Cybersecurity Implementer
• Cybersecurity Researcher
• Cybersecurity Risk Manager
• Digital Forensics Investigator
• Penetration Tester