• Offered for Year: 2025/26

• Module Leader(s): Professor Ben Farrand

• Owning School: Newcastle Law School
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

The course will give students an insight into and a critical understanding of cybersecurity, and its interrelations with law, policy, and technology. The focus of this module is international – as cybersecurity has become central to global legal efforts, as well as contemporary geopolitics. As such, it serves as an excellent contribution to the proposed International Security MA/LLM, given its interdisciplinary focus. It aims to familarise students with the basics of cybersecurity for non-technical experts, identify how cybersecurity requirements translate into binding legal obligations, and then how different regimes have operationalised these obligations. It places these developments in their broader geopolitical context, with an emphasis on the ‘sovereignty’ of states in the digital environment, the idea of cybersecurity as ‘zero sum game’, and how cybersecurity is currently impacting upon physical security and vice versa.

Outline Of Syllabus

Indicative course outline (these case studies are subject to change based on combinations of student interest and technological developments):
1.       An Introduction to Cybersecurity
2.       The historical development of cybersecurity law: from cybercrime to agencification to platform regulation
3.       Cybersecurity and (the lack of) international frameworks: case study of the Cybercrime Convention
4.       Private standards, public obligations: the role of cybersecurity experts in developing cybersecurity regulation/ generative AI training
5.       Case study I: Comparative approaches to cybercrime
6.       Case study II: Comparative approaches to cybersecurity
7.       Geopolitics, Digital Sovereignty, and the New Cybersecurity
8.       Case study III: Resilience, solidarity and the European Cyber Shield
9.       Case study IV: Cybersecurity beyond cyberspace
10.       Conclusions: is international cybersecurity regulation feasible?

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

In terms of the specific teaching methods, workshops have been chosen as the most suitable method of teaching for this content, which combined an element of semi-structured lecturing with student interaction and activities. This is facilitated by the structured research and reading activities, where in advance of classes, students read materials provided before each session, discussing the cybersecurity issues relevant to the given session. Students will then use this reading to develop a position in advance of the weekly student-led activity in each workshop. In addition to these formal classes, there will be a number of drop-in/surgery hours, where students can ask questions regarding course content, specific readings, or to prepare for the assessment for the module. Directed research and reading will be prepared for each session, which allows students to develop greater insight into the areas of legal research discussed in each activity, with an additional reading list provided on Canvas as further readings or a library list, which can then be used by students drafting their research proposal during their assessment preparation and completion.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The assessment for this module comprises two elements: one policy paper of 2,000 words worth 50% of the grade, and one 2,000 word generative AI task worth 50% of the grade.

The purpose of the research paper is to allow students to develop their ability to write for different audiences, representing a different stakeholder in thinking about cybersecurity regulation. Students could be writing a Communication from the European Commission on an aspect of cybersecurity, or a UN report on international cooperation in cybersecurity enforcement. This will also allow students to familarise themselves with a range of different documents beyond cases, legislation and academic articles, serving the interdisciplinary cohort the module is likely to engage. The 2000 word AI task will be based on the key themes and issues arising in the course, allowing students the opportunity to engage with new forms of knowledge generation, in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Students will be tasked with asking generative AI a question about cybersecurity, and then will be expected to critique this output, identifying its strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement providing a nuanced and reflective answer on an issue of cybersecurity, while also testing their abilities to deal maturely and effectively with generative AI tools. In turn, this will also develop their broader skills of knowledge handling, identification, and critique, as well as allowing for reflections on how research work is assessed, feeding into the development of their own transferrable skills. Training in the use of AI is provided for students, both in the context of this module, as well as in our skills training more generally.

Reading Lists

• LAW8131's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• LAW8131's Timetable