ECMM463 | 2025/6 | University of Exeter

MODULE TITLE	Building Secure and Trustworthy Systems	CREDIT VALUE	15
MODULE CODE	ECMM463	MODULE CONVENER	Prof Achim D. Brucker (Coordinator)

DURATION: TERM	1	2	3
DURATION: WEEKS	11

Number of Students Taking Module (anticipated)

DESCRIPTION - summary of the module content

Building secure and trustworthy systems, i.e. systems that are hard to attack and protect the privacy of their users, are extremely hard to build. In this module, you will learn the foundations of building secure (software) systems ‘right from the beginning’. You will learn how to assess the threats of a system that need to be mitigated while building it, the risk assessment of vulnerabilities, as well as various approaches (e.g., defensive programming) and techniques for building secure systems. The module focuses on defensive security techniques that might be used by “blue teams.”

AIMS - intentions of the module

This module aims to give you a broad understanding of techniques for assessing the risks a modern IT system is exposed to. Driven by these risks, we will discuss several defensive security techniques for building security and trustworthy (software) systems. In more detail, the aims of the module are to enable you to assess the security of software architectures understand the principles of secure software architectures understand software vulnerabilities, their causes, and impact to develop secure software using defensive programming techniques to understand the principles of security testing and verification techniques.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ILOs) (see assessment section below for how ILOs will be assessed)

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge:

Develop secure and trustworthy systems
Select the appropriate security controls for a given system

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge:

Understand the importance of building systems that are “secure by design”
Understand the concept of defensive security

Personal and Key Transferable/ Employment Skills and Knowledge:

Being able to balance potentially contradicting goals such as security and costs
Assess and manage the (security) risk of a specific system

SYLLABUS PLAN - summary of the structure and academic content of the module

The module will cover:

Security Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Threat modelling
Software vulnerabilities
Defensive programming
Security testing
Verification and Certification of high assurance systems

LEARNING AND TEACHING

LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND TEACHING METHODS (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities	33	Guided Independent Study	117	Placement / Study Abroad

DETAILS OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND TEACHING METHODS

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities	22	Lectures
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities	11	Tutorials or Practical Work
Guided Independent Study	117	Background Reading and Self-Study

ASSESSMENT

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT - for feedback and development purposes; does not count towards module grade

Form of Assessment	Size of Assessment (e.g. duration/length)	ILOs Assessed	Feedback Method
Tutorials and Practical Work	11 hours	1-6	Oral

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT (% of credit)

Coursework	30	Written Exams	70	Practical Exams

DETAILS OF SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Form of Assessment	% of Credit	Size of Assessment (e.g. duration/length)	ILOs Assessed	Feedback Method
Written exam	70	2 hours	1-6	Oral on request
Coursework (Project)	30	50 hours	1-6	Written

DETAILS OF RE-ASSESSMENT (where required by referral or deferral)

Original Form of Assessment	Form of Re-assessment	ILOs Re-assessed	Time Scale for Re-assessment
Written exam	Written exam (2 hours, 70%)	1-6	Referral/deferral period
Coursework (project)	Coursework (project) (60 hours, 30%)	1-6	Referral/deferral period

RE-ASSESSMENT NOTES

Reassessment will be by coursework and/or written exam in the failed or deferred element only. For referred candidates, the module mark will be capped at 50%. For deferred candidates, the module mark will be uncapped.

RESOURCES

INDICATIVE LEARNING RESOURCES - The following list is offered as an indication of the type & level of
information that you are expected to consult. Further guidance will be provided by the Module Convener

Reading list for this module:

There are currently no reading list entries found for this module.

CREDIT VALUE	15	ECTS VALUE	7.5

PRE-REQUISITE MODULES	ECMM462
CO-REQUISITE MODULES

NQF LEVEL (FHEQ)	7	AVAILABLE AS DISTANCE LEARNING	No
ORIGIN DATE	Tuesday 6th October 2020	LAST REVISION DATE	Tuesday 6th May 2025

KEY WORDS SEARCH	Software security, Threat modelling, Security by design, SDLC, Defensive security

Building Secure and Trustworthy Systems - 2025 entry