General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6117 / JDOC6117 |
| Course name: | Cyber Security and Crime |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
‘Cyber security’ and ‘Cybercrime’ are complex issue that impacts on individuals, communities, organizations, and every country on this planet. Cyber security is about protecting the networks of governments, corporations and individual users by making it difficult for hackers to locate and exploit vulnerabilities. At times, cyber threats to critical infrastructure could even threaten national security. Whereas cybercrime tends to focus on protecting individuals and (private and public) organizations as they navigate through cyberspace. As well refers to computer-mediated activities which are either criminal or regarded as illicit and which can be conducted through global electronic networks. It encompasses cybercrimes against the person (e.g. cyber-stalking, cyber-pornography), cybercrimes against property (e.g. hacking, viruses, causing damage to data, cyber-fraud), and cyber-terrorism. The computer-age has also provided organised crime with more sophisticated and potentially secure techniques for supporting and developing networks for a range of criminal activities, including drugs trafficking, money laundering, illegal arms trafficking, and smuggling. Siting between cyber security and cybercrimes is privacy and data protection and it is the first line of defense for both cyber security and cybercriminal threats. This course will also explore and discuss the links between cyber security, cybercrimes and data protection in an interconnected data world.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Angus Young | alyoung@hku.hk | N/A | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Analyse and explain the key principles in law and relating to cyber security and cybercrimes in Hong Kong.
CLO 2 Identity the key cyber security legal risk arising in relation to a given public or private sector organization.
CLO 3 Identity new forms of crime and harm online and the laws and policies addressing cybercrimes.
CLO 4 Identity the privacy implications of data security breaches.
CLO 5 Assess data governance and risk management techniques to improve regulatory compliance and crime prevention.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | N/A | 10% | 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Research essay | TBC | 30% | 3, 5 | 1, 2, 3 |
| Take home exam | TBC | 60% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/