MSc Information Security 2016

Hi all,

I haven't seen a thread for the 2016/17 MSc Info Security yet so figured I might as well get one started. There have been a couple in previous years that had some really useful info and went a long way towards my choice of RHUL over other places (in particular the 2012/13 thread). Would be great if the thread attracted any current students or recent graduates as some of the stuff in the older discussions may be a little out of date. I'm sure there will be a lot of people with questions regarding module choices, accommodation, etc.

So...Who's got their offers already? Also, what's people's take on the year in industry (YII) option? That's what I've accepted but may end up reverting to the standard course during the first year. I noticed that the YII filled up pretty quickly last year (first year it was running I believe) and figured it'd go for it but I'm still not totally sure of its value. Does it run like an internship? I know it's paid, but what kind of placements/salaries did people manage to obtain during 2015/16?

Anyway, hopefully the thread can turn into something useful for prospective students and people who have already decided to start the course this year :smile:

Reply 1

steveormandy

hello,

I have am unconditional offer for MSc Info Security with YII :smile:

I did a year in industry for my undergrad and found it incredibly valuable. I would always say it was worth it. What are you doing for your accommodation/funding?

Found some more information today that the govt loan opens end of June so i will go for that..much better then a PDL. Accommodation i was thinking of going into halls as seems to be so much cheaper then a private let but i have never lived in halls before so not sure about noise/disturbances etc.

Royal Holloway

Egham

Visit website

Reply 2

lazyloki

Hey,

Yeah I'll probably look into the PG loan too. I have saved the cash to pay for the course outright but I guess I may as well just take the loan and pay off after graduating. Means I can keep the cash as a safety net while on course then use it to pay off the loan afterwards. Don't really want to pay it off via salary deductions as I still have a couple of grand on my UG loan and wouldn't like them both deducting at the same time (Income Tax, NI, UG loan and PG loan deductions would add up to a ridiculous rate of tax!).

I'm thinking about halls too. Feel like I'm a little bit old for them now (30) but they're hassle free, located on campus, all bills included, etc. Just need to decide whether I'm willing to pay an extra £1,000 for the privilege of having my own toilet! I shouldn't worry too much about noise/disturbance in the halls; I can't imagine they have PGs in with first year UGs (although I'm not sure of that). Also, looks like most of the halls have single beds but I've seen some pics with double beds - need to identify which buildings have those.

There is private accommodation in and around Egham that's comparably priced (some a bit cheaper) for a room in a shared house. I guess a lot of that will disappear towards September though.

Reply 3

lazyloki

Hmm...just a thought about accommodation. The YII option involves sitting exams in May and then going on placement. But all the PG accommodation lets are for 50 weeks (i.e. up to September 2017). So how do you think that's going to work?

Any idea which geographic location people have been getting placements in? I guess if it's not too far from Egham it would be possible to commute for the first couple of months but, if not, I wouldn't want to sign up for accommodation that I can't use for a large chunk of time.

Reply 4

steveormandy

well you are in a much better position then me haha. but you will never get a loan as generous as the student loan so make the most of it i say! :smile:

They would be so much easier and cheaper but yeah the 50 week let could be a pain. I assume most placements would be for companies in or around London, to be honest something I would like to confirm was how many companies actually advertise with the university. Clearly a placement for masters students must be pretty specialised and i have never come across this through my own searching in the past.

I believe Gowar and Wedderburn have double beds, they seem like the generally nicer ones anyway EDIT: looks like these are only for undergrads. It looks like all the postgrad halls are single beds :frown:

I am sure i saw a few months ago on the RHUL website i saw that they offer a intensive training course to become a Certified Ethical Hacking but i cant seem to find it now. did you ever come across this?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

lazyloki

Original post by steveormandy

Not CEH but I've definitely read something about a few days dedicated to preparing for the CISSP exam. I also understand RHUL has an agreement with (ISC)2 to allow the MSc to count as two years towards the experience requirement for CISSP.

TBH, from what I've read, CEH basically involves memorising loads of tools and command line switches etc. I don't think the focus of the RHUL course is on technical stuff like that, more overview/management.

CISSP is definitely worth going for though. The actual value of the certification is debatable but it's one of the ones HR recruiters have on their 'list'.

Reply 6

3pacalypse

Hi, Guys! I am also joining, but as a part-timer this year. Anyone else doing it part-time? From what undergrad background are you? Probably the majority of you are coming from IT backgrounds, I presume...

Reply 7

HaniKaraki

Original post by 3pacalypse

Hello!!

I recently got an unconditional offer too, I am now working on my visa application. Well I personally just graduated with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science. I also worked iOS development freelancing for about 2 years. So you can safely say that I come from a technical perspective. Nevertheless, I don't think RHUL emphasis in this degree is technical, because frankly you can find everything technical on the internet and you don't need a degree for that.

But judging from the course syllabus I would say that you would need a good standing background in computer science(for example general idea about networking so that you can understand network security). But I also believe that the concept of security can't be taught in an undergraduate degree. So I presume not all of us will have a solid background in the field. And I'm pretty sure the material taught will be explained from zero, the course doesn't have any prerequisites stated.

Anyways, I would love to meet any of you guys. Anyone is free to add me on linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/hani-karaki-2322079b