Module 2 · Unit 3 · 7 Lessons
COMP 6660 · Enterprise Cybersecurity Threats, Risks, Vulnerabilities, and Cyber Attacks
Develops the analytical foundation for enterprise security: how risk is framed and quantified, how threats are modelled, how vulnerabilities are assessed, and how contemporary attack classes — from ransomware to supply chain compromise — actually work.
01 Unit overview
Defensive decisions are only as good as the threat and risk analysis that precedes them. Unit 3 builds that analytical discipline.
The unit opens with risk fundamentals: how likelihood and impact combine, how risk appetite and tolerance shape decision-making, and why qualitative risk scoring so often misleads executives. Students are introduced to quantitative and semi-quantitative approaches and to the language of risk treatment — avoid, mitigate, transfer, accept.
Structured threat modelling follows. Students learn to identify assets, adversaries, attack paths, and trust boundaries using recognised methodologies, and to prioritise modelled threats against enterprise context rather than generic severity scores. This leads into vulnerability assessment: scanning, penetration testing, CVSS scoring, and — critically — the problem of remediation prioritisation when the vulnerability count exceeds the capacity to fix.
The second half of the unit examines specific attack classes in depth. Malware and ransomware are treated as enterprise crises rather than isolated infections, with attention to initial access, lateral movement, exfiltration, and extortion. Social engineering and phishing are examined through the human factors that make them reliable, including business email compromise. Advanced persistent threats introduce long-dwell, low-signature campaigns and the detection problems they pose.
The unit closes with insider threats — malicious, negligent, and compromised — and supply chain security, where trust in third parties and software dependencies becomes an enterprise-scale vulnerability. This material directly supports Assignment 2 and Forum 3.
| Unit | 3 — Threats, Risks, Vulnerabilities, and Cyber Attacks |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 — Threats, Architecture, and Infrastructure Protection |
| Lessons | 7 (Lessons 3.1–3.7) |
| Discussion forum | Forum 3 — Threat Intelligence and Risk Management |
| Assessed by | Assignment 2 (20%) — with Units 4 and 5 |
| Recommended weeks | Weeks 6–7 |
| Primary CLOs | CLO2, CLO8, CLO9 |
02 Unit learning outcomes
Upon completion of Unit 3, students will be able to:
Analysis
- Conduct structured threat analysis and threat modelling.
- Assess risks and vulnerabilities using recognised methodologies.
Attack techniques
- Evaluate attack techniques across malware, ransomware, social engineering, APTs, insider threats, and supply chain compromise.
- Explain attack lifecycles and the points at which detection or disruption is possible.
Mitigation
- Recommend mitigation strategies proportionate to assessed risk.
- Prioritise remediation when vulnerabilities exceed remediation capacity.
Full statement
The authoritative unit learning outcomes, including their mapping to the nine course learning outcomes, are published on the Unit 3 learning outcomes page.
03 Lessons in this unit
Unit 3 contains seven lessons. Lessons 3.1–3.3 establish the analytical methods; Lessons 3.4–3.7 apply them to specific attack classes.
Cybersecurity Risk Fundamentals
Risk terminology, likelihood and impact, risk appetite and tolerance, and the limits of qualitative scoring.
Topics: risk terminology · likelihood and impact · risk appetite · risk treatment
Lesson 3.2Threat Modeling Methodologies
Structured approaches to identifying assets, adversaries, attack paths, and trust boundaries.
Topics: threat modelling · assets and adversaries · attack paths · trust boundaries
Lesson 3.3Vulnerability Assessment Techniques
Scanning, penetration testing, CVSS scoring, and prioritising remediation by real risk rather than raw counts.
Topics: scanning · penetration testing · CVSS · remediation prioritisation
Lesson 3.4Malware and Ransomware
Malware families and delivery chains, and the evolution of ransomware from nuisance to enterprise crisis.
Topics: malware families · delivery chains · ransomware · double extortion
Lesson 3.5Social Engineering and Phishing
Human-centred attack vectors, pretexting, business email compromise, and defensive countermeasures.
Topics: pretexting · phishing · business email compromise · human factors
Lesson 3.6Advanced Persistent Threats
Nation-state and sophisticated criminal campaigns, dwell time, lateral movement, and the detection problem.
Topics: APT campaigns · dwell time · lateral movement · detection
Lesson 3.7Insider Threats and Supply Chain Security
Malicious, negligent, and compromised insiders; third-party and software supply-chain risk.
Topics: insider threat types · third-party risk · software supply chain · vendor assurance
04 Discussion and assessment
Forum 3 — Threat Intelligence and Risk Management
Unit 3 hosts the third graded discussion forum. Contribute an initial posting of approximately 300–500 words supported by scholarly sources, plus at least two meaningful responses to classmates.
Example discussion topics:
- Risk assessment methodologies.
- Ransomware trends.
- Supply-chain attacks.
How Unit 3 is assessed
Unit 3 is assessed through Assignment 2 — Enterprise Threat Analysis and Security Architecture (20% of the final grade), which covers Units 3, 4, and 5.
Research topic: Ransomware as an Enterprise Threat: Evolution, Defense Strategies, and Organizational Resilience.
Technical questions drawn from Unit 3 include:
- Conduct a threat-modeling exercise.
- Analyze a supply-chain cyberattack scenario.
Reading order
Complete Lessons 3.1–3.3 before moving to the attack-class lessons. The risk and threat-modelling vocabulary introduced there is used repeatedly in Lessons 3.4–3.7 and again in Module 3.