Risk Assessment 

Professionals based in industry who have interest in cybersecurity. The micro credential will prepare professionals for a rewarding career; for example, to take a role as a security manager, security engineer, security analyst, or IT security specialist.

On successful completion of this micro-credential, you will be able to:

• Understand the concepts of risk, risk response and mitigation
• Identify and protecting an organization from unacceptable losses
• Apply the NIST/ISO risk management processes
• Outlining the system security boundary
• Identify security risk components
• Estimate the impact of compromises to confidentiality, integrity and availability
• Adopt the appropriate model for categorizing system risk
• Setting the stage for successful risk management
• Documenting risk assessment and management decisions

• Introduction to risk, risk management, risk mitigation
• Risk and the system security boundary
• Identifying security risk components
• NIST/ISO risk management processes
• Risk impact: compromises to confidentiality, integrity and availability
• Models for categorizing system risk
• Documenting critical risk assessment and management
•  Collecting on-going security metrics

This holistic and well-rounded course will be of interest to executives and professional/technical staff who:

• need to acquire knowledge and skills to equip themselves better for their current role.
• want to gain a promotion.
• want to open up new career opportunities for themselves in cyber security related roles.
• are interested in doing some research in this field, perhaps in relation to a current work problem.
• want to gain a qualification to add to their standing and credibility within their professional life.

Pre-recorded lectures released every week with 3 in-person workshops at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the term (available to take remotely)

Minimum of 2.1 honours bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (or a cognate discipline) or 2:2 honours bachelor’s degree in computer science (or a cognate discipline) and equivalent (> 5 years) industrial experience in software development or software/system security.

Each applicant will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.Applicants whose first language is not English must also demonstrate English language proficiency of IELTS 7.0 (no band less than 6.5 in each element), or equivalent.

Continuous Assessment: Learning Journal (Throughout the Trimester); Examination: End-of-term examination (2 hour End of Trimester Exam)

The lecturer will provide either written or oral feedback to the learners

• Leadership in Security COMP47800
• Applied Cryptography COMP47890
• Risk Assessment and Standards COMP47900
• Secure Software Engineering COMP47910
• Information Security COMP47920
• Cybersecurity Law LAW42160
• Incident Response COMP47870
• Network Security COMP47880
• Malware Analysis COMP47810
• Ethical Hacking COMP47860

Please note: Learners can avail of only one form of funding per application. 

Micro-Credentials Learner Fee Subsidy-Human Capital Initiative Pillar 3

The HCI Pillar 3 Micro-credential Learner Fee Subsidy has been introduced to enable more learners to address critical skills gaps and engage with lifelong learning through micro-credentials. The HCI Pillar 3 Micro-credential Learner Fee Subsidy is funded by Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. 

HCI Micro-credential Learner Fee Subsidies are available on identified micro-credentials only and in fixed numbers from March 2024 until October 2025.  

Please see Eligibility Criteria for further information.    

If you have any questions about this micro-credential, or would like to speak to a UCD staff member, please contact (opens in a new window)microcredentials@ucd.ie.