To examine the legal provisions and developing policy applicable to cybercrime and the obligations on business to protect against cybercrime activities in the modern world.

This module will examine the different types of cybercrimes and cyber threats in light of the current legal responses to these issues and the future development of the legal and regulatory framework. It will analyse various different forms of cyber threats such as hacking, phishing, denial of service, identity theft, electronic theft, unsolicited penetration testing, possession or use of cybercrime tools and the prevention of financial fraud and data breaches. In particular it will look at national, EU and international laws and treaties designed to protect citizens and punish perpetrators arising from such actions. It will examine the issue of cross border culpability and enforcement. It will also examine the legality of proactive mechanisms such as sinkholes, honeypots etc as a method of proactively preventing cyberthreats. It will detail the protection required at EU level for critical and essential infrastructure, including the financial payments system. Finally, it will investigate the legal duties on commercial enterprises to ensure safe systems, the obligation to report breaches to state authorities and the liability regime applicable to any breach of the legal framework. It will also conclude with a survey of recent proposals for law reform in this area.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:demonstrate that they can identify the different types of cyber threats; demonstrate that they can explain the legal basis of different global and regional legal framework for prevention and punishment of cybercrime; demonstrate that they can discuss the complexity in dealing with an ever changing cybercrime context; demonstrate that they can critically analyse the role of the law and regulation to deal with cyber threats; demonstrate an ability to relate the laws of cybercrime in an international context; demonstrate an ability to critique different theories of the legal regulation of cyber events.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: demonstrate an understanding of the increasing threat from cybercrime; demonstrate an understanding of how the legal framework operates to punish cybercrime and the obligations required to prevent cybercrime; demonstrate an appreciation of the need for the legal regulation of cyberthreats.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:N/A

The module is taught through blended learning predominantly online with a number of face to face seminars. Student will be assigned reading material, and will be expected to conduct independent research, prior to each seminar, where they will be required to discuss the relevant issues. The University of Limerick Graduate Attributes will be developed by: Broadening students' knowledge and proactivity through encouraging independent and directed research; emphasising student's responsibility to organise their time in an efficient manner and to work to specific deadlines; enhancing students' creativity in how they approach independent research; promoting collaborative research by the students and requiring students to articulate their research findings in a group setting.