SIT738 - Secure Coding

Unit details

Note: You are seeing the 2025 view of this unit information. These details may no longer be current. [Go to the current version]
Year

2025 unit information

Enrolment modes:

Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online, GIFT City (India)^.

Credit point(s):1
EFTSL value:0.125
Unit Chair:Trimester 2: Shamsul Huda
Prerequisite:

SIT774.
For students enrolled in S535, S536, S538, S635, S577, S677, S770, S735, S735A, S737, S739, S776, S778, S779: Nil

Corequisite:Nil
Incompatible with: SIT218
Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment:

1 x 3 hour seminar per week.

Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment:

Online independent and collaborative learning including 1 x 2 hour online seminar per week.

Typical study commitment:

Students will on average spend 150 hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit.

This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site.

Note:

^GIFT City (India) offering is available to students enrolled at the GIFT City (India) campus only

Content

Security by design in the software development life cycle is essential for fool proofing contemporary software systems and platforms against the evolving cyber threats. This unit comprises the principles of security for software development. Topics covered include the Continuous Delivery (CD) model for secure software development, adoption of cutting-edge software security tools for data validation, code bug detection, web application vulnerability assessment, secure database design and cloud/API security.

Learning outcomes

ULO These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can:

Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs)

ULO1

Interpret and explain secure coding principles to a range of audiences, and apply them to software design and development activities

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
GLO2: Communication

ULO2

Analyse program code and design documentation to identify common programming problems and recommend strategies to mitigate and report issues

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
GLO4: Critical thinking
GLO5: Problem solving
GLO8: Global Citizenship

ULO3

Perform static and dynamic analysis tools and techniques to find vulnerabilities within software

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
GLO3: Digital Literacy

ULO4

Research and apply proof techniques and automated theorem provers to formally verify software correctness

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
GLO3: Digital Literacy
GLO4: Critical thinking

ULO5

Use open source intelligence to critically analyse and understand emerging trends in software attacks and perform software threat modelling in order to mitigate these threats.

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
GLO2: Communication
GLO3: Digital Literacy

Assessment

Assessment Description Student output Grading and weighting
(% total mark for unit)
Indicative due week
Learning portfolio Tasks include the production of artefacts (code, reports, presentations etc) along with written critique and reflection 100% Week 12

The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.

Hurdle requirement

To be eligible to obtain a pass in this unit, students must meet certain milestones as part of the portfolio.

Learning resource

The texts and reading list for SIT738 can be found via the University Library.

Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.

Unit fee information

Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.

Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.

Estimate your fees

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