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The course is the first of its kind in the UK and has been introduced to satisfy rising demand that an increasing reliance on the internet has brought about. While computer crime is on the increase, there is a shortage of skilled personnel working in IT security.

The university reckons the MSc graduates could earn around £60,000 per year within a couple of years of

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completing the course.

Professor Lachlan MacKinnon, head of the school of computing and creative technologies, said years of "complacency and ignorance" in the industry meant there was a lack of security experts.

"There's an enormous shortage of people with relevant skills to work on the security side of this industry," he said.

"There are lots of people out there who either for fun or maliciously hack systems".

According to MacKinnon, companies used to employ convicted hackers to protect their systems, but this method often failed as such criminals could not change their ways. MacKinnon now hopes the university's MSc can fill the gap in the industry.

He stressed applicants to the course were carefully vetted to weed out those who may be seeking to use the skills for criminal gain.
The university already runs an undergraduate course in ethical hacking and countermeasures, which was the first of its kind in Europe.