MSc Cybercrime Careers

Careers and opportunities for MSc Cybercrime graduates

After graduating from MSc Cybercrime, you’ll have the technical skills necessary to pursue a career in helping combat cybercrime, with the critical thinking and social awareness needed to understand deviant online behaviour.

With your specialist knowledge, you could become a central player in a range of organisations – from universities to police forces – as cybercrime is an ever-evolving sector that demands someone with a firm grip on the subject.

By committing to the upkeep of your skill set, you could find yourself well-positioned to progress even further within your organisation, and with added job security.

Roles open to MSc graduates could include:

• Behaviour analysts helping others pinpoint their negative behaviours and replace them with positive ones. Behaviour analysts accomplish this through the use of data, client observation and strategic planning. They can work in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals and schools.
• Information security officers preserving an organisation’s IT security from internal and external threats. Information security officers also decide which software is best appropriate for the job, as well as how to educate employees on IT security.
• Risk management analysts determining how much or how little risk is involved in a particular scenario. Risk management analysts collect data to help analyse potential risk involved, how to reduce that risk and possible losses, and can work in a wide variety of organisations.
• Intelligence analysts protecting secret intelligence and collaborating with organisations such as the armed forces and police. Intelligence analysts spend time gathering and validating intelligence, interpreting data and reporting to governing bodies on their findings.
• Researchers gathering information within a specific field, usually through data analysis. Researchers can find employment within universities and law enforcement, plus in social work, media and numerous other fields.

Alumni careers

Alumni from our Cybercrime courses have advanced to PhD study, as well as securing positions at a number of notable organisations, such as:

• Data Protection Act Coordinator at Great Ormond Street Hospital
• Marketing at Data Protection World Forum
• Digital Team leader at the NHS Trust
• Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at Accenture

Meet graduates of Portsmouth’s Cybercrime courses

Daniel Sibthorpe

“I currently work as part of the National Forensic Services team at Crowe UK, an accountancy and risk advisory firm. The main focus of my work involves fraud investigation and cybercrime prevention.

When I finished my course at the University of Portsmouth, I was fortunate enough to gain an internship at the Cabinet Office as part of their Fraud and Error team. I then completed a second internship at Crowe UK, where I was offered a job full time and have remained for the last 2 years. ”

Catherine Brabander

“Following graduation, I worked as a Project Support Officer in the NHS, assisting with a Digital Pathfinder Project funded by NHS Digital, which was rolled out across South West London.

I currently work as a Data Protection Act Coordinator within the Legal Team at Great Ormond Street Hospital. I deal with medical request from Solicitors, Courts, Police, and Local Authorities in accordance with GDPR and the Data Protection Act.”

Hektor Askin

“The MSc Cybercrime degree at the University of Portsmouth enlightened my knowledge on a field which is currently trending globally. Being one of the first group of postgraduates from a well-designed degree has enabled me to secure a job in Istanbul as a freelance cyber security analyst, which has enabled me to network with many new people and I am very grateful for.

I would like to thank the University of Portsmouth, particularly my supervisor Dr Lisa Sugiura, for her fantastic guidance and for always believing in me.”

Will Archer

"During the MSc in Cybercrime, I felt confident that I wanted to work in an area where I could apply the knowledge I had acquired during the degree, particularly in the area of cybercrime prevention.

After graduating, I applied for a role within the Northamptonshire Police Cybercrime Unit, and started as a Cyber Protect and Prevent Officer. In this role I worked with councils, small businesses and charities across the county to raise awareness of cyber risks and to conduct assessments of their systems, policies and procedures.

I also worked with local schools to help identify technically gifted young people at risk of engaging in cybercrime, and developed partnerships to establish positive diversion paths including work placements and internships. In this role I used many of the skills I had gained during the MSc, particularly around cyber criminology and the types of risks cybercriminals pose to organisations and the public.

After a year working at Northamptonshire Police, I made a move to the private sector and applied for a role as a Senior Analyst at Accenture, a leading global consultancy. I started working within iDefense, a team dedicated to Cyber Threat Intelligence. My first role involved conducting threat assessments of global businesses, assessing their cyber risk in relation to infrastructure exposure, dark web targeting, and open source threats.

In my current role, I work with my colleagues to detect, track and analyse activity from organised cybercriminal groups and Advanced Persistent Threats, and report on this activity for Accenture’s clients. This work involves analysing infrastructure and malware used in cyber threat campaigns, considering geopolitical factors and motivations, and attributing this activity to criminal groups and nation states where possible.

My work since graduating from the University of Portsmouth has been incredibly challenging yet rewarding, and I owe a great deal to the foundation built by the teaching on the MSc in Cybercrime."

With our part-time, online MSc in Cybercrime you'll gain the skills needed to meet the demand for experienced cybercrime investigators and help make the online world a safer place. We have three starts a year - February, May and September: