Organisational Security, Surveillance and AI - MAN00187M

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Module summary

How organisations manage their own security is recognised as a significant challenge for managers, in particular their information technology and security departments who have to deal with things like cyber security. More broadly across an organisation a balance needs to be established between issues like culture and working environment, and the appropriate use of security and surveillance technologies. The objective of this module is to provide students with an understanding of the intersection of organisational security, surveillance of staff and customers, and the use of technology such as AI.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 2 2026-27

Module aims

The course will enable students to understand the intersection of organisational security and the surveillance of staff of customers, covering issues such as cyber security, surveillance technologies, and the use of AI and other technologies in this space. The course will also look at ethical implications of security practices, and how it impacts things like trust and the working environment. The students will also develop an understanding of the expectations from society and the media around organisational security, and how organisations respond to issues like information leaks and cyber-attacks. An additional aim of the module is to improve student's awareness of their own digital security, and critically reflect on their own behaviour in cyberspace.

Module learning outcomes

• Understand the importance of information systems and information technology to organisational security.
• Understand the types of security threats faced by modern organisations, and the origin of security threats (internal/external).
• Students will develop an awareness of the ethical and operational issues around organisational security and surveillance and be able to critically evaluate the ethical implications for individuals, organisations, and society, of security strategies and policy.
• Students will develop an awareness of the increasing role advanced technology (such as artificial intelligence) has in the security of organisations.
• Understand the basics of the UK and International regulatory requirements for cyber security, and the role organisations play in national security.
• Be able to critically evaluate how organisations respond to security incidents such as cyber-attacks, through the analysis of both successful and failed organisational responses.
• Be able to critically evaluate organisational strategy and policy around security.
• Students will critically evaluate their own online behaviour and their personal cyber security, by reflecting on what they learn on the course.

Module content

There are numerous managerial issues around organisational security that students should have experience of before entering the workplace. Leaks, hacking, and viruses/malware are a very real threat to organisations, and society is becoming increasingly concerned with privacy, data retention, and the moral arguments around whistle-blowing. This module will address these and other ethical issues and hopefully generate lively and interesting debate among students.

Managers often encounter security threats after the fact, that is, once disaster has struck. Therefore, an important aspect to this module will be the critical evaluation of organisational response to threats, leaks, or hacking. Students will also be assessed on their ability to prepare a suitable response to a simulated security breach at an organisation. Including a short, written, report reassuring shareholders, and a mock press conference, with a questions and answer session.

Technology is a central issue to organisational security, often critical to the detection and defence of cyber attacks, but also frequently the site of attack. The module will also highlight where these technologies interface with the management of the organisation, for example artificial intelligence and risk detection, and the impact of surveillance technology on organisational culture.

Students will also develop skills to critically evaluate security policy and strategy to enable them to discover problems within organisations before disaster strikes, perhaps reducing the possibility of needing to respond to an attack. This knowledge can also be used to improve their own security online.

The module will be taught using a mixture of lectures, guest lectures, and seminars, and make use of documentary material and news reports as well as journals and textbooks.

The module includes peer marking on the group work.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	70.0
Groupwork	30.0

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	70.0
Essay/coursework	30.0

Module feedback

Feedback will be given in accordance with the University Policy on feedback in the Guide to Assessment as well as in line with the School policy.

Indicative reading

Gurpreet Dhillon, Information Systems Security, Wiley, 2007. Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Hard University Press.