Every graded deliverable, in semester order, on one spine.
Each bead below is one graded deliverable. Follow it to the assessment's own page for the brief, the due date and how it is marked.
- Lab 1: From Idea to Threat Model3 August 2027Turn a fictional malware idea into a structured lifecycle and threat model, the first step before any design gets built.
- Lab 2: Build a Malware Blueprint10 August 2027Design a modular malware architecture on paper, without writing a functioning payload.
- Lab 3: Execution Laboratory17 August 2027Trigger benign programs by different execution mechanisms and read the traces those triggers leave behind.
- Lab 4: Infiltration Investigation24 August 2027Investigate simulated phishing, vulnerability and supply-chain scenarios using prepared evidence.
- Assignment 1: My First Malware1 October 2027A fictional piece of malware, designed end to end and documented as a complete engineering artefact rather than a single hacking trick.
- Lab 5: Persistence Laboratory31 August 2027Detect and analyse simulated persistence mechanisms in a prepared virtual machine, without deploying real persistence.
- Lab 6: Distribution & Infrastructure21 September 2027Design and analyse a simulated distribution infrastructure for a fictional malware campaign.
- Lab 7: C2 Communications Laboratory28 September 2027Analyse captured command-and-control traffic and build a benign request/response simulator.
- Lab 8: Malware Analysis Laboratory5 October 2027Analyse a deliberately benign sample using static and dynamic techniques, and separate observed from inferred behaviour.
- Assignment 2: Don't Get Caught2 November 2027A CTF-style practical requiring students to infect an assigned target machine, retrieve the flag, and remain undetected while doing so.
- Lab 9: Detection & Evasion Laboratory12 October 2027Test and improve signature-based and behavioural detection rules against benign simulated malware behaviours.
- Lab 10: "How Did They Get Caught?"19 October 2027Reconstruct a fictional actor from logs, metadata and operational-security mistakes, and assess the attribution evidence.
- Final Examination12 November 2027A two-hour, in-person written examination covering the full malware production lifecycle, analysis, detection and operational security.