EC08 - Offensive Security

Think like an attacker to defend systems with confidence, precision, and responsibility.

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Start Date

... September 2026

  Credits

7.5 ECTS

  Semester

2 semester

  Delivery

Distance Learning

  Duration

13 Weeks

  Language

English

About This Course

This is a second-semester course in the MBA in Cybersecurity and Cyber Insurance Business Management
Offensive Security is a postgraduate course that focuses on understanding and applying modern penetration testing techniques across systems, networks, applications, and users. Through hands-on labs and capture-the-flag challenges, students learn how real-world attacks are conducted and how vulnerabilities can be identified, exploited, and mitigated responsibly. The course emphasises ethical practice, technical accuracy, and clear communication of risk, preparing students to support organisations in defending against contemporary cyber threats.
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What You Will Learn

Offensive Security

Theory, legality, and ethical hacking boundaries

Attack Techniques and Exploitation

OSINT, reconnaissance, service and social attacks

Penetration Testing and Defence

Hands-on testing, risk evaluation, and mitigation

Skills You Will Gain

Turn knowledge into action with practical skills for digital and circular transformation.

Full-scope penetration testing
Web, network, and binary exploitation
OSINT and social engineering
Proof-of-concept exploit development
Security assessment and risk analysis
Facilitate wellbeing-focused awareness workshops Technical and executive reporting

Your 13-Week Journey

Here’s how your learning unfolds

Week 1 – Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)

Collecting public, social, and technical information to profile targets and map digital exposure.

Week 2 – Network Reconnaissance

Discovering network structures and services using active and passive scanning techniques.

Week 3 – Service Enumeration and Exploitation

Identifying exposed services, misconfigurations, and exploiting service-level weaknesses.

Week 4 – Web Application Hacking

Exploiting client-side and server-side vulnerabilities in modern web applications.

Week 5 – Binary Exploitation

Understanding low-level memory vulnerabilities and exploiting compiled software.

Week 6 – Social Engineering Techniques

Manipulating human behaviour through phishing and psychological attack methods.

Week 7 – Internal Network Hacking

Lateral movement, credential abuse, and attacks within enterprise networks.

Week 8 – Ethical Hacking and Cryptography 

Password cracking techniques and cryptographic attack fundamentals.

Week 9 – Wireless Security 

Attacking wireless networks through handshake capture and encryption cracking.

Week 10 – 

Week 11 – 


Week 12 – 

Week 13 – 



Week 1 — Systems in Transition

See the world in systems.
Learn to rethink linear vs circular economies and explore planetary boundaries.

Week 2 — The Digital–Circular Nexus

Discover how tech enables sustainability.
Explore how AI, IoT, and data power circular innovation.

Week 3 — Policy as Infrastructure

Understand Europe’s circular blueprint.
Dive into the EU Green Deal, CEAP, and Digital Europe frameworks.

Week 4 — Designing for Re-entry

Design for durability, reuse, and remanufacturing.
Learn how digital twins and simulation tools extend product lifecycles.

Week 5 — Tracking Resources Through Data

Follow materials in motion.
Understand how IoT and data infrastructures create transparency in supply chains.

Week 6 — Blockchain for Accountability

Trust through transparency.
Explore blockchain’s potential for tracking, verification, and ethical assurance.

Week 7 — Learning Loops with AI

Let data drive regeneration.
See how AI and machine learning enable adaptive circular decision-making.

Week 8 — Cognitive Factories

Meet the new industrial symbiosis.
Examine how robotics and smart manufacturing create circular production systems.

Week 9 — Reverse Intelligence

Close the loop through recovery.
Explore reverse logistics, digital disassembly, and resource recovery networks.

Week 10 — Measuring Circularity

Turn data into progress.
Use metrics, KPIs, and dashboards to track circular performance.

Week 11 — Financing the Regenerative Future

Empower innovation.
Discover how deep-tech, investment, and valuation models support circular ventures.

Week 12 — Ethics and Mindsets

Lead with responsibility.
Reflect on ethics, human–machine collaboration, and the competences for circular leadership.

Week 13 — 2040 and Beyond

Imagine the future you want to build.
Learn to rethink linear vs circular economies and explore planetary boundaries.

Learn With Us

This course is co-created with academic and industry partners supporting circular innovation.
Giorgos Demetriou
Associate Dean of Research and Innovation
Sophia Alexaki
Smart Health & Social Innovation Lab Coordinator 
Hernan Ruiz Ocampo
Principal Research Development & Implementation Expert
Vlatka Katusic
Senior Research Development & Implementation Expert
Vlatka Katusic
Senior Research Development & Implementation Expert

Co-Created for Change

Continue Your Journey