How long is the MSc in Ethical Hacking?

One year full-time on-campus, or up to two years part-time through the online and distance routes — the MSc in Ethical Hacking engagement simulation and dissertation are identical across all modes.

Can I study the MSc in Ethical Hacking online?

Yes. The MSc in Ethical Hacking is offered on-campus with cyber-range access, fully online with live red-team exercises, or via distance learning using cloud-hosted lab environments and recordings.

Is the MSc in Ethical Hacking recognised in the UK?

The MSc in Ethical Hacking is a UK postgraduate degree aligned with CREST Practitioner-level outcomes and mapped to BCS, (ISC)² and ISACA progression — credentials UK pentest consultancies recognise.

What are the entry requirements for the MSc in Ethical Hacking?

A UK 2:2 honours degree (or international equivalent) in computing or a numerate subject, IELTS 6.5 for non-native applicants, plus a technical sample for the MSc in Ethical Hacking shortlist.

How much does the MSc in Ethical Hacking cost?

Tuition for the MSc in Ethical Hacking varies by study mode and domicile. Merit scholarships and employer-sponsored places are reviewed each intake — contact LSCT admissions for the current schedule.

MSc in Ethical Hacking in London in London 2026 | LSCT | Harold International College of London

Course Overview

The MSc in Ethical Hacking at LSCT is a one-year postgraduate degree inside the Information Technology department, designed for security analysts, developers and graduates ready to specialise in offensive security and red-team work for UK clients. Taught from our central London base across on-campus, online and distance-learning routes from 2026, the programme is structured around the technical reality of UK penetration testing — CREST-style engagements, web application testing, infrastructure assessments, cloud red-team work and the rules-of-engagement discipline UK consultancies expect.

You will compromise real-style targets in safe environments from your first month, write engagement reports that stand up to client scrutiny and complete a dissertation tied to a novel attack technique or defensive recommendation. By the end of the MSc in Ethical Hacking you will have a CREST-ready foundation, hands-on experience across web, network and cloud, and the discipline to walk into a UK pentest consultancy on graduation.

Key Features

UK postgraduate degree aligned with CREST (Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers) Practitioner-level outcomes and OSCP-style hands-on assessment.
Mapped to BCS (The Chartered Institute for IT), (ISC)² and ISACA progression pathways for senior security careers.
Three study modes — on-campus with cyber-range access, fully online with live red-team exercises, or distance learning using cloud-hosted lab environments.
Live engagement simulation — students conduct a full scoped pentest against a multi-layer target and deliver a CREST-style client report.
Cloud red-team module — Azure, AWS and GCP attack techniques and the NCSC Cloud Security Principles defenders use to stop them.
Dissertation tied to novel research — a defensive recommendation, exploit chain or detection rule contributed to the community.

What You Will Learn

The MSc in Ethical Hacking runs across three taught semesters plus a dissertation. You will graduate able to scope and run an engagement end to end, exploit real-world weaknesses inside legal and ethical boundaries and write reports clients act on.

Web Application Security and OWASP Top 10 Exploitation
Network Penetration Testing and Active Directory Attacks
Cloud Red Team (Azure, AWS, GCP)
Mobile Application Security (iOS and Android)
Reverse Engineering and Binary Exploitation Fundamentals
Social Engineering and Physical Red Team
UK Engagement Law — Computer Misuse Act 1990, contracts and rules of engagement
Reporting, Re-test and Remediation Advice
Ethics and Professional Conduct under CREST and (ISC)² codes

The teaching pattern is intentionally practitioner-led. Each module pairs taught content with at least one hands-on lab — real tooling, real data, real code review — and you are expected to push pull requests, write incident reports and defend technical decisions in code review. That working rhythm gives our graduates the day-one credibility UK engineering, security and data employers want, and is part of why so many of our students take offers before they finish.

Who This Course Is For

Security analysts, SOC operators and developers moving into offensive security and red-team work.
Computer-science graduates wanting a specialist UK postgraduate qualification in offensive security.
Career changers from IT, networking or DevOps with strong technical foundations entering UK pentest careers.
International applicants targeting UK Skilled Worker visa-eligible offensive security roles.

Career Pathways

MSc graduates step into the UK penetration-testing and red-team teams at consultancies, in-house enterprise security teams, banks, government suppliers and the major MSSPs. The MSc in Ethical Hacking is calibrated to make you delivery-ready on a CREST-style engagement within weeks. Typical graduate roles include:

Penetration Tester (UK consultancy)
Red Team Operator (in-house enterprise)
Cloud Security Engineer (offensive focus)
Application Security Engineer
Vulnerability Researcher
Security Consultant (Big Four or boutique)

The MSc also serves as a strong foundation for further postgraduate research in offensive security, AI security or formal methods.

You will also build the network that underpins UK technology careers: an alumni community across fintech, healthtech, retail tech and the public-sector engineering teams, a working tutor team drawn from current production engineering, and an annual industry careers afternoon at which UK technology hiring managers take CVs and book follow-up conversations with current students.

Entry Requirements

A UK 2:2 honours degree (or international equivalent) in computer science, cyber security, IT or a relevant numerate subject — strong technical aptitude tested at interview for this programme.
Applicants from non-cognate fields may apply with five years' senior professional experience in security, networking or development roles.
IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
A personal statement, two references and a short technical sample (write-up of a CTF, vulnerability disclosure or home-lab project) demonstrating practical aptitude.

Across the programme you also sit alongside working engineers, security analysts and product leads in regular guest sessions — practitioners from the City, Old Street and King's Cross who walk you through what real production systems, real incident reviews and real engineering interviews look like. The London tech labour market moves quickly, and our syllabus is reviewed annually to keep pace with the tools and patterns UK employers actually hire on.

Why Study at LSCT

The London School of Commerce and Technology (LSCT) is a specialist higher-education provider based in central London and part of Harold International College. We teach in small cohorts so every student is visible to their tutor, run a single intake schedule that students can rely on, and partner with UK professional bodies so qualifications carry weight with employers. London puts Whitehall, the City, Silicon Roundabout, the Royal Courts of Justice, the West End and the NHS estate within a short tube ride of every classroom — and our students use that proximity in their projects, placements and graduate job hunts. For ethical-hacking students that proximity matters: the UK's largest concentration of CREST-accredited consultancies and bank-side red teams sit within tube reach of our cyber range.

Our graduates work across the UK technology economy — fintech, healthtech, retail tech, the Government Digital Service, the consulting houses and the consumer-app teams that define London's product cluster. LSCT's employability team keeps an annual employer map current and runs portfolio-review evenings attended by working hiring managers from the major UK product, engineering and security teams.

Apply for MSc in Ethical Hacking

Specialise at postgraduate level with the MSc in Ethical Hacking. Click Enrol Now to apply; admissions teams reply within one working day with scholarship and funding guidance, including a personalised review of your technical sample before interview.