FIT2121 · System architecture and integration

Overview

This unit introduces how computer systems are structured and how multiple systems are integrated into larger systems-of-systems, with consideration of their security implications. The unit examines how systems interact through interfaces and integration mechanisms such as APIs and services, and discusses relevant aspects of computer architecture and operating systems in the context of system integration. It explores how data is stored, managed, and flows within and across components and systems, and how applications, data, services, and devices are connected within larger system contexts. Students will identify system boundaries, trust relationships, and attack surfaces, and analyse how design and integration decisions can introduce vulnerabilities. The unit develops a shared approach to reasoning about systems, data, and security, providing a foundation for understanding and analysing the security of interconnected systems.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook publishes no assessment items for this unit yet.

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

Learning outcomes

1. Identify, categorise, and organise information assets to support their discovery, access, and protection;
2. Explain how systems communicate and integrate through interfaces and mechanisms such as APIs, services, and protocols, including how data is stored, managed, shared, and flows between components;
3. Identify system boundaries, trust relationships, and key components within integrated systems-of-systems;
4. Identify common attack surfaces, vulnerabilities, and basic security risks associated with internal system components and system integration points;
5. Apply basic techniques to model and represent system architectures and data flows (e.g. diagrams) to support analysis of integration and security.

Workload

No workload detail published.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.