Higher Education

Digital Security – What Everybody Should Know

Spring Semester
Target Group: BA, BSc (UZH)
3 ECTS

We’re doing it – a hands-on introduction to interdisciplinary cybersecurity that will NOT teach you to be afraid of it, but to play it!

Cybersecurity Clinic

Ongoing
Target Group: BSc, MA, MSc (ZHAW and UZH)
1-3 ECTS.

Students from University of Zurich, ZHAW School of Engineering, and ZHAW School of Management and Law provide pro bono cybersecurity services to selected organizations in Switzerland.

Open Source Intelligence – OSINT

Fall Semester
Target Group: MA, MSc, PhD (UZH, ETHZ)
3 ECTS

The OSINT course: almost a CYRENZH classic!

What traces do we leave when surfing or investigating on the internet? What type of data is transmitted, and how can we make our online activities more secure? This course will equip students with all the skills and mindset they need to solve our assignment puzzle… it’s going to be fun!

Storytelling for Digital Transformation

Spring Semester
Target Group: MA, MSc, PhD (UZH, ETHZ)
3 ECTS

Come and visit our revised course with award-winning journalist and expert in digital storytelling Eva Wolfangel and CYRENZH ‘s very own Melanie Knieps.

This course is designed to help you:

  • Understand how to turn complex digital facts into engaging, clear stories.
  • Learn how to use storytelling to make digital transformation topics relatable.
  • Evaluate the pros & cons of storytelling for specific formats and tech.
  • Create narratives that educate & empower people to make informed decisions.

Past Courses

OSINT 1: Open Source Intelligence and Social Engineering

Fall Semester 2023
Target Group: MA, MSc, PhD (UZH, ETHZ)
1 ECTS

In a blended learning environment and a 1.5 day workshop with group presentations, students learned about Open Source Intelligence Methods and Tools. In their assignment, students showed us impressively, how much information you can gather about a single picture.

OSINT 2: Open Source Intelligence: A Technical Introduction

Spring semester 2024
Target Group: MA, MSc, PhD (UZH, ETHZ)
1 ECTS

The second OSINT course focuses on more technical topics: What traces do we leave when surfing or investigating on the internet? What type of data is transmitted, and how can we make our online activities more secure?

Open Source Intelligence

Fall semester 2024
Target Group: MA, MSc, PhD (UZH, ETHZ)
3 ECTS

We are integrating all our experiences and our student’s feedback from OSINT 1 and 2 into this new and bigger course. To make the teaching more sustainable, we produced a videos series!

Cyber Law

Fall semester 2025
Target Group: MA, MSc, PhD (UZH, ETHZ)
3 ECTS

Is there a cyber law in Switzerland? And what do I need to know as a professional in business, or as an individual? Good questions. This pilot course will introduce into the current situation in Switzerland and EU and work with many hands-on examples. No need to know law jargon.

Storytelling for Digital Transformation

Spring semester 2025
Target Group: MA, MSc, PhD (UZH, ETHZ)
3 ECTS

In this course we will work with award-winning journalist and expert in digital storytelling Eva Wolfangel and CyrenZH ‘s very own Melanie Knieps and Leyla Ciragan.

Human Factors in Cybersecurity and Privacy: Interdisciplinary Research Methods

Summer School

7. – 11. July 2025
Target Group: Early Career Researchers, PhD, MA, MSc

Human factors in cybersecurity and privacy are an emerging field for research and industry and their importance is growing due to the increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Recent approaches in research ask for novel methods to account for enabling approaches that view human factors and technology as partners to enhance cyberresilience.