Computer/Network Security

Course Details at a Glance

Description

Textbooks

The following textbook is required for the course:

In addition, a collection of primary source papers will be provided that will also form part of the required reading.  For those whose copyright allows academic distribution, these will be provided on the course web site.  Other references may require the student to copy select papers at the library.

Course Web Page

http://www.denison.edu/~bressoud/cs402-f03/

Prerequisite

Final Grade Determination

Course Work

Homeworks:

There will be short weekly homework assignments.  The purpose of the homework is two fold.  Some homeworks will be intended to give you practice with the more theoretical side of security, particularly in cryptography. This will help keep test questions from being a complete surprise.  The second purpose and type of homework will be to exercise and and explore actual security mechanisms.  These will allow you to apply your newfound knowledge to how you work and live in an insecure world.  Homeworks are due in class on the date specified.  I will accept late homeworks, with a 10% penalty per class day they are late.

You may discuss homework problems with other students in the class, but written work must be your own. In other words, you may talk generally about homework problems with your peers, but when it comes time to write your solutions, you are on your own. You may not get help on homework from students outside the class. Of course, you are always welcome to come see me for help.

Homework solutions must be typed in a word processor of your choice.  Given the formula nature of many of the cryptography aspects of computer and network security, I would recommend that you learn and use LaTeX, a markup based typesetting program that is widely used in the research community.  Let me know if you need help getting started.

Paper Research:

The disciplines of Computer and Network Security are relatively new within Computer Science.  Much work is very recent and has been published within the last five to ten years.  As a result, almost no textbook by itself is particularly satisfactory.  The means to really understand the current state of the art is to examine primary sources, both academic papers and trade whitepapers, first hand.

The class will be divided into teams of two.  Each team will be designated as "leader" for two of the papers I am collecting for class.  All class members will be responsible for actively reading the paper before the class day devoted to the paper.  In addition, the designated team for the paper will present the paper and lead the class discussion for that class period.  They will also write up a report for the paper, and generate review/test questions for the material.  Precise details and expectations for the paper process will be given in the next week.

Exams:

There will be two midterm exams.  Each midterm will cover its respective section of the course material. Note that this means the second midterm exam is not cumulative, and is weighted equally with the first exam.  All exams will be closed book, closed notes.

Final Project:

There will be a final project in lieu of a final exam.  The final project can take a variety of forms, including a research project exploring a security topic area in much greater detail, this would include a review of the literature and a final report synthesizing the results from multiple sources, or it can be a programming project from a selection of project ideas put forth about half way through the semester.

Students are encouraged to initiate their own ideas for a final project as well.

Class Participation:

For this class to be successful, students must be engaged in the material by first doing the readings ahead of time, and second by participating in class. You will be expected to actively participate by asking questions, joining in our discussions, etc. Note that there is a significant portion of your grade attributed to class participation, and is used to both grade

Student Responsibilities

Attendance:

Your attendance is expected at each class meeting. Per the class participation portion of the grade, I will reduce your grade for absences.  Up to 3 excused absences will be tolerated without affecting your grade.

Readings:

You are responsible for the content of reading assignments, lectures and handouts, as well as announcements and schedule changes made in class, whether or not you are present. If you must miss a class, you are responsible to get what you missed. Exams will be given in class on the day scheduled and may not be made up.

Out-of-class Time:

Material in any class is not learned or mastered simply by attending class.  The student needs to spend the time outside of class doing the readings, discussing the issues with fellow students, and discussing topics with the professor.  In many respects, out of class time is, in fact, more important than lecture time.  A good rule of thumb is that you should be spending 12-14 hours of quality time outside of class per week on a 4 credit hour course.

Other Issues

Disability Accommodation:

Any student who thinks he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately as soon as possible to discuss your specific needs. I rely on the Office of Academic Support in Doane 104 to verify the need for accommodation based on documentation on file in their office.

Academic Integrity:

Do your own individual homeworks and projects. Do NOT copy from another person. There should be no reason for two nearly identical assignments. Usually a warning will be given first and then an incident of academic fraud will be reported for subsequent incidents.

Ethics:

As a result of this class, you will gain knowledge and tools that will allow you to mount unethical attacks against computers.  This is NOT the purpose of this class.  Please do not abuse your knowledge.  Generally, trying to hack computers not your own is a felony offence and can easily bridge state boundaries (even unintentionally), which makes it a Federal crime.

 

Course Outline -- for tentative outline, see the Schedule page.