Fall 2009 Courses
CS446: "Intro to Computer Security"
Course Overview
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Fall 2009 Courses CS446: "Intro to Computer Security" Course Overview |
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All lecture notes and other related materials will be posted to the class web site shortly
after the session they appeared in (usually by the next day).
Other useful texts on computer and
information security can be
found here.
The sessions will include a lecture component, perhaps some videos or demos, and
possibly some hands-on exercises requiring the use of a computer and an Internet
connection.
During the last two sessions [#12 (after final exam) & #13] students will each
give a 10 minute in-class presentation of their Term Project to the assembled class. See
the Term Project section below for more information on what's
expected as part of the Term Project.
Following instructions carefully is important,
as is keeping up with the work. All of the
assigned work will help you master the subject
matter over time; none of it is
optional. All of the course work must be
successfully completed in a timely way in order to
earn a grade (other than W or F) in the course.
Please let me know as soon as possible if you think there is an error or
some ambiguity in the instructions or if you are experiencing difficulties with
the assignments. I will post any corrections on the website and send an e-mail
to notify everyone about them.
Every week (unless stated otherwise) every student should find a recent
article on the web or in print concerning a security topic we've discussed
previously. At the start of each class a few students will be chosen at random
to deliver a short "elevator speech" summary of it and we will discuss it. No
written submissions are required; you can bring your own notes to class however.
Written homework assignments are due by the
start of the next class session. They must be
submitted in electronic form and normally uploaded
to the class FTP server (or they can be e-mailed
in a pinch to cs446@unh-ececs.net, if you cannot
do the upload for some reason). You will be using
the FTP host, 'ftp://ftp.unh-ececs.net'
as a repository for all your work. Students will
be assigned an FTP account expressly for that
purpose at the beginning of the course and you are
expected to upload your work prior to the
beginning of the next class. Their will be a
subdirectory in your ftp account for each numbered
assignment (e.g., "assignment-1"). Please place
your respective homework files into the
appropriate subdirectory when uploading the
file(s). A separate subdirectory will be created
for all files related to your 'termproject'.
If you need an ftp client for your system, try one of the following:
Late submissions of work will be downgraded appropriately (see Grading below for further details). The list of all weekly
assignments can be found here.
Probably the most important part of the course is the Term Project which must
be completed by the end of the semester. Each student (or pair of students; see
below) will select a topic of his/her own choice related to computer security,
complete a project based on that topic, write it up in a formal document, and,
finally, make a 10-minute presentation to the class describing their
work. Students who are comfortable with programming can choose to develop a
security-oriented application of some sort. These projects will also entail a
10-minute stand-up presentation, but the written part of the deliverables will
be shorter (about 1/2 the length of the standard research project) and will
focus more on the application's design and other issues involved in building the
application. Naturally, a graduate student will be expected to choose a more
challenging project than an undergraduate. More details on the Term Project and
a list of potential topic areas for research can be found on this page.
While I expect that most students will be doing their Term Project work
individually, pairs of students may team up and officially collaborate on a
joint topic. Naturally, the output product must reflect that more than one set
of hands went into its creation. Both members of the pair will be
required to do a portion of the final, in-class presentation.
The final deliverables for the Term Project include: Regular attendance for lectures is very important. Not
everything discussed in class may be covered in the weekly assignments or
readings, however you will still be responsible for the
material come exam time. Of course, there may well be times when
you cannot be in class for completely understandable and legitimate reasons and
I'll do what I can to accomodate these cases, but you should let me know as soon
as possible BEFORE you expect to be missing and why. I need to monitor weekly
attendance using sign-in sheets for purely bureaucratic reasons, but keeping
track of who attends class and participates actively is also a good indicator of
how serious a student is about the course and a definite factor in determining a
final grade.
Naturally, given their "elevated" status graduate students will be
expected to produce project work of higher quality and/or quantity than
undergrads.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Homework which is turned in more than 5 days after it was due
will not be reviewed by me, will be considered as not completed, and graded with
an F.
All homework assignments, lecture notes, error corrections, announcements,
suggestions, and other useful information will be posted on the course
website. Please check for new postings at least twice each week. These updates
will be accessible by clicking on the Updates
& Notices choice in the 'Course Documentation' section of the site
menu. Any especially time-critical information will also be sent via e-mail to
the class distribution list.
With regards to course-related questions and other normal communications
please try to contact me first via e-mail using the address: cs446@unh-ececs.net. I will answer them as
soon as I can, but I can't promise a specific turnaround time for answers. I
can also usually be reached via telephone in my office at 203-655-2400 or on my
cell phone at 203-984-6565 in the case of an emergency. Please leave a detailed
message explaining your situation and provide a phone # where I can return your
call.
One-on-one meeting times can be arranged on an as-needed basis.
And most importantly, communications-wise...
PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP WHEN YOU
ARE EXPERIENCING SERIOUS DIFFICULTIES!
Simply put, if I don't know that something is broken, then I can do nothing
to help fix it and may wind up assuming you are not up to the course or just not
trying hard enough. Without on-going interaction and early intervention, I'm
afraid I'll have to assume the latter.
Your homework assignments and lab assignments are to be done by you and you
alone; please, no "sharing" of work with other students unless your
collaboration has been sanctioned by me.
It is unacceptable to work so closely with another student that your work
output is essentially the same. This kind of "help" will certainly not help you
to master the material. The only way to pass the exams is to struggle with the
weekly work yourself. If you need serious assistance, don't hesitate to ask me
for it. Of course, it's fine for one student to aid another one who doesn't
understand some particular abstract concept and asks for that level of
assistance, but that is very different from essentially doing their work for
them.
Plagiarism (i.e., copying someone else's work) is a serious offense in
industry and also in our department. Employees are sometimes fired for it. Any
willful plagiarism or any other sort of cheating which is discovered will make
the student liable for immediate failure in the course and potential
dismissal. Please keep in mind that plagiarism is easier to detect than most
folks think. Copying another's work shows a lack of respect for yourself, for
the teacher, for the university, and also for the student whose work you
copy. Also, copying work is simply very foolish; there is no way to pass the
exams without doing the work yourself. Note: In our classes, the "knowing"
giver and the borrower are considered equally guilty.
To avoid accidental participation in someone else's offense, do not loan
your work to another student at any time for any reason. Do not leave it in the
lab, and do not leave copies of your files in publicly-accessible directories.
Lastly, you are expected to read, understand, and follow the UNH policy
on academic honesty.
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This file last modified Tuesday December 29, 2009 at 12:32PM
