Welcome to CptS 427/527—Computer Security, Fall 2011

Syllabus

Please refer to the class syllabus for details about course policies, etc.

Class Schedule

The following schedule is subject to change.
Date Description
August 23 First day of Class
September 5 Labor Day—All University holiday
October 11 & 13 Class cancelled—Professors on travel
October 18 Mid-term Exam Review
October 20 Mid-term Exam (Chapters 1-10)
November 11 Veteran's Day—All University holiday
November 21-25 Thanksgiving vacation
Nov 29, Dec 1 & 6 Graduate Student Presentations
December 8 Final Exam Review, Last day of class
December 15 Final Exam—10:10 AM-12:10 PM

Computer Security Current Event Discussions

Each student is responsible for leading a classroom discussion about a current event with computer security relevance. (Discussions will be limited to one per day, please plan accordingly).
Requirements:
  1. Find a current news item (or recent "enlightening" work experience, etc.) with computer security relevance that you can present in class
  2. Come to class prepared to discuss your item. (This includes being able to provide a reference citation/URL/etc).
  3. Lead a 3-5 minute discussion on your topic. This discussion needs to cover why this was a timely event and why your classmates and instructors should be interested in the topic. (Suggestion: relate your event back to CIA)
  4. Email a half-page write-up of your current event presentation to the instructors by the following day. The write-up should include the reference/citation of your source, its CIA relevance, and key points from the classroom discussion. Use the subject line "CptS427: Current Event from LAST_NAME", where LAST_NAME is the student's last name.

Assignments & Projects

All assignments shall be typed—hand-written work will not be accepted. All assignments shall be emailed to Dr. McKinnon (mckinnon (at) tricity.wsu.edu) and Dr. Manz ( david.manz (at) tricity.wsu.edu), unless otherwise noted. The subject line of the email shall be "CptS427: Assignment X from LAST_NAME", where X is the assignment number (e.g., 2, 3, 4) and LAST_NAME is the student's last name. The email shall contain an attached PDF file that is named "cpts427-asX-LAST_NAME.pdf", where X and LAST_NAME are as previously mentioned. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be penalized three points.

Assignments & Projects

ID  Given    Due     Description
1 Aug 23 Aug 30 Read the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the IEEE Code of Ethics. E-mail the instructors the links to where you found these Codes. Provide a list of sections that relate to computer security researchers/practicians.
2 Aug 30 Sep 6 Questions from Chapters 1-3.
3 Sep 6 Sep 15 Questions from Chapters 4-5.
4 Sep 13 Sep 22 Questions from Chapters 6-7.
5 Sep 27 Oct 4 Questions from Chapter 8.
6 Oct 6 Oct 13 Questions from Chapters 9-10.
p1 Sep 15 Oct 6 Caesar Cipher Attack. Sample text files and scripts are located in the prog1 directory.
p2 Oct 24 Nov 19 Integrity-aware Applications. Sample text files and scripts are located in the prog2 directory.
7 Nov 8 Nov 19 Questions from Chapters 11-16.
p3 Nov 19 Dec 13 Covert Channel Communication. Test scripts are located in the prog3 directory.
8 Nov 29 Dec 8 Questions from Chapters 17-21.
9 Nov 29 Dec 9 Summarize six research presentations. (60 pts)
These summaries need not be long (one paragraph is sufficient) and should include why the topic pertains to you.
RP Aug 23 Dec 13 Research Project—Graduate Students only:
Oral Presentation: time limit 12-15 minutes, with 2-5 minutes of Q&A.
Paper Requirements: 7-8 pages, format using an IEEE Computer Society conference template)
Last Update: 26 November 2011