Welcome to CptS 427/527—Computer Security, Fall 2013

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 19	First day of Class
September 2	Labor Day—All University holiday
October 14	Mid-term Exam Review
October 16	Mid-term Exam (Chapters 1-10)
November 11	Veteran's Day—All University holiday
November 25-29	Thanksgiving vacation
November 18 & 20	Graduate Student Presentations
December 4	Final Exam Review, Last day of class
December 11	Final Exam—3:10 PM-5:10 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 at most two per day. No discussions will permitted on days with exams or the graduate student presentations. Each discussion must be on a separate event/issue. Reserving a classroom discussion time and topic is on a first come, first served basis. Please plan accordingly.
Requirements:

Find a current news item (or recent "enlightening" work experience, etc.) with computer security relevance that you can present in class. For the purpose of this class, current means either something that happened this semester, Fall 2013, or something that was reported this semester even though it originally happend before the start of this semester.
Come to class prepared to discuss your item. (This includes being able to provide a reference citation/URL/etc).
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 confidentiality, integrity, and availability)
Submit a half-page write-up of your current event presentation to the instructors by midnight of the day following your classroom discussion (i.e., you have about 30 hours to complete the writeup).
- The write-up should include the reference/citation of your source, its computer security relevance, and key points from the classroom discussion.
- Use the subject line "cpts427: Discussion from LAST_NAME", where LAST_NAME is the student's last name.
- The email shall contain an attached PDF file that is named "cpts427-disc-LAST_NAME.pdf", where LAST_NAME is the student's last name.

Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be penalized five points. Submissions that are not emailed to both Dr. McKinnon and Dr. Manz will be penalized five points.

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 described. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be penalized five points. Submissions that are not emailed to both Dr. McKinnon and Dr. Manz will be penalized five points.

Assignments & Projects Schedule

ID	Given	Due	Description
1	Aug 19	Aug 23	Read the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the IEEE Code of Ethics. Submit a short write-up that includes links to where you found these Codes and a description of an unethical hacking incident. Justify the choice of your example by referencing relevant sections from the ACM and IEEE codes.
2	Aug 23	Sept 4	Questions from Chapters 1-3.
3	Aug 28	Sept 9	Questions from Chapters 4-5.
4	Sept 11	Sept 18	Questions from Chapters 6-7.
P1	Sep 16	Oct 9	Caesar Cipher Attack. Sample text files and scripts are located in the prog1 directory.
5	Sep 23	Oct 9	Questions from Chapter 8.
6	Oct 7	Oct 14	Questions from Chapters 9-10.
7	Oct 21	Oct 30	Questions from Chapters 11-16.
p2	Oct 21	Nov 8	Covert Channels. Sample text files and scripts are located in the prog2 directory.
8	Nov 13	Nov 22	Questions from Chapters 17-20.
9	Nov 13	Dec 2	Questions from Chapters 21-22.
10	Nov 18	Dec 4	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.
p3	Nov 13	Dec 6	Program #3. Test scripts are located in the prog3 directory.
RP	Aug 19	Dec 4	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: 12 November 2013