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Advanced Computer Networks and Computer Security
CMPS 476 - Spring 2010
Melissa Danforth

Office: Sci III 338, 654-3180 
Office Hours: MWF 12:45-1:40pm and 4:30-5:15pm (or by appointment)
Email: melissa@cs.csubak.edu
Course web site: http://www.cs.csubak.edu/~mdanfor/ under the Teaching menu
Course meets MWF 3:10 - 4:20pm
        and  T   3:10 - 5:40pm in Sci III 315

Course Description:
This is a continuation of CMPS 376 Computer Networks. Topics covered will
include system security, basic cryptography and network security. We will
begin by investigating issues in system security such as security policies,
assurance, vulnerabilities and trusted operating systems. We will then look
at how systems interact on a network and at new security issues that a 
networked environment presents such as worms, bot nets and denial of service
attacks. Methods to provide better security at both the system and network
level will be discussed, along with how risk analysis, cost-benefit analysis
and other concerns impact the choices administrators have in securing their
systems. Ethics and legal issues related to security research will also be
discussed, in particular, responsible methods for conducting and reporting
security research. Labs will provide more hands-on experience with securing 
systems and particular issues with certain OSes and applications. 

Prerequisite:
CMPS 376

Textbook: 
Security Engineering, 2nd edition. Ross Anderson. Wiley, 2008.
ISBN: 978-0-470-06852-6.

The full first edition of the book and selected portions of the second edition
are available as PDFs at the author's website: 
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/book.html

Topics:
Topics will be posted under the Calendar section of the course website.

Attendance:
Students are responsible for their own attendance. The topics covered
in lecture will be listed on the course website. Lab attendance is not 
required but is strongly encouraged. Not all labs in this course can be
completed at home, so students should attend those labs or make alternate
arrangements to use Sci III 315.

Academic Integrity Policy: 
Assignments may discussed in groups. If the assignment is a group 
assignment, the group turns in one assignment for the entire group. 
However, if the assignment is an individual assignment, each student 
must turn in their own work; no direct copying is allowed. You may 
discuss individual assignments with other students, but you must write 
up the assignment in your own words.  Refer to the Academic Integrity 
policy in the campus catalog.

Computer Lab:
The computer lab in Sci III 324 is available for use by students in this 
course outside of class time on a first come, first serve basis.

Grading:  Labs/Homework  25%
          Project        25%
          Midterm        25%
          Final          25%

Homework/Lab Policy: 
Homeworks and labs may be worked on and discussed in groups, but every 
student must turn in their own assignments in their own words. Refer to
the Academic Integrity Policy above. Assignments will be posted online 
on the course website. The due date will be given with the assignment.

Late Policy:
Late labs are not accepted, however partial credit will be given for
incomplete labs. Late homework is accepted, but it will be marked down 
10% for every day it is late. If there is no late policy posted on the 
homework assignment, then the homework may be turned in up to three days 
late. Saturday and Sunday combined count as only one day late (e.g. if 
the assignment is due Friday and you turn it in Sunday, it will be marked 
as one day late). If there is a late policy posted on the assignment, 
then that policy will apply for that particular assignment. 

Homework/Lab Submission:
Assignments are submitted by emailing the instructor from the Computer 
Science department server or by turning in a hardcopy of the assignment
to the instructor. If emailing, all files must be in text, OpenOffice 
or PDF format. Do NOT use Microsoft Office formats, particularly DOCX
or XLSX, as they cannot be read by the instructor. Do not use RunnerMail, 
GMail or any other email method as the campus firewall may block the 
email without notifying the either you or the instructor. If you believe 
you submitted the assignment on time but the instructor has not received 
it, contact the instructor.

Project:
Each student will select a topic in security for the project. Potential
topics will be discussed in class. The project can be purely a survey of
existing research or brief research into the topic. The project will
be graded on a 5-10 page paper and a 30 minute presentation to the
class on your topic. More details will be posted on the calendar section
of the website.

Midterm: Tuesday April 27, 2010 during the lab timeblock.

Final: Wednesday June 9, 2010 at 5:00 - 7:30pm.