INF 455 / INF 555: Prevention and Protection Strategies in Cybersecurity

Spring 2015

Course Information | Policies | Lecture/Assignment Schedule

INF455/INF555 syllabus in PDF format

Course Information

Class

Tuesday 07:15pm-10:05pm

Classroom

BA-227 (updated)

Instructor

Amir Masoumzadeh

Office Location

BA-311

Office Hours

Thursday 03:00pm-05:00pm

Email

amasoumzadeh [at] albany [dot] edu (Always, include "INF455" or "INF555" in the subject of your email.)

Course Description

The role of security policies and design strategies to minimize security vulnerabilities in computer and networked systems. The affected areas range from the overall design of systems, networking protocols, operating systems and applications software on individual computers. The role of coding standards. End user education and role in security.

Prerequisites

INF 306, Information Security and Assurance

Required Reading

[SB14] Computer Security: Principles and Practice (3rd Edition), W. Stallings and L. Brown, 2014, ISBN-13: 978-0133773927

Additional Readings

[Anderson08] Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems (2nd Edition), Ross J. Anderson, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-0470068526 (Available for free on the Author's website)

Policies

These are the highlights of the policies. Check out the full policies in INF455/INF555 syllabus.

Readings and Assignments

• Reading is an important part of the class. The readings indicated for each class session are due before the class.
• Unless otherwise mentioned, assignments are due by the end of the day.
• If you decide to submit your assignment late, it will be subject to 10% penalty per day late for up to 5 days. No assignment will be accepted after 5 days past the deadline.

Grading

• Assignments/In-Class Activities: 35%
• Quizzes: 15%
• Midterm: 20%
• Final Project: 25%
• Class Participation: 5%

Lecture and Assignment Schedule

The schedule will be regularly updated during the course of the semester.

Date	Topic	Reading	Assignment
Jan. 27	Classes Cancelled due to Weather
Feb. 3	RAT 1 Overview of Cybersecurity Cryptographic Tools	[SB14] Chapter 1 (pp. 12-36) [SB14] Sections 2.1 and 2.2 (pp. 41-55)
Feb. 10	RAT 2 Cryptographic Tools User Authentication	[SB14] Sections 2.3-2.6 (pp. 55-67) [SB14] Sections 3.1-3.6 (pp. 73-105)	Assignment 1 due Feb. 13
Feb. 17	RAT 3 User Authentication Access Control	[SB14] Chapter 4 (pp. 114-150)	Assignment 2 due Feb. 20
Feb. 24	RAT 4 Final Project: Discussion Database and Cloud Security	[SB14] Chapter 5 (pp. 156-193)
Mar. 3	RAT 5 Database and Cloud Security Malicious Software	[SB14] Sections 6.1-6.5 (pp. 200-220)	Project Ideas due Mar. 5
Mar. 10	RAT 6 Malicious Software Final Project: Idea Presentations	[SB14] Sections 6.6-6.10 (pp. 221-235)	Assignment 3 due Mar. 16 Project Proposal due Mar. 17
Mar. 17	Spring Break (No Class)
Mar. 24	RAT 7 Denial of Service Attacks Intrusion Detection	[SB14] Chapter 7 (pp. 240-263) [SB14] Sections 8.1-8.4 (pp. 268-283)
Mar. 31	RAT 8 Intrusion Detection Firewalls and Intrusion Prevention Systems	[SB14] Sections 8.5-8.9 (pp. 283-299) [SB14] Chapter 9 (pp. 304-329)
Apr. 7	Midterm		Assignment 4 due Apr. 6
Apr. 14	Review Exam Papers Firewalls and Intrusion Prevention Systems	[SB14] Chapter 9 (pp. 304-329)	Assignment 5 due Apr. 17
Apr. 21	RAT 9 IT Security Management and Risk Assessment Human Resources Security	[SB14] Chapter 14 (pp. 486-507) [SB14] Chapter 17 (pp. 557-573)	Project Progress Report due Apr. 21
Apr. 28	RAT 10 Legal and Ethical Aspects Information Privacy	[SB14] Chapter 19 (pp. 611-632)	Project Poster Presentation on Apr. 29 (CCI Day)
May. 5	Usability Aspects of Security and Privacy		Assignment 6 (optional) due May 8 Project Report due May 8