CSC583: Topics in Computer Security

This course is an introduction to computer security for graduate students in our MS degree and IA certificate programs. It weaves issues in computer ethics with issues in Computer Security research. A large range of topics are covered in various formats, including distributed lecture notes and many articles from the IEEE and the ACM on issues in security (especially articles from IEEE Security and Privacy). Topics include application vulnerabilities (hacking, hacking culture, computer crime, worms, viruses), records management, safeguards, privacy issues, intellectual property issues, the weakest link, cognitive hacking, information warfare, cyberterrorism, encryption, policy, prevention mechanisms (e.g., intrusion detection, firewalls, and computer immunology), authentication/availability/integrity, NSTISSAM COMPUSEC, biometrics. Ethical issues are interwoven with technologies that computer scientists have created to address those ethical issues. For example, after discussing intellectual property, we study code obfuscation, digital watermarks and other technologies for preventing software piracy. Students work on research papers to investigate these topics.