CSC302 Syllabus

  1. Course number and name

    CSC302 – Computer Security II

  2. Credits and contact hours

    3 Credit Hours

  3. Instructor’s or course coordinator’s name

    Instructor: Dr. Bin Lu, Associate Professor of Computer Science

  4. Text book, title, author, and year

    Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World, 2nd Edition, Charlie Kaufman, Radia Perlman, and Mike Speciner, Prentice Hall Publishers, 2002.

    Other Supplemental Materials

    Counter Hack Reloaded: A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Attacks and Effective Defenses, 2nd Edition, Edward Skoudis, Tom Liston, Prentice Hall Publishers, 2006.

  5. Specific course information

    1. brief description of the content of the course (catalog description)

      Principles and current technological developments in computer security (a continuation of CSC 301). Topics include security requirements, attack models, cryptography, authentication, and systems security, among others. Students will also learn practical knowledge through hands-on lab experience.

    2. prerequisites or co-requisites

      Prerequisite: CSC301 Computer Security I

    3. indicate whether a required, elective, or selected elective course in the program

      Elective course.

  6. Specific goals for the course

    1. specific outcomes of instruction The student will be able to:

      • Understand important topics of computer security, such as security concepts, principles, components, architectures, ethical and legal issues.
      • Design, implement and evaluate a secure network system.
      • Apply mathematical foundations, algorithm principles, and computer science theory in topics such as cryptographic operations and security architecture.
      • Work effectively both independently and in teams through hand-on lab activities and team projects.
      • Understand and use the newest security tools.
      • Find technical information from the web and other sources when they do assignments and project.

    2. explicitly indicate which of the student outcomes listed in Criterion 3 or any other outcomes are addressed by the course.

      Course addresses Student Outcomes (d), (e), (i) and (j).

  7. Brief list of topics to be covered
    • Introduction to computer security (terminology, security services, attack models, security architectures, the orange book)
    • Public key cryptography and its applications
    • Secret key cryptography and its applications
    • Hash algorithms and their applications
    • Overview of authentication systems
    • User authentication
    • Managing and protecting passwords
    • Exception throwing and handling
    • Unix/Linux security
    • PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)
    • Intrusion detection