Organization
Instructor: Amir Houmansadr
Institution: College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) @ University of Massachusetts Amherst
Course number: CMPSCI460 (undergrad section), CMPSCI597N (grad section)
Class hours: TuTh 10:00am-11:15pm
Class location: 142 Computer Science Building
Office hours: Th 1pm--2pm, or by appointment
Office location: CS206
E-mail: amir (at) cs.umass.edu (Note: make sure to have your email Subject started with [460] in all class communications.)
Book: We use Introduction to Computer Security (Matt Bishop) loosely for some readings. Other readings will be assigned during the lectures.
Materials: Lecture notes, assignments, schedule, and announcements will be posted on Moodle.
Institution: College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) @ University of Massachusetts Amherst
Course number: CMPSCI460 (undergrad section), CMPSCI597N (grad section)
Class hours: TuTh 10:00am-11:15pm
Class location: 142 Computer Science Building
Office hours: Th 1pm--2pm, or by appointment
Office location: CS206
E-mail: amir (at) cs.umass.edu (Note: make sure to have your email Subject started with [460] in all class communications.)
Book: We use Introduction to Computer Security (Matt Bishop) loosely for some readings. Other readings will be assigned during the lectures.
Materials: Lecture notes, assignments, schedule, and announcements will be posted on Moodle.
Overview
This course provides an introduction to the principles and practice of system and network security with a focus on both fundamentals and practical information. The three key topics of this course are cryptography, system and network security, and protecting information technology resources. Subtopics include ciphers, key exchange, security services (integrity, availability, confidentiality, etc.), system, network, and web based security attacks, vulnerabilities, exploits, countermeasures and responses. Students will complete several lab assignments experimenting with security countermeasures.
For each class students are expected to thoroughly study the assigned readings (if any). Grading is done based on these items:
For each class students are expected to thoroughly study the assigned readings (if any). Grading is done based on these items:
- In-class quizzes: An undisclosed number of short quizzes will be taken at the end of classes without prior notice! Make sure to attend lectures and pay attention!
- Homework assignments: Some homeworks will include coding assignments.
- Exams: There will be a midterm exam and a final exam. The midterm includes all the lectures before the exam day, and the final includes the whole semester.
- Presentations: This is ONLY for grad students enrolled in 579N. Students will work with the instructor to choose a research topic, which will be presented in class at the end of semester.
| Course Section | 460 | 597N |
| In-class quizzes | 20% | 20% |
| Homeworks | 30% | 20% |
| Midterm Exam | 20% | 20% |
| Final Exam | 30% | 20% |
| Presentation | 0% | 20% |
Prerequisites
CMPSCI 377 and a familiarity with Unix! CMPSCI460 is for CICS undergraduate students, and CMPSCI597N is for CICS graduate students.Ethics
Here are some of the ethical rules that must be practiced by the students. If you are uncertain about an action being ethical please contact the instructor. You can also read UMass's Academic Honesty Policy.- Paper reviews must be prepared independently. Students may collaborate on the project if agreed by the instructor.
- Presentation slides may be borrowed from others (e.g., authors of the papers), given proper acknowledgement.
- As a general rule, students are not permitted to submit the same work for credit in multiple courses (e.g., a project submitted for another course, or an already published paper). Extensions to previous projects may be accepted after discussing with the instructor.
- Plagiarism is a serious crime! If you use someone else's result in your report make sure to give proper reference. Exact wording should be reported inside quotation marks.