Course Description

This course examines the basic concepts, issues, and practices related to computer network security. Topics covered include authentication methods, attacks on network systems, malicious code, network vulnerabilities, intrusion detection systems, cryptography, methods for minimizing threats and vulnerability, as well as legal and ethical issues involving network security.

Course Objectives

Because the computer and the Internet are so much a part of our life,network security is an important and timely concern for everyone, especially students majoring in CS and CIS programs. The contents and practices in this field are always evolving, as new threats to the computer networks are discovered and countermeasures are developed. Although it is the responsibility of all users of computer systems to acquire and maintain basic knowledge and skills in promoting network security, there will always be a special need for experts in network security.

The course is intended to help the students to: 

• become familiar with terminologies related to computer network security
• learn how to develop a network security policy
• be able to minimize threats and vulnerabilities to the home computer system
• understand the role of firewalls
• learn how to identify threats and vulnerabilities to the computer network system
• become familiar with some of the tools related to network security
• understand guidelines used to design a secure network system
• appreciate the importance of protecting the computer network system from the Internet
• develop a habit of continually studying security issues as they evolve

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Instructor

Bro. Robert K. Maruyama, S.M.
email: [email protected]
office: 739-4605

Text Book

Network Security First-Step, by Tom Thomas. Cisco Press, 2004

Topics

The following topics will be covered in this course.

1. Network Security Overview
2. Security Policies
3. Packet Filtering with Firewall
4. Authentication Technologies
5. Attacks & Prevention
6. Malicious Code
7. Router Security
8. Virtual Private Networks
9. Intrusion Detection
10. Cryptography
11. Ethical and Legal Issues in Network Security

Class Format & Method

This class will be conducted as a directed study course during the current term. A directed study class, more than a regular class, requires that you as a student take the initiative in studying the contents of the course. The primary source of information for this class will be textbook readings, augmented by readings from other sources and acuities suggested by the instructor. There will be a number of projects to be completed, sometimes using your own computer and other times using a lab computer. The schedule of topics to be covered and projects to be completed are organized in a separate Schedule page.

We will meet once a week at a time and place to be determined, in order to check your progress, answer questions, engage in discussions, conduct presentations, etc.

One of the requirements for the class calls you to find, read, and evaluate an article on the Web each week. You are asked to compile a list of such articles in a table format and post the list on the Web server, updating it each week.

Requirements

Following are the class requirements. Refer to the section on Grading for the relative weights of each element.

• Weekly review questions
• Projects and lab assignments
• Articles on the Web
• Presentation
• Midterm
• Final exam

Your weekly assignment will go something like this.

• Read the text book chapters and linked documents as indicated on the Schedule page
• Complete and submit review questions.
• Complete any lab or project activity and submit a report.
• Search on the Web documents related to network security, read them, summarize them, and update your table of links.

All assignments are due at midnight of the Saturday of the week they are assigned. Please conform to the following format in submitting your work.

1. Review Questions and Lab/Projects
   • Use word processor
   • Include your name and review question No. or lab/project No.
   • Number your answers to correspond to the questions.
   • Save the file as: yourLastNameREVreviewNo.doc, or yourLastNamePAprojectNo.doc. For example, if your last name is Chang and you are submitting review No. 5, the file name should be: changREV05.doc. If you are submitting Project No 5, the file name should be: changPA05.doc.
   • Submit the document as an email attachment:
     To: [email protected]
     Subject: Review Questions No. 5 (or PA No. 5)
2. Web-based Articles
   • Create an HTML page, named articles.html, with a table containing the following four columns: a) Name of the article, which is linked to a URL; b) a brief (one paragraph) summary of its contents; c) category (refer to weekly topics on the Schedule page) to which the article belongs; d) your rating of the article
     • The rating should be one of the following:
       • A -- excellently covers a particular topic, clearly written, highly recommended
       • B -- very good; not quite A, but still recommended
       • C -- not very clear; so-so
     • The table should be uploaded on the Web server each week in order to be given full credit.
       • Each of you will be assigned a space on the Chaminade Web server. Use an FTP program to upload your page.
         Host Name: acad.chaminade.edu
         User ID: cs-class
         Password: to be announced
       • Under the cs-class/48001/ folder, each of you will have your own subfolder, named with 3 letters--your last name initial plus the first two letters of your first name. Thus, if your full name is Thomas Chang, your folder will be named cth.

• Here is a sample table

Web-based Articles on Network Security Thomas Chang
Title	Summary	Category	Rating
Computer Ethics: Basic Concepts and Historical Overview	An excellent overview of the history and concept of computer ethics. Explains how the notion of "computer ethics" evolved over recent decades and what areas it involves. Includes an extensive bibliography.	Ethics	A
What Is a Virus	A concise explanation of various types of malware, including virus, worm, and trojan horse.	Attacks	A

3. Presentation
   One of the requirements is an oral presentation on a topic of your choice, which will be scheduled for the last week of the semester. The topic should relate to network security and the length of the presentation should be about 15 minutes.

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Grading

The semester grade will be based on the following elements of your course responsibilities: (Points in various categories and total points are subject to change.) 

The following guidelines will be used in determining the final grades.
A: >= 90%; B: >= 80%; C: >= 70%; D: >= 60; F: < 60%

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Submitting One's Own Work

Each student is expected to submit his or her own work. You are strongly encouraged to help each other in solving problems, but the work to be submitted should be your own, unless you have specifically instructed to submit a common project. You must distinguish between consulting your friends or discussing problems with them from copying other people's work. In order to avoid the temptation to copy someone else's work, do not exchange your work itself. If you use any direct quote or paraphrased sentences from articles or books, you must credit their source. The penalty for plagiarism, either in whole or in part, is, for the first offense, a grade of 0 for all parties involved; for the second offense, an F for the course.

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