CAP 6133: Advanced Topics in Computer Security and 

Computer Forensic (Spring 2008)

Home                      Schedule notes                        Assignment

Instructor:        Dr. Cliff Zou (HEC-335),  407-823-5015,   czou @ cs.ucf.edu

Course Time:   MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM,  ENGR   0227

Office Hour:    MW 11:30PM - 1:30PM

Prerequisite:    Knowledge of computer network, basic knowledge of probability, operating system, and programming language.

Textbook:  No textbook, we will use published research papers and on-line materials.

Outline:

            As our society depends more on computers and the Internet, computer and network security has become one of the primary concerns and requirements for most people and organizations. In this course, we will introduce and discuss the state-of-the-art research work on computer and network related security issues, and research work on computer forensics and analysis. We will cover a wide variety of hot topics in this course, and have guest lectures on computer forensics. After completing this course, students will have the following two achievements:

         (1). Obtain the general knowledge and comprehensive understandings of security related issues in computers, networks, and forensics; understand the frontiers in security research, and then be able to quickly conduct their own security-related research on topics they are interested.

          (2). Obtain general but very useful research skills, including:

           a). Learn how to present research papers clearly and concisely.

           b). Learn how to read papers efficiently and productively - grasping a paper's central ideas, knowing weakness issues that can be improved, and then conducting corresponding further research.

           c). Learn communication and cooperation skills with colleagues through the final group term project.

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This advanced topic course is highly interactive. Besides brief introductory lectures from the instructor, students will participate by presenting papers during class, discussing pros and cons of each paper, discussing how to conduct further research based on presented papers, reviewing selected papers as homework assignments, and having a final research-type group project (term paper).

Grading:

+/- grading system will be used. The tentative grading policy is as follows:

20%  Student in-class presentation

20%  Participation in class discussion (We will record how often each student asks or answers discussion questions!)

10%  Homework assignment (read and review of assigned papers)

¡¡50%  Term project (a research group project, 2 students in each group)