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Information Security has become one of the biggest challenges of the
21st century. From viruses to attacks on our computers, it seems
there is no rest. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
occupation in Computer Science is expected to grow at a 37% rate over
the next 10 years "much faster than average" (by 200,000 new
positions) while "information security is an increasing concern" due
to the importance of the internet and electronic
commerce so "more security professionals are needed to protect their
systems".
The Computer Science Department offers several courses in this critical area,
beginning with a freshman-level course on "safe computing":
CS 13401 User-Level Computer Security (next offering: Fall 2009)
This course covers the necessary skills for a user to clear
a computer of malware (viruses, worms, etc.) and keep it malware-free.
The course also covers other menaces due to modern technology,
such as SPAM, phishing, and ID theft.
At the senior level, three courses provide an overview of information
security and in-depth coverage of two areas:
CS 47205 Information Security (taught Fall'08, next offering: Spring 2010)
This course provides an overview and introduction to the field of
information security, including such issues as network security, code
security, preservation of confidentiality, integrity and availability
in different contexts.
CS 4/53401 Secure Programming (next offering: Spring 2009, Fall 2010)
(offered in Spring 2009 as CS 4/59995 ST: Secure Coding)
This course covers the mindset programmers need to make sure they
don't open vulnerabilities in their programs. It covers such issues as
buffer overflows, race conditions, formatting errors, and code
walkthroughs and how to include safety in the design of the program.
CS 47221 Introduction to Cryptology (next offering: Fall 2009)
This course is a survey of traditional and modern cryptological
devices, going from the Caesar Cypher, through DES and AES to
assymmetric cryptosystems like RSA and Diffie-Hellman.
In addition to the security courses above, interested students may
also want to consider CS 33223 Unix Tools, CS 45201 Computer Communication Networks,
and CS 45231 Internet Engineering.
Graduate students (or advanced
undergraduate students) might want to consider CS 6/79995 ST: Advanced
Information Security and Cryptology. |
