Information Assurance

Clay Shields, Department of Computer Science, Georgetown University

Assignments, Exams, and Readings

Assignment	Due Date
Homework 1: Familiarization with Unix	January 23rd, 2023
Homework 2: Password Programming	Feburary 6th, 2023
Homework 3: Password Security	February 21st, 2023
Homework 4: Password Code Review	March 13th, 2023
Midterm Exam	March 15th, 2023
Homework 5: Spectre and Meltdown attacks on Canvas	March 27th, 2023
Homework 6: Password Programming Redux	April 5th, 2023
Homework 7: Destroy, destory, destroy.	April 19th, 2023
Homework 8: Attack Familiarization.	May 1st, 2023
Topic presentations	Varies
Final Exam	9-11 AM May 6th, 2023. Please verify with registrar schedule, I sometimes get this wrong!

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Resources

• Additional Readings

  Additional readings are posted here.

• Textbook

  This semester we will be using a variety of books, all available online. Please note the first three books are available through the Safari Books Online from any campus IP address, or using your NetID through the library website.
  
  
  • Practical Unix and Internet Security, 3rd Edition, by Garfinkel, Schwartz, and Spafford.
  • Secure Programming Cookbook for C and C++ by Viega and Messier.
  • The Art of Software Security Assessment by Dowd, McDonald, and Schuh.
  • Security Engineering by Ross Anderson.

• Accounts

  Later in the semester you will be given an account on a server named ia-class.cs.georgetown.edu. This will be the official machine for programming assignments. You can work on your own computer, but your code must work on and be readable on ia-class. The official class system is a linux/unix system.

• Mailing Lists

  Students will also be expected to subscribe to the following mailing lists for the semester:

  RISKS Digest: This is a relatively low-volume mailing lists that carries discussions of the risks of computer error, misuse, and malfunction to humans and society. You may receive this any number of ways, through the web, through the newsgroup comp.risks, or by e-mail.

  http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks

  Security Week This is a service that provides up to date news about security problems in the real world. You can read it at or subscribe to an email list at http://www.securityweek.com/subscribe.

Instructor, TA, and Course Information

• Instructor

  Clay Shields
  
  Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday 12-1PM
  
  Office hours are online for Spring 2023 - see the class canvas page for the Zoom link
  
  Contact information here

• TAs

  Cly Cunningham
  
  Grace Ring
  
  

• Course Information

  This course is intended to introduce students to means of assuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information through mechanisms of technology, policy, and education. Topics will include: access control; authentication; security policies and enforcement; security design principles; malicious logic; vulnerability analysis; intrusion detection and response; audit; risk assessment; personnel and physical security; and legal, ethical, and social issues. Prerequisites: COSC 173.

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Policies

All my courses are run under the same set of policies which are available here. Students are expected to read and understand these policies. You can also read the Honor Council site.

In addition, in this class you will be learning how computer attackers probe and attack computers and networks. I will be providing a test network for you to experiment with these techniques. You ARE NOT to use these techniques on any other machine or network that you do not have specific written permission to do so. If you do so and are caught, I will not allow the excuse that what you were doing was for class, and instead will tell them that you were warned not to do it.