COMP 278 Summer I 2023 Syllabus

This course offers a comprehensive study of the principles and practices of computer system security including operating system security, network security, software security, and web security. Students will learn common threats and vulnerabilities, along with basic principles and techniques when designing a secure system. Hands-on labs will help students gain an understanding on how to think like an adversary, how modern cyber-attacks and defenses work in practice, and how to assess threats and protection mechanisms.

Prerequisites: Graduate or blended students in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, and ECPE 170 or COMP 173 with a "C" or better.

Administration

Learning Objectives

This course focuses on hands-on skills in cyber defense and offense, in particular vulnerability assessment using penetration testing.

Reconnaissance: information gathering on targets
Scanning: actively probing target to identify different properties of interest
Exploitation: Gaining access in the target system using the identified vulnerabilities

University of the Pacific Core Competencies: This course reflects the following university-wide core competenceies in the undergraduate program:

Critical Thinking
Information Literacy
Quantitative Literacy

Outcomes for COMP program: The assessment plan for this course comprises the following outcomes identified by ABET:

Outcome 6: "Apply computer science theory and software development fundamentals to produce computing-based solutions."

Course Material

No textbook is required for this course. Optional reference books may be suggested throughout the semester.

The slides, assignments, supplementary material, etc. will be provided through Canvas LMS.

Introduction to cybersecurity defense and offense
Different techniques for information gathering and reconnaissance
Social Engineering
Conducting cybersecurity assessment through different tests, including:
- Passive attacks
- Antivirus Bypassing
- Operating System's Access Control Bypassing
- Man-in-the-middle attacks
- Password attacks
- Web browser exploitations
- Web application exploitations
- Various tests on the networking protocols
- ...

Grading and Attendance Policy

Grades for the course are assigned on the scale below:

A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	F
[93,100]	[90,93)	[87,90)	[83,87)	[80,83)	[77,80)	[73,77)	[70,73)	[67,70)	[60,67)	[0,60)

Final grades will be assigned based on the performance on hands-on labs. There will be 20 labs.

Attendance: This class is held online asynchronously. So, there are no attendance requirements.

Assignment Guidelines

Labs: Labs are group-based activities that will be released on the course Canvas page. The goal is to accomplish all lab activities and submit until the specified due date on Canvas. There will be no due date extensions on Labs.

Academic Honesty

The Honor Code at the University of the Pacific calls upon each student to exhibit a high degree of maturity, responsibility, and personal integrity. Students are expected to:

Act honestly in all matters
Actively encourage academic integrity
Discourage any form of cheating or dishonesty by others
Inform the instructor and appropriate university administrator if she or he has a reasonable and good faith belief and substantial evidence that a violation of the Academic Honesty Policy has occurred.

Violations will be referred to and investigated by the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. If a student is found responsible, it will be documented as part of her or his permanent academic record. A student may receive a range of penalties, including failure of an assignment, failure of the course, suspension, or dismissal from the University. The Academic Honesty Policy is located in Tiger Lore and online.

Course-specific Honor Code Policy: Engineering is generally a cooperative endeavor and collaborative learning can be a valuable experience for all involved. However, proper assessment (i.e., grading) requires that work be done by individuals. To balance these two requirements, the following policy will apply:

Collaborative work on course assignments is encouraged. This includes working together on planning solution strategies and helping each other to debug programs.
Collaboration must stop short of someone else writing your assignment. You may not directly copy the work of another student. You also may not copy the work of another student, and then modify it so that it does not look the same as the original author's work. It is your responsibility to ensure that the work you submit is an honest representation of your own understanding of the material.

Marginal cases will be resolved by oral examination of the student(s) involved. If they each understand the material in the assignment, it will be considered honest collaboration. If they do not, then it will be considered academic dishonesty.

In many cases, it may be possible to identify reusable source code from textbooks, web sites or other resources that can help you with assignments. You are permitted to use such references provided that:

The amount of code reused does not exceed 25% of the total assignment length, and
In the source code comments, you clearly identify any code that you did not write, state where it came from, and to what extent you modified it.

You are responsible for understanding the theory behind all algorithms or source code used, regardless of their source.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who requires accommodations, please visit pacific.edu/disabilities to contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) for information on how to request accommodations while at Pacific.

Students who have not previously registered for accommodations can request services by visiting pacific.edu/disabilities and selecting New Students Apply Here. Once registered, students will be asked to provide documentation of their disability, and meet with the accommodation specialists to determine reasonable accommodations.
Students who have previously been approved for services with SSD can request accommodation(s) letters each semester by selecting the Returning Students Login Here link located on pacific.edu/disabilities

The Office of Services for Students with Disabilities is located in the McCaffrey Center, Second Floor. Phone: 209-946-3221. Email: ssd@pacific.edu. Online: pacific.edu/disabilities

Nondiscrimination Policy

The University of the Pacific does not discriminate in the administration of any of its educational programs, admissions, scholarships, loans, athletics, or other University activities or programs on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, handicap, sexual orientation or preference, sex or age.

COMP 278: Cyber Defense and Offense

Course Description