University of Maryland/Asian Division

IFSM 430 - Information Systems and Security

Term 3: 19 Jan - 13 Mar 2004

Kadena
MW 2000-2245

David Wills
http://sensei.ad.umuc.edu/dwills/ifsm430
dwills@ad.umuc.edu

PREREQUISITE: IFSM 300

COURSE DESCRIPTION: A survey covering aspects of establishing and maintaining a practical information security program. The security aspects and implications of databases, telecommunications systems, and software are examined, along with techniques used to assess risks and discover abuses of systems.
IFSM 430 is a stand alone course in computer and information security designed to teach students the risks, and vulnerabilities in today's information systems. It is designed who have the fundamentals of management information systems, as well as the fundamentals of hardware, software and communications. Upon completion of the course students will be well versed in terminology, and understand what threats can make computer system and its applications vulnerable to outages and bad data. Students will be instructed in methods, procedures, barriers, software, and hardware capabilities that can avoid the potential threats and will understand that people, either maliciously or accidentally, nature, hardware/software errors, and power outages are all threats which can keep our management information system from functioning correctly.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

· Understanding the need for security, potential threats and risks associated with computer systems security · Learning risk evaluation, analysis and assessment, and security planning · Evaluation of the physical security of valuable computer system assets, including hardware, software, and data · Examination of the critical problem of controlling access, including both physical and data access · Learning to ensure file and data integrity and security · Understanding the particular problems of viruses, piracy and hackers · Examination of the critical human factor

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:
Pipkin Information Security, HP, 2000.
Stoll The Cuckoo's Egg

EVALUATION:

Paper/presentation              30%
Midterm Exam	                35%
Final Exam	                25%
Participation                   10%
Midterm exam will be based on the Pipkin and Stoll book. "Short answer" format.
Paper will be 2500-3000 words in HTML to be posted on a web site (TBD). Topic will be approved by instructor. Will be scanned for plagiarism. Due: TBD. Presentations from TBD. 20-30 minutes.
Final exam will be based on the papers. "Short answer" format.