Course Descriptions

CIS 557 - Networks 3 credits (CNSS certification) *

This is the first course in network security. It introduces the fundamental principles and terminology of the field. It is an examination of standardization and design issues for the communication infrastructure. Topics include: Communication hardware and software, standards and protocols (like: OSVISO and TCP/IP.) LAN, EDI. Special emphasis will be placed on recent advances, network administration and ensuring security of networks and transmitted data from unauthorized, or untrusted access.

CIS 558 - System Forensics 3 credits *

(Prerequisite CIS 570 or permission of instructor) This course presents the legal concerns, investigation techniques and incident response tactics of forensic investigation and forensic auditing. It centers on the basic operating system concepts that underlie this area. Students will learn evidence gathering and presentation techniques based around the Windows Incident Response Collection Report (IRCR). They will also learn how to employ IDS and CERT for effective incident response. Students will study the real-world investigation issues and concepts developed through the Honeynet Project

CIS 570 - Information Security Principles 3 credits *

This course presents an overview of the multidisciplinary process of information assurance. It is rooted in the information assurance body of knowledge (IA BOK). The student will learn about the issues involved in creating a systematic information assurance control structure, how to establish systematic security auditing and control procedures and how to build systematic information assurance capability into the IT function

CIS 575 - Information Assurance Management 3 credits *

(Prerequisite CIS 570 or permission of the instructor) The purpose of this course is to fully orient and educate students in the details of information security countermeasures. Students will learn how to establish and maintain a systematic security solution for a business organization as well as build systematic information accounting procedures into normal operation. The focus is purely operational best practice rather than theoretical. The outcome will be a fully certifiable information security management system (ISMS).

CIS 579 - Assurance Processes 3 credits *

(Prerequisite CIS 575 or permission of the instructor) The purpose of this course is to educate students in the processes that underwrite the assurance of IT and information assets. It will present and evaluate a range of process models for that purpose including all of the elements necessary to ensure legal and regulatory compliance, business continuity and disaster recovery, and security of the development process. It will also examine popular best practice models for IA such as the ISO 17799 standard, and COBIT.

SEC 556 - Terrorism and Homeland Security 3 credits +

Throughout history terrorists have utilized violence to spread fear throughout a population in order to serve political or other more amorphous purposes. This course will examine the history, forms strategies and tactics of terrorism as well as its sociology, psychology and criminology. Terrorist profiling along with the problems of false positives and false negatives will be explored. Counterterrorist efforts by the Department of Homeland Security as well as by state and local governments will be evaluated. Private sector defense of the nation's critical infrastructure will also be studied.

SEC 587- Physical and Personnel Security 3 credits +

Together with information security, physical and personnel security defend the critical infrastructure against cyberterrorism, terrorist and conventional criminal attack. Physical security involves the protection of assets through the use of security awareness, training, intrusion detection systems, environmental controls and human prevention and intervention activities. Personnel security ensures that an organization's employees have been screened, vetted, selected and supervised to maximize their fidelity to organizational and national goals as well as their own personal and professional growth. Both physical and personnel security are multidisciplinary in nature and must be effectively implemented within the legal framework of a democratic society.

CSC 569 - Secure Software Engineering 3 credits +

This course presents formal methods for ensuring trust in sensitive and safety critical software systems. It is based around mathematically intensive proofs of correctness. It presents parameterized refinement methods and transduction techniques as a means of verifying the correctness of code and modifications to code and to validate conformance with functional requirements. It bases the expression of the requisite properties of the computation sequences on Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) techniques. This allows users to make assertions to support practical conclusions about the security and safety of the code

EE 510 - Network Security 3 credits +

This course explores the world of network security. It presents all of the practical principles, methods and technology necessary to construct an effective network defense in depth. Upon leaving this course students will be able to execute every common form of professional intrusion detection and response including pen testing, network attack/defense and host and network based IDS and policy enforcement. Students will do hands-on work in the lab with all common elements of network hardware and netware.

One Designated Capstone Elective 3 credits

This course will be individually selected from a range of potential offerings by UDM colleges. In every respect, this course must allow the student to both gain in-depth knowledge within a specific area of the discipline of information assurance, as well as demonstrate a professional command of the field itself. This integrative experience will be documented by a final written product, which will be reviewed for its extent of amalgamation of the range of required knowledge elements as well as the practicality of its application. The course selected must be approved by the program director.

* Note: Courses with asterisks have been
designated by the United States National Security Agency
Critical Infrastructure Protection Board Committee on
National Security Systems for Information Assurance Center
of Excellence Certification.