Discussion

School of Computer and Information Sciences

COURSE SYLLABUS

Course Information

ITS834 - M50 Emerging Threats & Countermeas

Fall 2020 Full Term

Course Format: Hybrid

CRN: 12052

Class Time and Location: F 08:00 AM - 10:00 PM

 

Instructor Information

Name: Dr. Irvin Heard

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 305-965-6757

Office Location: Remote

Office Hours/Preferred Contact Times: 1 PM - 3 PM (Mon - Fri)

UC Directory URL: https://www.ucumberlands.edu/directory/dr-irvin-heard

Course Description

This course covers security issues and current best practices in several applicative

domains, ranging from the enterprise to the military. Discusses emerging security

threats and available countermeasures with respect to the most recent network and

computing technologies, including wireless networks, computer-controlled physical

systems, and social networks. Concludes by presenting current trends and open

problems.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course:

Students will explore the options for addressing cybersecurity engineering needs

Students will define and structure metrics to manage cybersecurity engineering

Students will identify and evaluate existing capabilities for cybersecurity

engineering

Students will identify competency and capability gaps for cybersecurity

engineering

Students will define and prioritize cybersecurity engineering needs

Students will summarize and plan for improvements in cybersecurity engineering

performance

Learner Outcomes

Learn how to perform research identifying and analyzing technological

challenges

Build critical thinking skills to develop and apply solutions that achieve strategic

and tactical IT-business alignment

Develop professional skills and expertise to advance knowledge in your chosen

field or discipline within information technology

Conduct research with professional and ethical integrity

Address complex technical questions and challenge established knowledge and

practices in the area

Identify, comprehend, analyze, evaluate and synthesize research

Communicate effectively and employ constructive professional and interpersonal

skills

Critically evaluate current research and best practices

Demonstrate IT leadership skills at the team and enterprise levels following

tenets of professional, social, and ethical responsibility

Recommend IT strategies that support enterprise mission and objectives

Course Website

Access to the course website is required via the iLearn portal on the University of the

Cumberlands website: http://www.ucumberlands.edu/ilearn/ 

or https://ucumberlands.blackboard.com/

Required Books and Resources

Title: Academic Writer

Website: http://ucumberlands.libguides.com/c.php?g=504168

About: This is APA's resource for APA format, style, citations, and document types (like

how to write a literature review). UC has a dedicated link for students to create their

Academic Writer account, and that link can be found here

Title: (ISC)2 CISSP Certified Information Systems Security

Professional Official Study Guide (In Classroom)

ISBN: 9781119475958

Authors: Mike Chapple, James Michael Stewart, Darril Gibson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Publication Date: 2018-04-10

Course Required text can be found and purchased via the UC Barnes and Noble

Bookstore: https://cumber.bncollege.com/shop/cumberlands/page/find-textbooks

Suggested Books and Resources

Writing Center

Website: https://www.ucumberlands.edu/learningcommons/writingcenter

About: This website includes beginning information about the Writing Center. Look for

The Learning Commons in your class list in iLearn. Once you open The Learning

Commons "course", look for the Writing Center on the left menu bar

Writing Center

Subtitle: This website includes beginning information about the Writing Center. Look for

The Learning Commons in your class list in iLearn. Once you open The Learning

Commons "course", look for the Writing Center on the left menu bar.

Publisher: https://www.ucumberlands.edu/learningcommons/writingcenter

Academic Writer

Website: http://ucumberlands.libguides.com/c.php?g=504168

About: This is APA's resource for APA format, style, citations, and document types (like

how to write a literature review). UC has a dedicated link for students to create their

Academic Writer account, and that link can be found here

Academic Writer

Subtitle: This is APA's resource for APA format, style, citations, and document types (like

how to write a literature review). UC has a dedicated link for students to create their

Academic Writer account

Publisher: http://ucumberlands.libguides.com/c.php?g=504168

The Learning Commons (TLC)

Website: http://ucumberlands.libguides.com/c.php?g=504168

About: TLC is here to help you succeed in your courses, from your first day at

Cumberlands through completing your degree.TLC offers a variety of academic

resources both virtually and in-person that are informal and with qualified Academic

Fellows.

The Learning Commons (TLC)

Subtitle: The Learning Commons (TLC) is here to help you succeed in your courses, from

your first day at Cumberlands through completing your degree.TLC offers a variety of

academic resources both virtually and in-person that are informal and with qualified

Academic Fellows. ucumberlands.libguides.com

Publisher: http://ucumberlands.libguides.com/c.php?g=504168

Grammarly

Website: https://www.grammarly.com/

About: Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly’s AI-powered writing

assistant

Zotero

Subtitle: Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share

research.

Publisher: https://www.zotero.org/

Zotero

Website: https://www.zotero.org/

About: Zotero is a great, easy to use reference management tool, and it's free

Grammarly

Subtitle: Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly’s AI-powered writing

assistant

Publisher: https://www.grammarly.com/

Requirements and Policies

Academic Integrity/Plagiarism

At a Christian liberal arts university committed to the pursuit of truth and

understanding, any act of academic dishonesty is especially distressing and cannot be

tolerated. In general, academic dishonesty involves the abuse and misuse of

information or people to gain an undeserved academic advantage or evaluation. The

common forms of academic dishonesty include:

Cheating – using deception in the taking of tests or the preparation of written

work, using unauthorized materials, copying another person’s work with or without

consent, or assisting another in such activities.

Lying – falsifying, fabricating, or forging information in either written, spoken, or

video presentations.

Plagiarism—using the published writings, data, interpretations, or ideas of another

without proper documentation

Plagiarism includes copying and pasting material from the internet into

assignments without properly citing the source of the material.

Episodes of academic dishonesty are reported to the Vice President for Academic

Affairs. The potential penalty for academic dishonesty includes a failing grade on a

particular assignment, a failing grade for the entire course, or charges against the

student with the appropriate disciplinary body.

Disability Accommodations

University of the Cumberlands accepts students with certified disabilities and provides

reasonable accommodations for their certified needs in the classroom, in housing, in

food service or in other areas. For accommodations to be awarded, a student must

submit a completed Accommodations Application form and provide documentation of

the disability to the Disability Services Coordinator (Mr. Jacob Ratliff, Boswell Campus

Center, Student Services Office Suite, [email protected]). When all

paperwork is on file, a meeting between the student and the Coordinator will be

arranged to discuss possible accommodations before accommodations are formally

approved. Students must then meet with the Coordinator at the beginning of each

semester before any academic accommodations can be certified for that term.

Certifications for other accommodations are normally reviewed annually.

Academic Appeal

Both undergraduate and graduate students have the right to challenge a grade. If

discussions with the course instructor and department chair do not lead to a satisfactory

conclusion, students may file a formal written appeal with the Vice President for

Academic Affairs, who will forward the appeal to the chair of the Academic Appeals

Committee. This formal written appeal must be filed by the end of the 4th week of

classes in the next regular term following the term in which the course in question was

taken. The Academic Appeals Committee then gathers information from the student, the

instructor, and any other relevant parties. The Committee will deliver its

recommendation on the complaint to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. After

reviewing this recommendation and concurring or amending it, the Vice President for

Academic Affairs will inform the student and instructor of the disposition of the

complaint no later than the last day of classes of the term in which the complaint was

filed. Records of all actions regarding academic grade appeals, including their final

disposition, are maintained by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Academic

Appeals Committee. (Undergraduate Catalog/Graduate Catalog)

Student Responsibilities

Students should: 

Use University of the Cumberlands email system for all academic, administrative,

and co-curricular communication between faculty, staff and peers. 

Check for email and class announcements using iLearn (primary) and University of

the Cumberlands webmail (secondary) daily. 

Demonstrate Cumberlands Character in and outside the classroom per the

University Mission & Vision

Ensure you have consistent required technology for the course

Participate in courses regularly to:

Find announcements and updates

Complete assignments on time. Keep in mind that all deadlines use Eastern

Standard Time (EST).

Engage in discussion

Connect with fellow students and faculty

Present written work in an academic and professional manner.

Take examinations on the designated dates and times. Students should make

arrangements with faculty before the designated date for any needed

accommodations. 

Contact faculty or student success coordinator with questions or concerns.

Course Policies

Late assignments are not accepted after the weekly content folder closes. All

assignments are due and must be turned in by Sunday at 11:59 PM

Students are expected to:

Review any assigned reading material, complementary materials, and weekly

lectures and prepare responses to homework assigned.

Actively participate in activities, assignments, and discussions.

Evaluate and react to each other’s work in a supportive, constructive manner.

Complete specific assignments and exams when specified and in a professional

manner.

Utilize learned technologies for class assignments.

Connect content knowledge from core courses to practical training placement and

activities.

Links to Support

UC Academic Catalog: https://www.ucumberlands.edu/academics/academic-catalog

UC Student Handbook: https://www.ucumberlands.edu/student-handbook

Academic Resources & Writing Center: www.ucumberlands.edu/learningcommons

Library: http://www.ucumberlands.edu/library/ 

Bookstore: https://cumber.bncollege.com/shop/cumberlands/home

About University of the Cumberlands:

https://www.ucumberlands.edu/about/presidents-welcome

Course Evaluation

A student will be evaluated/weighted on the following basis:

For a 16 Week Course

Weekly Research Papers (Weeks 3, 6, 7, 10, 12) 10% (100 points = 20

points per paper)

Weekly Discussions (weeks 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13) 17.5% (175 points = 25

points per discussion)

Residency Weekend Project (Paper and Presentation) 50% (500 points)

Practical Connection Activity (residency weekend) 10% (100 points)

Final Portfolio Project/Research Paper (week 15) 10% (100 points)

Reflective Activity Discussion (week 16) 2.5% (25 points)

Total = 1,000 points

Grading Scale

Graded work will receive a numeric score reflecting the quality of performance as

given above in evaluation methods. The overall course grade will be determined

according to the following scale:

A= 90 – 100 (90% - 100%)

B= 80 – 89 (80% - 89%)

C = 70 – 79 (70% - 79%)

F < 69 (Below 69%)

Course Schedule

Course Weekly

Schedule Reading/Topics

Assignments and Due

Dates

16 Week Course

WeekTopic Assignments

1

Chapter 1: Security Governance Through Principles and

Policies

Petac Eugen, & Duma Petruţ. (2018). Exploring the New

Era of Cybersecurity Governance. Ovidius University

Annals: Economic Sciences Series, 1, 358.

*Failing to Participate in Week 1 may result in being

dropped from the course.

Welcome Discussion

Academic Honesty

Pledge Signed *

*Must sign this

pledge to

continue with the

course

Discussion 1 *

2

Chapter 2: Personnel Security and Risk Management

Concepts

Fisk, G., Ardi, C., Pickett, N., Heidemann, J., Fisk, M., &

Papadopoulos, C. (2015, May). Privacy principles for

sharing cyber security data. In 2015 IEEE Security and

Privacy Workshops (pp. 193-197). IEEE.

N. Kamenskih, M. A. Filippov and A. A. Yuzhakov, "The

Development of Method for Evaluation of Information

Security Threats in Critical Systems," 2020 IEEE

Conference of Russian Young Researchers in Electrical

and Electronic Engineering (EIConRus), St. Petersburg

and Moscow, Russia, 2020, 333-336.

Review APA

Review UC

plagiarism policy

Review

paraphrasing

techniques

3

Chapter 3: Business Continuity Planning

Wang, H.-M. (2003). Contingency planning: emergency

preparedness for terrorist attacks. IEEE 37th Annual

2003 International Carnahan Conference OnSecurity

Technology, 2003. Proceedings., Security Technology,

2003. 535–543.

https://doi.org/10.1109/CCST.2003.1297616

Research Paper

4

Chapter 4: Laws, Regulations, & Compliance

Ajayi, E. F. G. (2016). Review Challenges to

enforcement of cyber-crimes laws and policy. Journal of

Internet and Information Systems, 6(1), 1-

12.10.5897/JIIS2015.0089

Discussion 2

5 Chapter 6: Cryptography and Symmetric Key

Algorithms

Discussion 3 

 

 

Chapter 7: PKI & Cryptographic Applications

Franchi, Enrico & Poggi, Agostino & Tomaiuolo, Michele.

(2017). Information and Password Attacks on Social

Networks: An Argument for Cryptography. Journal of

Information Technology Research, 8. 25-42.

10.4018/JITR.2015010103

Tabari, A. Z., & Ou, X. (2020). A First Step Towards

Understanding Real-world Attacks on IoT Devices.

6

Chapter 8: Principles of Security Models, Design, &

Capabilities

Cagnazzo, M., Hertlein, M., Holz, T., & Pohlmann, N.

(2018). Threat Modeling for Mobile Health Systesm.

ResearchGate. 10.1109/WCNCW.2018.8369033

Ruiz, N., Bargal, S.A., & Sclaroff, S. (2020). Disrupting

DeepFakes: Adversarial Attacks Against Conditional

Image Translation Networks and Facial Manipulation

Systems.

Research Paper

7

Chapter 9: Security Vulnerabilities, Threats, &

Countermeasures

NIST. (2019). Guide to Protecting the Confidentiality of

Personally Identifiable Information (PII). United States

Department of Commerce. National Institute of

Standards and Technology Special Publication No. 800-

122.

Residency Weekend

Research Paper

Residency Project

(Paper and

Presentation)

Practical Connection

Activity – 500-word

personal paper 

Due: 10/04

8

Chapter 5: Protecting Security of Assets

Chapter 10: Physical Security Requirements

Abomhara, M., & Koien, G.M. (2015). Cyber security

and the internet of things: Vulnerabilities, threats,

intruders, and attacks. Journal of Cyber Security, 4, 65-

88. Doi: 10.13052/jcsm2245-1439.414

Discussion 4 

9

Chapter 11: Secure Network Architecture & Secure

Network Components

Chapter 12: Secure Communications and Network

Attacks

A. Satapathy and L. M. J. Livingston. (2016). "A

Comprehensive Survey of Security Issues and Defense

Framework for VoIP Cloud," in Indian Journal of Science

and Technology, 9(6). DOI:

10.17485/ijst/2016/v9i6/81980

D. B. Rawat, 2019. "Fusion of Software Defined

Networking, Edge Computing, and Blockchain

Technology for Wireless Network Virtualization," in IEEE

Communications Magazine, vol. 57, no. 10, 50-55 

T. Surasak and S. C. -. Huang, "Enhancing VoIP Security

and Efficiency using VPN," 2019 International

Conference on Computing, Networking and

Communications (ICNC), Honolulu, HI, USA, 2019, pp.

180-184.

Discussion 5 

10

Chapter 13: Managing Identity & Authentication

Chapter 14: Controlling & Monitoring Access

J. Tioh, D. M. Mina and D. D. W. Jacobson, "Cyber

Security Social Engineers An Extensible Teaching Tool

for Social Engineering Education and Awareness," 2019

IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Covington,

KY, USA, 2019, pp. 1-5.

Research Paper

11 Chapter 15: Security Assessment and Testing

Goutam and V. Tiwari, "Vulnerability Assessment and

Penetration Testing to Enhance the Security of Web

Application," 2019 4th International Conference on

Information Systems and Computer Networks (ISCON),

Mathura, India, 2019, pp. 601-605.

G. Yadav, A. Allakany, V. Kumar, K. Paul and K.

Okamura, "Penetration Testing Framework for IoT,"

Discussion 6 

2019 8th International Congress on Advanced Applied

Informatics (IIAI-AAI), Toyama, Japan, 2019, 477-482.

12

Chapter 16: Managing Security Operations

Wangen, G., Snekkenes, E., & Hallstensen, C. (2018). A

framework for estimating information security risk

assessment method completeness. International

Journal of Information Security, 17(6), 681–699.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10207-017-0382-0

Research Paper

13

Chapter 17: Preventing and Responding to Incidents

M. Ioannou, E. Stavrou and M. Bada, "Cybersecurity

Culture in Computer Security Incident Response Teams:

Investigating difficulties in communication &

coordination," 2019 International Conference on Cyber

Security & Protection of Digital Services (Cyber

Security), 2019, 1-4.

M. Zeybek, E. N. Yılmaz and İ. Alper Doğru, "A Study on

Security Awareness in Mobile Devices," 2019 1st

International Informatics and Software Engineering

Conference (UBMYK), Ankara, Turkey, 2019, 1-6.

Discussion 7 

14

Chapter 18: Disaster Recovery Planning

J. Mendonça, W. Medeiros, E. Andrade, R. Maciel, P.

Maciel and R. Lima, "Evaluating Database Replication

Mechanisms for Disaster Recovery in Cloud

Environments," 2019 IEEE International Conference on

Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC), Bari, Italy, 2019,

pp. 2358-2363.

Final paper draft

15

Chapter 19: Incidents and Ethics Final Portfolio

Research Paper

16 Chapter 21: Malicious Code and Application Attacks Discussion 8:

Reflective Activity

Syllabus Disclaimer

This syllabus contains important information critical to your success in this course. It

includes guidelines for this course and the instructor’s current expectations about

content, schedule, and requirements necessary for each student to achieve the best

educational results. While you must review and become familiar with the contents of

this syllabus, the instructor reserves the right to make adjustments or change in the

syllabus from time to time. Any changes to the syllabus will be discussed with the

students.