Analytical Research ProjectInstructions

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Analytical Research Project Instructions

INFA 630 – Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention

Summary

This is a project describing the results of an analytical research project, worth 25% of your total

grade. Your project should be 10-12 pages, double-spaced, exclusive of cover, title page, table of

contents, endnotes and bibliography. Your project must use APA formatting with the exception

that tables and figures can be inserted at the appropriate location rather than added at the end.

Following UMUC policy, all students must upload a copy of their projects to Turnitin.com (See

Turnitin instructions), and another copy to Project Report link in your Assignments Folder prior

to the submission deadline. The Research Project is due at the end of session 11.

Project Topic Selection

Prior to writing your project, you must submit a short, ungraded, topic proposal. Use the Project

Topic link in the Assignments folder to submit your intended research project topic by the end of

Session 3. The purpose of this preliminary milestone is to provide your instructor the opportunity

to confirm the appropriateness of your proposed topic, sufficiently early in the course to allow

for topic revision if necessary. It will be helpful if you include, with your proposed project title,

the sort of research you intend to do and any specific sources you may have already found or

plan to use in researching your topic. Your instructor will provide feedback on the suitability of

the proposed topic within a week of your submission. Students who do not provide a proposed

topic will be preparing their research projects "at risk;" i.e., they will run the risk of delivering a

project reflecting research that is not suitable for this course.

Types of Research Project

The purpose of the Research Project is to develop an in-depth understanding of the intrusion

detection and/or prevention technology and the way in which such technology is used to protect

specific computing environments against specific threats. To arrive at this understanding, your

project may choose to follow either one of two analytical approaches:

1. Analysis of a tool or technique including functional applicability and limitations

2. Analysis of environmental security requirements and technologies to meet those

requirements

Tool-centric Research: Projects of the first type will focus on a specific tool, technique, or

method used in intrusion detection or intrusion prevention. Choosing a topic for this type of

project will mean selecting the tool you want to research and analyze and developing a research

question or thesis statement that your research is intended to answer. The analysis for a tool-

centric research project should emphasize the use and application of the tool, technique, or

method rather than a simple explanation of its features. If you choose a product or tool with a

broad set of capabilities, you may choose to provide an analysis of one or more aspects of the

tool. The project distills fundamental issues, focuses on one available solution, and provides a

detailed analysis of both the functional applicability and the limitations of the available

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solution. In other words, you should explain in your project the functional purposes and/or

security goals the chosen tool is well-suited to address, and also things for which it is not a good

choice. You are welcome to choose any type of IDS tool, including network-based, host-based,

or wireless products.

Environment-centric Research: The second type of project also looks at intrusion detection and

prevention technologies, but adopts an organizational perspective by first defining and analyzing

an operating environment, and then identifying and recommending appropriate IDS/IPS

technologies. Choosing a topic for this type of project will mean describing a specific computing

environment and any operational needs for safeguarding that environment. The analysis for an

environment-centric research project should emphasize the threats faced by the organization and

assess IDS/IPS technologies in the context of providing protection from those threats. This type

of research project mimics the process many real-world organizations go through when selecting

IDS/IPS tools (or other types of technologies), in which organizations first specify requirements

and then evaluate alternatives to see what technologies best meet their requirements. You may

choose to focus on a specific organization (like a company or agency) or on a class of

organization (e.g., based on relative size, industry, business model, etc.). It is important that you

be able to specify security requirements for the organization or operating environment that you

choose for your project.

Regardless of which type of project you choose, your project must demonstrate graduate-level

writing ability and comply with the format requirements of the Publications Manual of the

American Psychological Association (6th edition). Careful attention should be given to source

citations, proper listing of references, and the presentation of tables and graphs. Be sure to

carefully cite (using correct APA-Style in-line citations) all sources of information in your

project. An adequate literature search will include 3-5 books and/or journal articles (or other

scholarly sources), such as those available through the UMUC Online Library. For the topics

anticipated for this project a search of Internet sources is also expected to be helpful and

appropriate.

UMUC policies regarding plagiarism will apply to the Research Project as well as all other

deliverables in this course. Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional presentation of another

person's idea or product as one's own. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to the following:

copying verbatim all or part of another's written work; using phrases, charts, figures,

illustrations, or mathematical or scientific solutions without citing the source; and paraphrasing

ideas, conclusions, or research without citing the source. Students can avoid unintentional

plagiarism by carefully accepted scholarly practices. Notes taken for projects and research

projects should accurately record sources of material to be cited, quoted, paraphrased, or

summarized, and projects should acknowledge these sources in footnotes. The penalties on

plagiarism include a zero or a grade "F" on the work in question, a grade "F" in the course,

suspension with a file letter, suspension with a transcript notation, or expulsion. Please refer to

UMUC policies concerning action in cases of confirmed plagiarism.

A final note on source citations and the use of reference material in your project: it is expected

that much of the information you put in your project will relate to products or other topics that

are new to you. For this reason it is also expected that you will rely heavily at times on material

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found through references discovered in your research. It is essential that you give proper

attribution to these sources of information. You should not quote extensively from your sources,

but instead should express the ideas found in your own words, applying them to the specific

points you are making in your project. Short word-for-word excerpts are acceptable, but should

always be placed in quotation marks to clearly indicate a verbatim use of source material. Your

instructor is extremely well-read in the subject areas addressed in this course, and it is generally

quite apparent when a given section of content originates from a source other than the author, so

please be diligent about using source material appropriately. It is always better to err on the side

of too much citation rather than too little.

Projects for this course must meet the following criteria:

 Projects must be your original work.

 Projects must not be “recycled” from previous courses, even if written by you.

 The emphasis of projects must be analytical, i.e., the project should pose a research question or problem, and attempt to answer the question or problem with an analysis of

available sources and reference material, as well as your own perspective.

 Research projects must NOT seek merely to summarize the relevant details of a topic, even if that topic is new to the writer. The value in this assignment is in reaching a

sufficient understanding of a set of material to allow you to provide an informed opinion

on some application of the material to a specific issue.

Please submit questions regarding the research project to the Questions for the Instructor

discussion.

Grading Rubric

Grading Criteria

The Analytical Research Paper will be graded against the following criteria:

 Clear statement of thesis to be analyzed and its relevance: 15%

 Technical Content (depth and accuracy of information and analysis): 40%

 Recommendation, answer, or conclusion supported by research and analysis: 15%

 Clarity, Organization, grammar and spelling: 15%

 APA Style: 15%

Please be sure to spell check and carefully proof read your paper prior to submitting it. Please

also allow sufficient time to upload a version of your paper to Turnitin.com and make any

revisions corresponding to the results of the originality report before submitting the final version.