CST203 Security Hardware and Software
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Thursday, December 13, 2007, 3:05pm

Classes Cancelled after 3pm due to snow, but the Final Exam goes on!

The Final Exam is available here: CST203 Final Exam
You will have the weekend to work on it... I will expect your solutions
to be emailed to me before midnight Monday the 17th.

Please email your answers to the following address: antonakos_j@sunybroome.edu

Instructor

Professor James L. Antonakos
Computer Studies Department
Broome Community College
(607) 778-5122

hello.wav, Greetings from JLA

Catalog Description

This course lists and describes various networking hardware and software components relating to security. Students peform a forensic analysis of an actual attack, and create a security baseline analysis.

Introduction

The purpose of this course, the third in a series of four courses, is to explore the aspects of security hardware and software. The four security courses are:

1. CST 103 General Security Concepts
2. CST 104 Remote Security Methods
3. CST 203 Security Hardware and Software
4. CST 210 Business Security

All four courses draw upon information found in the following locations:

• Word documents, PDFs, executable code, and figures provided by the instructor.
• Web sites specializing in certain aspects of security.

At a minimum, the four courses provide a comprehensive examination and exposure to all of the security topics included in the CompTIA Security+ Certification objectives. Click here for a PDF of the Security+ objectives.

Assignments

There will be weekly, or sometimes bi-weekly, assignments that will require you to read the posted information or selected pages from your book. You will also perform a number of experiments designed to familiarize youself with security hardware and software. There will also be a midterm exam and a final exam.

Course Content

• Week 1: Overview of Security Hardware and Software
  • Hardware Devices
  • Software (OS, application, and protocols)
  • DDOS attack on a network camera
  • Sniffing Traffic on a Switched LAN
• Week 2: Firewalls
  • Overview
  • Software Firewall: ZoneAlarm
  • Hardware Firewall: SonicWall Pro VX
• Week 3: Steganography
  • JPG Image File Format and Lossy DCT Compression
  • EXIF
  • Information Hiding
• Week 4: Spanning Trees
  • What is a Spanning Tree?
  • Prim's Algorithm
  • Kruskal 's Algorithm
  • Managed Switch with Spanning Tree
• Week 5: VLAN Operation
  • What is a VLAN?
  • VLANs on a Managed Switch
  • VLAN to VLAN Communication
• Week 6: Biometrics, Part 1: Fingerprint Readers
  • Fingerprint Features
  • Optical Readers
  • Capacitive Readers
  • Graph Isomorphism
• Week 7: SNMP on a Managed Switch
  • Security Aspects of SNMP
  • Agents and Traps
• Week 8: Midterm Exam
• Week 9: Forensics, Part 1
  • Where is search information stored on a PC?
  • The History Folder
  • Temporary Internet Files
• Week 10: Forensics, Part 2
  • The Sysinternal Utilities
  • The Process Log
  • The File System Log
  • The Registry Log
• Week 11: Fault Tolerance
  • What is Fault Tolerance?
  • RAID 0 and RAID 5
  • Multi-homing
  • Failover Topologies
  • Salt Lake and Athens Olympic Networks
• Week 12: Biometrics, Part 2: Facial Recognition
  • Normalization and Feature Extraction
  • Eigenfaces
  • VideoLock Software
• Week 13: Forensics, Part 3: Machine Code
  • 80x86 Software Architecture
  • EXE and COM Files
  • DEBUG and IDA Pro
• Week 14: Forensics, Part 4: Analysis of an Infection
  • Assembly Language and Malicious Code
  • Run-Time Stacks, Buffers, and Malicious Code
• Week 15: Final Exam

Student Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this course, the student will…

1. be able to describe the ways a network can be used in an attack.
2. be able to use steganography to hide information.
3. be able to describe the operation and features of DDOS, buffer overflow, and stack attacks.
4. be able to explain the operation of a managed switch, including error logging, reporting, and VLAN capabilities.
5. understand the security features of firewalls, routers, switches, hubs, and cabling.
6. understand the basics of the 80x86 architecture, assembly language and machine language, and how malicious code operates.
7. be familiar with biometric security devices and software.

Grading

Your final grade will be based on the following areas:

• 40%, Weekly Homework / Lab Assignments
• 25%, Midtern
• 25%, Final

Important Notes:

• Homework and labs are typically due one week after covering the material. When I grade an assignment I am not looking for the correct answer as much as I am looking for the correct approach. You must submit all homeworks and labs and other assignments to pass the course. You can not do 'just enough' of them to get a certain grade.
• After two weeks, your work will be considered late and will receive a zero. However, you must still submit the completed assignment, no matter how late. You must submit all the assignments to pass the course.

Your letter grade will be assigned as follows:

Good Luck!

Last updated Fall 2007 by JLA