Working in small groups under the mentorship of technical clients from government and industry, each student will formulate, carry out, and present original research on current cybersecurity problems of interest to the nation. Clients will provide a list of unclassified research problems, and students may also suggest their own problems. This course will engage students in important challenging cybersecurity problems. Students will learn how to apply research techniques, think clearly about cybersecurity issues, formulate and analyze potential solutions, and communicate their results.
The course will be run in a synchronized distance fashion from special classrooms coordinating with our partner schools (e.g., Purdue, UC Davis, UMBC) and our technical clients. Researchgroups will collaborate using an appropriate file-sharing technology, and codes by individuals will be stored and tracked in a github-like repo.
Graduate students and undergraduate students need to have some cybersecurity background to take the course and should be willing to conduct a single, semester-long security project offered by the government agents. No lectures on security will be offered.
No prerequisites for graduate students.
Undergraduate students should have the following one prerequisite: CMSC 421 Operating Systems.
Undergraduate students should have some knowledge in security, say, taking any of the following courses: crypto, malware analysis, or principles of computer security.
Exceptions may be made if the students are admitted into our graduate (MS, PhD, or MPS cyber) program, or permission of instructor.
There is a test on security knowledge and programming ability for enrollment.