We belong to an information age. Organizations leverage information strategically to get an edge over competitors. Cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things sense information from the environment to provide personalized services. We share information about our day to day living to remove barriers. Information, therefore, is an important strategic and operational asset. Not surprisingly, some of these information may be of a sensitive nature and there is a need to have adequate security measures that can safeguard sensitive information both at rest and while in transit as well as during its generation, evolution and termination. Moreover, although the flood of data available via tracking users’ activities online and in social media, via surveillance and smart sensing and the advances made in Big Data, AI, and ML for classifying, interpreting, and analyzing this data, hold tremendous potential for bettering the quality of life and health of the world, the indiscriminate use of the data and associated technologies negatively impacts society. This course introduces the student to the study of the science of computer security with particular emphasis on the science that protect the privacy of individuals.

This course is NOT about Operational Security BUT about the Science of Cybersecurity and Privacy. We will study the scientific principles and foundations of major security measures that can be employed to protect information. For the most part we will look into the theory that goes into designing these measures rather than studying security tools and techniques. This is primarily because there are too many of those tools out there and they are changing frequently. (You will however have an opportunity to explore some of these tools yourself.) With the growth of social networking a new kind of threat is emerging, namely, user privacy. With privacy we are more concerned about sensitive information not being misused rather than disclosed. We will briefly discuss some of the techniques that can be used for this purpose.

During this course you will be learning about many different security mechanisms some of which can also be used to circumvent or subvert network security measures. Registering for this course implies your agreeing to the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for Computing and Networking Resources at Colorado State University. Also make sure that you are familiar with the Code of Conduct

If you have any questions regarding this course, that is not answered in these pages, please feel free to let  the instructor  know.