Computer Security Fundamentals and Applications

Bruce P. Tis
bruce.tis@simmons.edu
Simmons College
Boston, MA  02115


Keywords: security, encryption, public key cryptography, authentication


Abstract

Computing security has long been of interest to the military, the federal government and the banking industry. During the past 5 years, with the proliferation of the Internet and WEB, even the casual user of today's technology is required to have an understanding of security fundamentals in order to protect themselves. The popular press continually reports the exploits of hackers, the destruction caused by viruses, and white-collar crime involving security breaches.  As educators we have the responsibility  to be knowledgeable ourselves,  as well as to view security not as a specialized topic, but rather as a body of information that should be integrated into our curricula. Students need to develop a healthy respect of security issues and be prepared to use, design and implement secure systems, as well as develop new techniques to address security issues of the future.  This workshop  includes coverage of three major topics: (1) fundamentals of security, (2) applications, and (3) teaching computing security to our students.  After attending this workshop the attendee should be familiar with basic security concepts and terminology and be able to integrate security education into information systems curricula.

The target audience for this workshop is the information systems community, especially those that teach computer networks, systems/network administration, management of computing technology, and systems analysis/development. The material presented in this workshop will be at the conceptual level with minimal mathematical background required of the attendee.

Fundamentals
	Introduction 
	Conventional Encryption 
	Public Key Cryptography 
Applications
	Authentication
	Electronic Mail
	IP Security
	WEB Security
	Intruders and Viruses
	Firewalls
Pedagogy
	Curriculum
	Resources
	Laboratory exercises