Cyber Defense
EECS 465, Fall 2025
Course Details
| Lectures | Tuesday & Thursday 2:00pm - 2:50pm, 1005 Haworth Hall - In Person |
| Labs |
Monday 4:00pm - 4:50pm, 2003 Eaton Hall - In Person [Section #28375] Wednesday 4:00pm - 4:50pm, 2003 Eaton Hall - In Person [Section #28376] Friday 11:00pm - 11:50pm, 2003 Eaton Hall - In Person [Section #28374] |
Instructor |
Alex Bardas Office: 2040 Eaton Hall Office hours: Tuesday & Thursday 12:30pm - 1:30pm CT (Email appointment is needed to schedule a meeting over Zoom: meeting details)  : alexbardas
|
| Graduate Teaching Assistant | Michael Oliver Office Hours: Wednesday 3:00pm - 4:00pm CT in 2003 Eaton Hall (Email appointment is needed to schedule a meeting over Zoom: meeting details) : mmoliver469
|
| Lab Manager and Grader | Mohd Mamoon Office Hours: Monday 11:00am - 12:00pm CT in 2003 Eaton Hall (Email appointment is needed to schedule a meeting over Zoom: meeting details) : mohdmamoon
|
ku
eduSyllabus
The syllabus is available through Simple Syllabus: EECS 465 Syllabus (Fall 2025).
Check the syllabus frequently since its content is subject to change throughout the semester.
Announcements: You are responsible for all announcements we make in class (lectures and labs), over Canvas, and/or email. Announcements may include information about assignments, changes in the syllabus, etc.
Schedule
NOTE: Schedules are tentative and subject to change.
Course Schedule
Updated on a regular basis. Use your KU Online ID (all numeric is not correct) and password to access the slides and other materials.
Aug 19, 2025 |
Lecture 1 | Introduction, Undergraduate Cybersecurity Certificate, and Cybersecurity Engineering Degree |
intro-slides, cert-slides, degree-overview |
| Aug 21, 2025 |
Lecture 2 | Networking Terminology and Clonezilla |
networking-slides |
Aug 25-29, 2025 |
Lab 1 | Lab Setup and Clonezilla
iClicker Access Info -- Monday Labs (#28375) |
lab-overview-slides, clonezilla-slides |
| Aug 26, 2025 |
Lecture 3 | Operating Systems (OS) Basics Supplemental readings:
|
os-slides |
| Aug 28, 2025 |
Lecture 4 | Linux Command Line Basics Quiz 1 is available on Canvas. Due date: Tuesday, Sep 2, at 11:59pm CT. Supplemental readings: |
basic-commands-slides, LAMP-stack-slides |
| Sep 2, 2025 |
Lecture 5 | Reconnaissance (Part 1) Supplemental readings: |
recon-slides (1/2) |
| Sep 2-5, 2025 |
Review Lab |
Review and Support Lab (Labor Day Week): Clonezilla, Kali, and Linux Commands |
review/support-slides |
| Sep 4, 2025 |
Lecture 6 | Reconnaissance (Part 2) Supplemental readings:
|
recon-slides (2/2) |
| Sep 8-12, 2025 |
Lab 2 |
LAMP, Nmap, and Nessus |
lab2-slides, LAMP-useful-commands |
| Sep 9, 2025 |
Homework 1 (Lecture 7) |
Introduction to SQL Injections
|
hw1, sql-intro-slides |
| Sep 11, 2025 |
Lecture 8 | Exploiting Vulnerabilities and Metasploit Overview |
slides |
| Sep 15-19, 2025 |
Lab 3 |
Exploiting Vulnerabilities & Metasploit Overview |
lab3-slides |
| Sep 16, 2025 |
Guest Lecture (Lecture 9) |
Intro to Cyber Security (A Journey into Madness ...) Quiz 2 is available on Canvas. Due date: Friday, Sep 19, at 11:59pm CT. |
slides |
| Sep 18, 2025 |
Lecture 10 | Password Cracking (Part 1) Supplemental readings: |
slides |
| Sep 22-26, 2025 |
Lab 4 |
Password Cracking |
lab4-slides |
| Sep 23, 2025 |
Report 1 (Lecture 11) |
Password Cracking (Part 2) |
report1, slides |
| Sep 25, 2025 |
Lecture 12 | Crypthography Basics (Part 1)
|
slides |
| Sep 29-Oct 3, 2025 |
Lab 5 |
Crypto Primitives |
lab5-slides |
| Sep 30, 2025 |
Lecture 13 | Crypthography Basics (Part 2) Feedback Homework 1: here |
slides |
| Oct 2, 2025 |
Lecture 14 | Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) Quiz 3 is available on Canvas (due Monday, Oct 6, at 11:59pm CT) Supplemental readings:
|
slides |
| Oct 6-10, 2025 |
Lab 6 |
SSH and Sniffing Network Traffic |
lab6-slides |
| Oct 7, 2025 |
Lecture 15 | Sniffing Network Traffic Supplemental readings:
|
slides |
| Oct 9, 2025 |
Lecture 16 | ICCAE Presentation, Extra Credit Overview, and Report 1 Q&A |
iccae-slides |
| Oct 15-18, 2025 |
Review Lab |
Review and Support Lab (Fall Break Week): SSH, Wireshark, Ophcrack |
review/support-slides |
| Oct 16, 2025 |
Homework 2 (Lecture 17) |
Interacting with Network Traffic Supplemental readings: | hw2, slides |
| Oct 20-24, 2025 |
Lab 7 |
Interacting with Network Traffic |
lab6-slides |
Extra Credit
You can earn an extra 2% on your final grade by identifying, reading,
and summarizing 2 conference articles from the following venues:
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P),
ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS),
USENIX Security,
Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS).
Only these four conferences (from 2023 to 2025) will be accepted.
Partial credit will also be awarded for less than 2 articles.
Requirements:
- Articles should be related to the material we are covering in class (i.e. cyber defense articles)
- Articles should be from 2023 or newer.
- For each article, the summary should be between one and two pages long (11pt font, 1-inch margins, single spaced). Summarize the content of the article based on your understanding.
- Submission details: Summaries should be saved in
one file (.pdf or .txt format)and uploaded via Canvas (the link will be available in the Assignments section). Number the articles and for each article, state its title, author(s), publishing venue, publication year, and a link to the article (can be a direct link to the article or a link to the article's entry in the society's digital library e.g., an IEEE Xplore link).
File name:yourLastName-465-ec.pdforyourLastName-465-ec.txt(Don't submit .doc, .docx, .odt, or any other file formats; ONLY .pdf or .txt are accepted)
Deadline for submitting the extra-credit assignment:Tuesday (December 2, 2025) at 11:59pm CT
Articles serving as class reading materials (i.e., posted in the course schedule) can NOT be used for extra credit.
Note! If you are not sure whether an article is appropriate for earning extra credit,
write a few lines about why you think the article is related to the material covered in class
and feel free to contact the instructor.
Note! You can access directly IEEE and ACM articles for free if you are connected to KU's network
(e.g., wireless JAYHAWK network). You can also use the following links (especially when you are off-campus): ACM-Digital-Library, IEEE-Xplore.
USENIX makes all materials available for free from any network. Only articles from the four venues mentioned above can qualify for extra credit.
Important! Besides the instructor's and the grader's/TA's assessments, your summaries
will be ran through software applications (Turnitin Feedback Studio in Canvas and one other
application) for identifying plagiarism.
In short: Read the articles, write your own summaries, and you will be rewarded. Don't not use GenAI tools such as Copilot, ChatGPT, etc. for generating the summaries. We want to gauge your understanding of the paper(s).
Tentative Roadmap
| Week | Week of | Topic(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8/18 | Introduction | ||
| 2 | 8/25 | Networking Primer and Operating Systems (OS) Basics | Assigning Quiz 1 | |
| 3 | 9/1 | Basic Linux Commands and Reconnaissance | ||
| 4 | 9/8 | Reconnaissance and Introduction to SQL Injections | Assigning Homework 1 | |
| 5 | 9/15 | Exploiting Vulnerabilities and Metasploit | Assigning Quiz 2 | |
| 6 | 9/22 | Password Cracking | Assigning Report 1 | |
| 7 | 9/29 | Crypthography Basics and Secure SHell (SSH) | Assigning Quiz 3 | |
| 8 | 10/6 | Sniffing Network Traffic | ||
| 9 | 10/13 | Interacting with Network Traffic | Fall Break | |
| 10 | 10/20 | DoS/DDoS Attacks | Assigning Homework 2 | |
| 11 | 10/27 | Wireless Networks Cracking | Assigning Quiz 4 | |
| 12 | 11/3 | Rootkits | Assigning Homework 3 | |
| 13 | 11/10 | Logging&Auditing | Assigning Quiz 5 | |
| 14 | 11/17 | Introduction to Security Onion | Assigning Report 2 | |
| 15 | 11/24 | Firewalls | Thanksgiving Break | |
| 16 | 12/1 | Final Exam Review and Current Research in Cybersecurity | ||
| 17 | 12/8 | Finals Week |
Acknowledgments
Kabir Panahi and Dalton Brucker-Hahn contributed to creating some of the course materials such as course slides and homework assignments.