Cyber Defense
EECS 465, Spring 2024
Course Details
| Lectures | Tuesday & Thursday 11:00pm - 12:15pm CT, 2003 Eaton Hall (Class # 57623) Tuesday & Thursday 02:30pm - 03:45pm CT, 2003 Eaton Hall (Class # 48763) |
| Instructor |
Alex Bardas Office: 2040 Eaton Hall Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:00pm - 2:00pm CT (Email appointment is needed to schedule a meeting over Zoom: meeting details)  : alexbardas
|
| GTA and Lab Manager | Kabir Panahi Office Hours: Wednesdays 11:30am - 1:00pm CT (Email appointment is needed to schedule a meeting over Zoom: meeting details) : kabir.panahi
|
| Grader and Lab Assistant Manager | Ron Heminway: ronald.heminway
|
ku
eduSyllabus
Check the "Syllabus" section on a regular basis since its content is subject to change throughout the semester.
Course Description
This course is focused on teaching KU students the critical knowledge and skills needed to administer and defend computer networks and systems. Lectures will mainly gravitate around hands-on activities and getting familiar with the current cybersecurity landscape.
Textbook
(Optional) Charles P. Pfleeger, Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, and Jonathan Margulies. 2015. Security in Computing (5th Edition). Prentice Hall Press, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA Other reading materials will be provided by the instructor.
Course Outcomes
This course has the following goals:
- Examining real software applications, operating systems, databases, and network systems using existing software tools to identify security threats, vulnerabilities, and employ remediation approaches.
- Understanding in a practical setting basic cybersecurity concepts such as reconnaissance, penetration testing, persistent access, etc.
- Understanding the behavior of software (and sometimes hardware) tools used for reconnaissance, penetration testing, and remediation.
- Analyzing social engineering through the capabilities available in existing software toolkits.
Important Dates
See the KU Registrar for important dates involving enrollment, add/drop, and refund information.
General Course Information
Announcements: You are responsible for all announcements we make in class, over Canvas, and/or email, such as information about assignments, changes in the syllabus, etc.
Assignment (Homework and Reports) Submission: Usually assignments are due at 11:59PM Central Time via Canvas (unless otherwise specified) according to the date posted in the assignment. In general, expect a 20% per day penalty for late submissions unless otherwise noted. One minute or 23 hours still count as a whole late day. Each calendar day counts as a late day. In case a solution will be made available by the instructor, late submissions will no longer be accepted.
Attendance: The knowledge and skills you will gain in this course highly depend on your participation in class learning activities. Because of that, I expect you to attend all class sessions unless you are ill or have a valid reason for missing. If you face challenges to fully participate in class due to illness, please let me know, and please contact me if you expect to miss class. We are here to support your success.
Academic Integrity - Addressing Cheating and Plagiarism
Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated and will be treated severely
whenever found. Unless an assignment explicitly states otherwise, all work
submitted for credit must be the student's own and is subject to the
provisions of the University of Kansas policies. Sharing your work or
copying is cheating, and submitting a work that is not all yours is also
considered cheating. Any cheating activities will result in an F for the course for
all parties involved. Reports of such detected academic misconduct will
also be made to your major department, school/college, and university,
which oftentimes will result in more serious sanctions. Students should
review the university policy on
Academic Misconduct.
"Academic integrity is a central value in higher education. It rests on
two principles: first, that academic work is represented truthfully as to
its source and its accuracy, and second, that academic results are obtained
by fair and authorized means. Academic misconduct occurs when these
values are not respected. Academic misconduct at KU is defined in the
University Senate Rules and
Regulations." --
KU Student Affairs
From Section 2.6.1 of the University Senate Rules and Regulations: "Academic misconduct
by a student shall include, but not be limited to, disruption of classes; threatening an
instructor or fellow student in an academic setting, giving or receiving of unauthorized
aid on examinations or in the preparation of notebooks, themes, reports or other assignments;
knowingly misrepresenting the source of any academic work; unauthorized change of grades;
unauthorized use of University approvals or forging of signatures; falsification of research
results, plagiarizing of another’s work; violation of regulations or ethical codes for the
treatment of human and animal subjects; or otherwise acting dishonestly in research."
Citing Sources: If you use any code, such as a library or existing codebase, you must cite it. Not doing so is considered plagiarism and cheating.
Using EdTech Services: The use of EdTech services (e.g., Chegg.com) for posting or downloading material for the preparation and/or submission of exams, homework, lab reports, etc., constitutes academic misconduct, which is not tolerated in the School of Engineering at the University of Kansas. It violates Article 3r, Section 6 of its Rules & Regulations, and may lead to grades of F in the compromised course(s), a note on your transcript, dismissal from the School, or expulsion from the University of Kansas. When a person signs up to use EdTech services, the "terms of service" that are agreed to do not protect the person when an academic unit (e.g., KU School of Engineering) conducts investigations related to academic misconduct (e.g., plagiarism and/or cheating). These services retain contact and information (e.g., IP address, email, time of use) of subscribers and users, which is released upon request. If you are feeling unsure about an assignment, it is important to use the allowable resources available to you, such as instructor office hours, graduate teaching assistant, grader, and/or tutoring.
Grading
Points Distribution
| Quizzes | 25% |
| Final exam | 25% |
| Assignments (Homework and Reports) Each assignment has the same weight | 50% |
| A | 90% + |
| A- | 88% - 89% |
| B+ | 86% - 87% |
| B | 80% - 85% |
| B- | 78% - 79% |
| C+ | 76% - 77% |
| C | 70% - 75% |
| C- | 68% - 69% |
| D+ | 66% - 67% |
| D | 60% - 65% |
| D- | 50% - 59% |
| F | 0% - 49% |
- Quizzes will be open-book and open-notes, unless otherwise noted. The format for the final exam will be announced later in the semester.
Appeals: Should you wish to appeal a grade that you have received, you must do so within one week of receiving the graded item.
Grade Responsibilities: This course mainly uses Canvas for releasing quizzes, for uploading your completed assignments, and for storing the grades. If you have not received a grade you were expecting, it is your responsibility to email your instructor no later than 2 weeks past the due date of the grade in question.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
The University Academic Support Centers coordinates academic accommodations and services for all eligible KU students with disabilities. If you have a disability for which you wish to request accommodations and have not contacted the Student Access Center, please do so as soon as possible. They are located in 22 Strong Hall and can be reached at 785-864-4064 (V/TTY). More information can be found on the Student Access Center website. Please contact the instructor privately in regard to your needs in this course.
Expectation of Classroom Conduct
The instructor, Alexandru G. Bardas, considers this classroom to be a place where you will be treated with respect as a human being - regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, political beliefs, age, or ability. Additionally, diversity of thought is appreciated and encouraged, provided you can agree to disagree. Activities within the University of Kansas community, including this course, are governed by the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
Diversity and Inclusion. The University of Kansas supports an inclusive learning environment in which diversity and individual differences are understood, respected, and appreciated. We believe that all students benefit from training and experiences that will help them to learn, lead, and serve in an increasingly diverse society. All members of our campus community must accept the responsibility to demonstrate civility and respect for the dignity of others. Expressions or actions that disparage a person's or group's race, ethnicity, nationality, culture, gender, gender identity / expression, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability are contrary to the mission of the University. We expect that KU students, faculty, and staff will promote an atmosphere of respect for all members of our KU community. This is an inclusive classroom. At KU, administrators, faculty, and staff are committed to the creation and maintenance of "inclusive learning" spaces. These are classrooms, labs, and other places of learning where you will be treated with respect and dignity and where all individuals are provided equitable opportunity to participate, contribute, and succeed.
Public Health Considerations. Please follow the Protect KU webpage for the latest updates and directives.
Concealed Carry. Individuals who choose to carry concealed handguns are solely responsible to do so in a safe and secure manner in strict conformity with state and federal laws and KU weapons policy. Safety measures outlined in the KU weapons policy specify that a concealed handgun:
- Must be under the constant control of the carrier.
- Must be out of view, concealed either on the body of the carrier, or backpack, purse, or bag that remains under the carrier’s custody and control.
- Must be in a holster that covers the trigger area and secures any external hammer in an un-cocked position.
- Must have the safety on, and have no round in the chamber.
Non-Discrimination Statement
The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the University's programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by University policy. If you have questions about filing a report of discrimination, contact the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX at civilrights@ku.edu.
Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, harassment based on sex, including sexual assault, stalking, domestic and dating violence, and harassment or discrimination based on the individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and pregnancy or related conditions, is prohibited. If a student would like to file a complaint for Title IX discrimination or has any questions, please contact KU’s Title IX Coordinator (Lauren Jones McKown, Associate Vice Chancellor for Civil Rights and Title IX, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Ave, Suite 1082, Lawrence, KS 66045, civilrights@ku.edu, 785.864.6414) and/or U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, Kansas City Office, One Petticoat Lane, 1010 Walnut Street, Suite 320, Kansas City, MO 64106, OCR.KansasCity@ed.gov (1-816-268-0050).
Mandatory Reporter
The University of Kansas has decided that all employees, with few exceptions, are responsible employees or mandatory reporters who must report incidents of discrimination, harassment, and sexual violence that they learn of in their employment at KU to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX. This includes faculty members. As such, if you share information about discrimination, harassment, or sexual violence with me, I will have to relay that information to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX. I truly value your trust in me to share that information and I want to be upfront about my requirement as a mandatory reporter. If you are interested in contacting KU’s confidential resources (those who do not have to make disclosures to OCRTIX), there are: the Care Coordinator, Melissa Foree; CAPS therapists; Watkins Health Care Providers; and the Ombuds Office.
Notice of Copyright and Commercial Note-Taking
All lectures and course materials carry a copyright of Alexandru G. Bardas and other authors. Pursuant to the University of Kansas’ Policy on Commercial Note-Taking Ventures, commercial note-taking is not permitted in EECS 465 - Cyber Defense (Spring 2024). Lecture notes and course materials may be taken for personal use, for the purpose of mastering the course material, and may not be sold to any person or entity in any form. Any student engaged in or contributing to the commercial exchange of notes or course materials (such as recorded lecture videos and slides) will be subject to discipline, including academic misconduct charges, in accordance with University policy. Please note: note-taking provided by a student volunteer for a student with a disability, as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA, is not the same as commercial note-taking and is not covered under this policy.
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.
| Jan 16, 2024 |
No lecture |
Lawrence campus closed due to inclement weather |
|
Jan 18, 2024 |
Lecture 1 | Introduction, Undergraduate Cybersecurity Certificate, and Cybersecurity Engineering Degree | intro-slides, cert-slides, degree-overview |
| Jan 23, 2024 |
Lecture 2 | Networking Terminology and Clonezilla Supplemental readings:
|
networking-slides, clonezilla-slides |
| Jan 25, 2024 |
Lecture 3 | Operating Systems (OS) Basics Quiz 1 is available on Canvas (due Monday, Jan 29, at 11:59pm CT) Supplemental readings:
|
os-slides |
| Jan 30, 2024 |
Lecture 4 | Linux Command Line Basics Supplemental readings: |
basic-commands-slides, LAMP-stack-slides |
| Feb 1, 2024 |
Lecture 5 | Reconnaissance (Part 1) Supplemental readings: |
recon-slides, zenmap-info |
| Feb 6, 2024 |
Lecture 6 | Reconnaissance (Part 2) Supplemental readings:
|
slides |
| Feb 8, 2024 |
Homework 1 (Lecture 7) |
Introduction to SQL Injections |
sql-slides, hw1 |
| Feb 13, 2024 |
Lecture 8 | Exploiting Vulnerabilities and Metasploit Overview (Part 1) |
slides |
| Feb 15, 2023 |
Lecture 9 | Exploiting Vulnerabilities and Metasploit Overview (Part 2) |
slides |
| Feb 20, 2024 |
Lecture 10 | Password Cracking (Part 1) Quiz 2 is available on Canvas (due Friday, Feb 23, at 11:59pm CT) Supplemental readings: |
slides |
| Feb 22, 2024 |
Report 1 (Lecture 11) |
Password Cracking (Part 2) |
slides, report1 |
| Feb 27, 2024 |
Lecture 12 | Crypthography Basics (Part 1) Supplemental readings:
|
slides |
| Feb 29, 2024 |
Lecture 13 | Crypthography Basics (Part 2) Quiz 3 is available on Canvas (due Monday, March 4, at 11:59pm CT) Advice for Report 1: slides |
slides |
| Mar 5, 2024 |
Lecture 14 | Secure Shell Protocol Supplemental readings:
|
slides |
| Mar 7, 2024 |
Lecture 15 | Sniffing Network Traffic Supplemental readings:
| slides |
| Spring Break (No Lectures) |
Enjoy the break! | ||
| Mar 19, 2024 |
Homework 2 (Lecture 16) |
Interacting with Network Traffic Supplemental readings:
| slides, hw2 |
| Mar 21, 2024 |
Lecture 17 | Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) -- Part 1 |
slides |
| Mar 26, 2024 |
Lecture 18 | Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) -- Part 2
Quiz 4 is available on Canvas (due Friday, Mar 29, at 11:59pm CT) |
slides |
| Mar 28, 2024 |
Lecture 19 | Intrusion Detection Systems (Snort) Supplemental readings:
| slides |
| Apr 2, 2024 |
Homework 3 (Lecture 20) |
Wireless Network Cracking - WEP
|
slides, hw3 |
| Apr 4, 2024 |
FBI and KU Conference |
If you are available, please visit the Student Poster Session: 11:50am – 1:10pm |
details |
| Apr 9, 2024 |
Lecture 22 | Wireless Network Cracking - WPA/WPA2
| slides |
| Apr 11, 2024 |
Lecture 23 | Rootkits Supplemental readings:
|
slides |
| Apr 16, 2024 |
Report 2 (Lecture 24) |
Logging and Auditing Supplemental readings:
|
slides, report2 |
| Apr 18, 2024 |
Lecture 25 |
Introduction to Security Onion and Plan for the Remainder of the Semester |
hw3-feedback, security-onion-slides, semester-plan-slides |
| Apr 23, 2024 |
Lecture 26 | Firewalls
|
slides |
| Apr 25, 2024 |
Lecture 27 | Trends and Research in Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity Everywhere? |
slides |
| Apr 30, 2024 |
Lecture 28 | Final Exam Review |
slides |
| May 2, 2024 |
Lecture 29 | Q&A Session |
|
Finals Week |
Final Exam | Take-home exam (over Canvas) |
details |
Extra Credit
You can earn an extra 3% on your final grade by identifying, reading,
and summarizing 3 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 2014 to 2024) will be accepted.
Partial credit will also be awarded for less than 3 articles.
Requirements:
- Articles should be related to the material we are covering in class (i.e. cyber defense articles)
- Articles should not be older than 10 years (i.e. 2014 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.pdfor.txtare accepted)
Deadline for submitting the extra-credit assignment:Tuesday (April 30, 2024) 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 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.
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. Read the articles, write your own summaries, and you will be rewarded.
Tentative Roadmap
| Week | Week of | Topic(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1/16 | Introduction | ||
| 2 | 1/22 | Networking Primer and Operating Systems (OS) Basics | Assigning Quiz 1 | |
| 3 | 1/29 | Basic Linux Commands and Reconnaissance | ||
| 4 | 2/5 | Reconnaissance and Introduction to SQL Injections | Assigning Homework 1 | |
| 5 | 2/12 | Exploiting Vulnerabilities and Metasploit | ||
| 6 | 2/19 | Password Cracking | Assigning Quiz 2 and Report 1 | |
| 7 | 2/26 | Crypthography Basics | Assigning Quiz 3 | |
| 8 | 3/4 | Secure SHell (SSH) | ||
| 9 | 3/11 | Spring Break | ||
| 10 | 3/18 | Sniffing and Interacting with Network Traffic | Assigning Homework 2 | |
| 11 | 3/25 | DoS and DDoS attacks | Assigning Quiz 4 | |
| 12 | 4/1 | Wireless Networks Cracking | Assigning Homework 3 | |
| 13 | 4/8 | Rootkits | ||
| 14 | 4/15 | Logging&Auditing and Introduction to Security Onion | Assigning Report 2 | |
| 15 | 4/22 | Firewalls and Research in Cybersecurity | Assigning Quiz 5 | |
| 16 | 4/29 | Final Exam Review | ||
| 17 | 5/6 | Finals Week |
Acknowledgments
Dalton Brucker-Hahn contributed to creating some of the course materials such as course slides and homework assignments.