BSc: Network And Cyber Security

Network and CyberSecurity

• Course name: Network and CyberSecurity
• Code discipline: ?
• Subject area:

Short Description

This course covers the following concepts: Information Security Management; Web Security; Software Security; Network security.

Course Topics

Course Sections and Topics

Section	Topics within the section
Information Security Management	Security Policies and Controls Risks Analysis and Threats Modeling Software Development Security Techniques
Web Security	Security-related web technologies Same Origin Policy Web Attacker Model OWASP methodology Injection Flaws Authorization Flaws Cookies Flaws Server Misconfiguration
Software Security	Binary Exploitation ASLR NX
Network Security	Networking tools Network attacks IDS/IPS

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

What is the main purpose of this course?

Security breaches cost billions of dollars worth of damage to the computing industry. Today, cybercriminals control armies consisting of several millions of compromised machines. Attacks are increasingly being perpetrated towards enterprises, individuals, critical infrastructure and even governments. At the same time, our computer systems and platforms are fast evolving to meet the demands of the industry. Increasing the use of personalized devices, and our growing dependence on legacy computer systems that weren’t designed with security in mind is a challenge ahead. Therefore, the purpose of this course is to cover the design and implementation of different IT systems from a security perspective. This course introduces to the field of systems security: that is, how to analyze and develop secure systems. The course covers fundamental concepts of systems design, low and high-level vulnerabilities exploitation, design, and implementation flaws in different types of applications based on the real-world scenarios.

ILOs defined at three levels

Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• Security policies and controls
• Risks and threats related to the system design and its implementation
• Software security testing methodologies
• Software development security techniques
• Injection and authorization flaws
• Cookies and misconfiguration flaws
• Common weaknesses/vulnerabilities in web applications
• Common weaknesses/vulnerabilities in the typical systems software

Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• Information security management methods
• Difference between different types of risks and threats
• Security-related web technologies
• The difference in the different web application flaws
• ASLR, NX and how are these techniques can help to protect against a malicious attacker
• Covert channels
• Networking tools
• Network proxies

Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• Critically audit systems and code for security flaws and threats
• Design and implement exploits for real security vulnerabilities
• Develop secure systems and applications
• Be able to design defense solutions and outline their limitations
• Be able to find misconfigurations/vulnerabilities in a given network/system

Grading

Course grading range

Grade	Range	Description of performance
A. Excellent	90-100	-
B. Good	70-89	-
C. Satisfactory	60-69	-
D. Poor	0-59	-

Course activities and grading breakdown

Activity Type	Percentage of the overall course grade
Labs/seminar classes	30
Project	30
Exams	40

Resources, literature and reference materials

Open access resources

• Mike Chapple, James Michael Stewart, Darril Gibson, CISSP Official Study Guide, 8th Edition, Sybex, 2018
• Michal Zalewsk, The Tangled Web, No Starch Press, 2011
• Jon Erickson, Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition, No Starch Press, 2008

Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities

Activities and Teaching Methods

Activities within each section

Learning Activities	Section 1	Section 2	Section 3	Section 4
Homework and group projects	1	1	1	1
Testing (written or computer based)	1	1	1	1
Reports	1	1	1	1
Discussions	1	1	1	1
Development of individual parts of software product code	0	1	0	0
Midterm evaluation	0	1	0	0

Formative Assessment and Course Activities

Ongoing performance assessment

Section 1

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	What types of Security Policies are exist?	1
Question	What information from a given system you need to take into account to calculate security risks?	1
Question	Explain the difference between static and dynamic analysis of application code?	1
Question	Audit the given security policy for vulnerabilities and update it accordingly	0
Question	Calculate security risks for a given system and develop necessary security measures for mitigation	0

Section 2

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	What is the difference between reflected XSS and stored XSS? which one is more critical and why?	1
Question	What are the pros and cons of using regex to protect against XSS?	1
Question	what is the Same Origin Policy? and which attack does it mitigate?	1
Question	What is the difference between boolean-based and time-based SQL injection?	1
Question	Vulnerability analysis and exploitation for a given web application	0
Question	Write and deploy WAF rules to mitigate a specific web attack	0
Question	Does the Same Origin Policy apply to the localStorage inside the browser?	0

Section 3

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	What are the pros and cons of using ASLR? does it affect the performance?	1
Question	What can you do with a format string vulnerability?	1
Question	What is the required information to be able to identify a remote libc version?	1
Question	Why some binaries might have the same address for their functions? what is the security risk of this?	1
Question	Vulnerability analysis and exploitation for a given binary while ASLR is disabled	0
Question	Try to rewrite the following Assembly code in any programming language	0
Question	How can you check if you have ASLR, PIE, NX enabled or not?	0
Question	Decompilers are not always accurate why? how can you improve it?	0
Question	Some binaries are shipped with debugging symbols, How can this help you in debugging?	0

Section 4

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	What is the difference between VPN and sock5?	1
Question	What are IDS, IPS, and DPI?	1
Question	Why does Nmap produce false-positive when scanning a windows host? can you improve the scanning technique?	1
Question	What is covert channel? what are the most common protocols that are used for covert channel? why?	1
Question	When using a proxy for HTTPS, your browser will always complain about the certificate, how can you solve this issue?	1
Question	No lab for this section	0

Final assessment

Section 1

1. As above

Section 2

1. As above

Section 3

1. As above

Section 4

1. As above

The retake exam

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4