Computers, Security, and Ethics
Fall 97, University of Illinois
Credit for CS 397:
Credit for graduates: 1/2 unit
Credit for undergraduates: 2 hours
Schedule: 1:00 p.m - 2:30 p.m. on Thursdays
Location:
Instructors and Media Support:
Keith Miller, Associate
Professor, UIS, Computer Science
Marsha Woodbury,
Director of Information Technology, UIUC, Graduate School of Library
and Information Science
Larry Dale, Director, UIS Media Services and Instruction
Purpose:
This course is designed to acquaint students with electronic privacy, security and ethics. The course provides a balance between technical issues, such as security holes in software, and underlying issues, such as why we have email, and what would be a reasonable model for privacy and security of email in a particular organization. The emphasis is not on the more immediate, colorful issues, such a hacker cracking into a system. Rather, the course also explores the grayer areas: Is the acceptable use policy thoughtfully written? Can a policy work without destroying staff morale?
At the end of the course, students can expect to know the basic concept of "ethics," the definition of "security," and how that varies, and the limits of technology. Students will learn about real and potential security issues, and steps that can be taken to create environments of trust.
Prerequisites:
Students should have experience in using computers in a variety
of environments. Those students who are not computer science
majors should have an understanding of basic computer architecture,
basic networking terminology, and some familiarity with UNIX.
Students will not be expected to have expertise at system administration,
or to be programmers.
Introduction to the Course:
This class is a cooperative effort between faculty, students,
and staff at UIS, UIUC, and involves experts from other institutions
and the private sector:
Textbook: (On order at the IU Bookstore--should be in stock by Sept. 7 or 12)
The NCSA Guide to Enterprise Security, by Michel E. Kabay (1996) McGraw-Hill.
This book includes case studies and discussions of key threats and vulnerabilities of information systems. It also describes strategies for organizing both precautions and responses.
Supplementary text:
Who Owns Information? From Privacy to Public Access,
by Anne Wells Branscomb
(1994) New York, NY: BasicBooks
Class Schedule and Format:
The class schedule is given below in terms of weeks. The class will meet every Thursday for 90 minutes. The first class will be taught twice:
August 28th at UIS and
September 4 at UIUC.
UIS classes start on August 28th, a week before UIUC. UIS has
off the next Thursday, September 4, when UIUC starts.
The subsequent classes will continue once a week, simultaneously
at UIS and UIUC via interactive compressed video. Most weeks Dr. Woodbury
will be at UIUC and Dr. Miller will be at UIS, both Dr. Woodbury will visit
UIS and Dr. Miller will visit UIUC at least once during the semester.
A significant portion of the class will be done asynchronously
via the WWW.
WEEK # TOPIC
Graded Work:
Continuous active participation is crucial to successfully completing
this course.
Each student will be responsible for developing one topic for
the class. The topic will be selected by the student, in consultation
with one of the class instructors (Dr. Woodbury or Dr. Miller).
One possible topic for computer science students will be to explain
a technical issue in some depth using terminology and concepts
accessible to the whole class. Once the topic is approved, the
student will produce the following:
Students will be graded as follows:
40%: Class Participation (including weekly interactive worksheets on the Web)
30%: Web page on the student's topic, including the short paper
90-100%: A; 80-89%: B; 70-79%: C; and so on.
Other Resources:
Here are a few additional Internet resources for computer security and computer ethics. This list will be expanded by students, instructors, and the consultants during the semester.
Role of Outside Experts: