SYLLABUS: CYBER504x Network Security

Course description

In this course, you will examine the various areas of network security including intrusion detection, evidence collection and defense against cyber attacks. You'll also examine the resources available to both intruders and data network administrators to see their effects.

You will learn the principles and concepts of wired and wireless data network security. You will be guided through a series of online activities to explore various mechanisms for viewing network traffic and securing data networks, including physical layer mechanisms, filters, applications and encryption.

You will analyze attack/defend scenarios and determine the effectiveness of particular defense deployments against attacks.

This course is part of the RITx MicroMasters program in Cybersecurity that prepares students to enter and advance in the field of computing security.

You will learn:

• How to identify when attacks are happening inside networks
• How to collect evidence of network intrusions
• How to test networks and systems for vulnerabilities
• How to prepare for and defend against network attacks

Prerequisites

CYBER501x Cybersecurity Fundamentals is listed as a prerequisite for this course, and we strongly recommend completing that course before enrolling for any of the other courses in the RITx MicroMasters program in Cybersecurity:

• CYBER502x: Computer Forensics
• CYBER503x: Cybersecurity Risk Management
• CYBER504x: Network Security
• CYBER525x: Cybersecurity Capstone

In addition, this course is intended for those who have completed a Bachelor’s degree. A familiarity with the basics of computer networking is recommended for success in this course.

You can find out more about the MicroMasters credential on the program page.

Course staff

Jonathan S. Weissman
Senior Lecturer, Computing Security
Rochester Institute of Technology

Grading and certification

If you are planning to earn a verified certificate for this course, you must be enrolled as a verified learner and complete the 10-question graded quiz at the end of each of the eight Units. You only have one attempt for each question, so review your answers carefully before submitting your answer.

Each graded quiz is worth 1/8 of the overall course grade. Verified students who complete the quizzes with a cumulative 80% or higher average will earn a verified certificate from edX, signifying successful completion of the course.

There is no weekly deadline for each unit's quiz—as long as you complete all the quizzes by the course end date you will be eligible for the certificate. 

Students who successfully earn a verified certificate in all four courses and pass the capstone will receive a MicroMasters credential. Learners who successfully earn the MicroMasters credential are eligible to apply to RIT’s B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences for graduate credential options. If accepted into the RIT program, students who have successfully completed the verified MicroMasters will be awarded nine credit hours towards their degree requirements. You can learn more about this on the Cybersecurity MicroMasters program page.

You can choose to upgrade to a verified certificate until the Tuesday that Unit 6 opens. The verification date is always shown on the course home page as well as your edX dashboard.

RITx will not provide extensions to the published verification upgrade deadlines. Our course verification upgrade deadlines are scheduled to provide learners with as much time as possible to determine whether to pursue a verified certificate, per the course content. If you miss a verification upgrade deadline, we recommend you enroll as a verified learner in the next scheduled offering of the course.

Workload

To successfully complete this course, you should plan to devote 8 to 10 hours per week to the course. You will spend that time:

• Watching video lectures
• Viewing computer demonstrations
• Reading text resources
• Completing computer-based activities
• Participating in class discussions
• Taking quizzes and tests

Course materials & activities

The course consists of eight units:

• Unit 1: Packet Sniffing
• Unit 2: Password Cracking
• Unit 3: Port Scanning
• Unit 4: Exploits and Exploiting
• Unit 5: Access Control Lists
• Unit 6: Snort
• Unit 7: DHCP, DNS, and Switch Attacks and Mitigations
• Unit 8: Man in The Middle Attacks and Mitigations

A new unit opens each Tuesday at 14:00 UTC. Learners cannot access Units before they are open.

Course components

To help facilitate navigation within each unit, the course materials and activities are presented with the following headings:

Participating in Discussions

Each unit contains at least one Discussion, and we encourage you to participate in all of them. Discussions are posted in their own topics and are also accessible by clicking "Discussion" on the edX toolbar. It's perfectly fine to use the discussion questions as departure points for other conversations with your classmates. Course staff occasionally monitors posts; however, because of the large number of students in the course and limited resources, we may not be able to answer all questions. We appreciate your understanding.

In addition to participating in the course discussions, you can also use the Questions About this Course Forum to talk about other topics with your classmates.

You can access any forum by clicking "Discussion" on the toolbar at the top of your screen.

To see previous posts in any forum, click on the "Show All Discussions" tab at the left of the "Discussions" screen, and choose the appropriate category.

For more detailed instructions on how to use edX course discussions, please refer to the edX Learner's Guide under Participating in Course Discussions

Remember, your contributions must follow the Discussion Code of Conduct below.

Getting Help

For technical help with the edX platform, click on the "Support" tab on the left side of the edX window.

Your first stop for help with content-related issues that you’d like course staff to address is the the Questions About this Course Discussion Forum. Please add [Staff] at the beginning of your post. Also. please check to see if someone else has already asked your question before creating a new post.

If you don't get an answer there, you can contact the Course Team directly by email.

Academic policy

You must behave with academic honesty and respect your fellow students. Please abide by the edX Terms of Service & Honor Code.

Discussion Code Of Conduct

We are committed to providing a friendly, safe, and welcoming environment for all students. This code of conduct outlines our expectations for discussion behavior, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behavior.

• Be respectful
• Please respect your fellow students. Insulting or abusive words will not be tolerated and will be removed.
• Be constructive
• A learning community is about learning with and through engagement with one another.
• Be culturally aware

This is a global forum with participants from many different cultures and backgrounds. Be sensitive when discussing race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or controversial topics, since others may be more sensitive about them than you are.

Post appropriately

Content that violates the edX Terms of Service & Honor Code is not permitted. You may not post inappropriate (e.g. pornographic) or copyrighted content, advertise or promote outside products or organizations, or spam the forums with repeat content.

Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior

Unacceptable behavior will not be tolerated. Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in unacceptable behavior, the course staff may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from the course.

Please help us create a healthy learning environment by respecting these standards. We do not expect to see many of these issues because we trust students like you to keep our forum communities strong and healthy.