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Certificate Program in Information Assurance (IA)

The UT Dallas Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) is committed to an initiative in Information Assurance (IA), which includes security assurance and intelligent network technology, provides students and organizations with education, information and training in responding to cyber threats from terrorists or cybercriminals and safeguards the nation’s information assets.

The Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) and the National Security Agency (NSA) certify that UT Dallas offers a set of courseware that has been reviewed by National Level IA Subject Matter Experts and determined to meet National Training Standard for Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professionals, CNSS National Standards 4011, 4012, and 4013E.

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE with a concentration in Information Assurance will be granted by the UT Dallas CyberSecurity and Emergency Preparedness Institute to graduate students completing the following course of study (15 credit hours). All required courses must be taken at UT Dallas.

  1. Two IA core courses (6 credit hours) and three IA-enhanced courses (9 credit hours)  or
  2. Three IA core courses (9 credit hours) and two IA-enhanced courses (6 credit hours)  or
  3. Four IA core courses (12 credit hours) and one IA-enhanced course (3 credit hours)

Note:  This graduate certificate is intended for students who enroll in one of the UT Dallas ECS masters degree programs only.

UNDERGRADUATE CERTIFICATE in Information Assurance can be obtained by completing the following (as well as any required prerequisites):

Note:  This undergraduate certificate is intended for those individuals who are working in the industry and who already have background similar to a BS-CS degree. CS and SE majors that complete the required classes, as well as students who complete the Minor in Information Assurance will be awarded certificates in Information Assurance.

 Graduate IA Core Courses

*CS 6324 Information Security* (3 semester hours) This course provides a comprehensive study of security vulnerabilities in information systems and the basic techniques for developing secure applications and practicing safe computing. Topics include common attacking techniques such as buffer overflow, Trojan, virus, etc; UNIX, Windows and Java security; conventional encryption; hashing functions and data integrity; public-key encryption (RSA, Elliptic-Curve); digital signatures; watermarking for multimedia; security standards and applications; building secure software and systems; management and analysis of security; and legal and ethical issues in computer security.

*CS 6377 Introduction to Cryptography *(3 semester hours) This course covers the basic aspects of modern cryptography, including block ciphers, pseudorandom functions, symmetric encryption, hash functions, message authentication, number-theoretic primitives, public-key encryption, digital signatures and zero knowledge proofs.

*CS 6379 Data and Application Security* (3 semester hours) The course will teach principles, technologies, tools and trends for data and applications security. Topics to be covered include: Confidentiality, Privacy and Trust Management; Secure Databases; Secure Distributed Systems; Secure Multimedia and Object Systems; Secure Data Warehouses; Data Mining for Security Applications; Assured Information Sharing; Secure Knowledge Management; Secure Collaboration; Secure Digital Libraries; Trustworthy Semantic Web; Biometrics; Digital Forensics; Secure E-Commerce; Secure Sensor Information Management and Secure Social Networks. Students will take one system or application and develop a secure version of that system or application for the programming project.

*CS 6387 Network Security* (3 semester hours) This course covers theoretical and practical aspects of network security. The topics include use of cryptography for building secure communication protocols and authentication systems; security handshake pitfalls, Kerberos and PKI, security of TCP/IP protocols including IPsec, BGP security, VPNs, IDSes, firewalls, and anonymous routing; security of TCP/IP applications; wireless LAN security; denial-of-service defense. Students are required to do a programming project building a distributed application with certain secure communication features and required to participate in several network security lab exercises and cyber war games.

*CS 6v81 Biometrics* (3 semester hours) The students will first learn various biometrics technologies including face biometrics, fingerprint biometrics, iris biometrics, retina biometrics, and hand biometrics. Next the students will learn techniques for securing biometrics systems./ Finally the students will examine the various standards efforts on biometrics including the work of the Biometrics Consortiums and Liberty Alliance. Students will develop a biometric system for their programming project.

*CS 7301 Language Based Security* (3 semester hours) This course applies cutting-edge techniques from programming language theory and compiler construction to the development and verification of secure software systems. Topics include language-based information flow security, software fault isolation, in-lined reference monitoring, typed assembly languages, certifying compilers, proof-carrying code, and automated binary obfuscation. Coursework involves reading and implementing recent research in the field.

*CS 7301 Advanced Cryptography for Data Security* (3 semester hours) This course discusses recent advances in cryptography for data security applications. The topics include identity based encryption, homomorphic encryption and its applications to data security. Additional topics include range queries on encrypted data, secure multi-part computation, and rational secure multi-computation.

*CS 7301 Data Privacy *(3 semester hours) This course discusses the basic aspects of data privacy and existing privacy-preserving technologies. In addition, it discusses legal, social and economic aspects of data privacy. Other topics include privacy legislations, anonymization techniques, cryptographic techniques for data privacy, access control, privacy-preserving data mining, and privacy issues in healthcare.**

*CS 7301 Building Trustworthy Semantic Webs* (3 semester hours) This course will provide an overview of semantic web technologies including XML, RDF, OWL and SWRL and will then describe security issues for semantic web technologies. In particular, secure publication of XML documents, securing ontologies and RDF documents will be examined. Policy management with semantic web technologies will be discussed. Finally applications such as secure web services, assured information, secure knowledge management and secure social networking that utilize semantic web technologies will be examined. Students will implement one such application for their programming project.

*CS 7301 Advanced Digital Forensics* - to be offered in Spring 2012 for the first time.

*Potential IA Electives*

 Graduate IA-Enhanced Courses

CS 6322 Information Retrieval  CS 6386 Telecommunication Software Design
CS 6352 Performance of Computer Systems & Networks  CS 6388 Software Project Planning and  Management
CS 6354 Advance Software Engineering  CS 6389 Formal Methods & Programming Methodology
CS 6357 Software Quality Assurance and Metrics  CS 6390 Advanced Computer Networks
CS 6360 Database Design  CS 6392 Mobile Computing Systems
CS 6361 Requirements Engineering  MAS 6V10 Information Technology Security and Audit
CS 6362 Software Architecture and Design  AIM 6334 Auditing, Assurance and Attestation
CS 6367 Software Testing, Validation, and Verification  AIM 6336 Information Technology Risk Management
CS 6368 Telecommunication Network Management  AIM 6340 Software Management
CS 6370 Information Systems Engineering  AIM 6347 Business Value of Information Technology
CS 6371 Advanced Programming Languages  AIM 6349 Information Technology Strategy and Control
CS 6373 Intelligent Systems  MIS 6319 Enterprise Resource Computing
CS 6378 Advanced Operating Systems  MIS 6329 Contemporary Issues in Telecommunications
CS 6380 Distributed Computing  MIS 6353 Intellectual Property Rights
 Graduate IA Course Enrollments
 The IA program will
  • increase your knowledge about network security and information assurance,

  • expand and develop your engineering abilities,

  • nurture and instill the ethics involved in information technology, and

  • help you develop and understand strategy and policy issues.

 Contact Information

To find out more information about the Erik Jonsson School's Information Assurance Program, please contact:

Dr. Kamil Sarac, Associate Professor, CS

Erik Jonsson School of Engineering & Computer Science

The University of Texas at Dallas

800 W. Campbell Road

M/S EC-31

Richardson, Texas 75080-3021

Phone: 972-883-2337

Fax: 972-883-2349

Email: ksarac@utdallas.edu


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Updated: Friday, 10 August 2012
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