DM586: Networks and Cybersecurity

Study Board of Science

Teaching language: Danish or English depending on the teacher, but English if international students are enrolled
EKA: N330074102
Assessment: Second examiner: External
Grading: 7-point grading scale
Offered in: Odense
Offered in: Autumn
Level: Bachelor

STADS ID (UVA): N330074101
ECTS value: 7.5

Date of Approval: 02-03-2023


Duration: 1 semester

Version: Archive

Comment

See Danish version

Entry requirements

The course cannot be followed by students who have passed DM557 or DM572.

Academic preconditions

Students taking the course are expected to: Have knowledge of programming, for example by having followed DM574.

Course introduction

The purpose of this course is to give an understanding of the issues involved in networks and in computer security, for prevention and detection of security problems.
The course builds on the knowledge acquired in the course DM574, and gives an academic basis for studying the topics DM510, that are part of the degree.
In relation to the competence profile of the degree it is the explicit focus of the course to:
  • Give competence to. handle complex and development-oriented situations in academic and work settings and identify their own learning needs and to structure own learning in different learning environments
  • Give skills to: make and justify decisions within the subject area, describe, formulate, and communicate problems and results to either peers and non-specialists or partners and users
  • Provide knowledge about: principles for the design of computer hardware and operating systems, including distributed and parallel systems

Expected learning outcome

The learning objective of the course is that the student demonstrates the ability to:
  • Explain basic network concepts and the structure of the internet
  • Use sockets for network communication in applications
  • Explain functionality and interfaces for the application layer of the TCP/IP model and the functionality of DNS
  • Explain functionality and interfaces for the transport layer of the TCP/IP model and the difference between UDP and TCP
  • Explain functionality and interfaces for the network layer of the TCP/IP model and explain basic routing algorithms, and routing in the internet.
  • Explain functionality and interfaces for the link layer of the TCP/IP model, including error detection and correction.
  • Explain characteristic differences between wireless and non-wireless networks.
  • Use a packet-sniffer to analyze network traffic.
  • Explain the concepts behind and applications of both symmetric and public key cryptography.
Explain concepts behind and implementation of the following:
  • Digital certificates and signatures
  • Key distribution and user authentication.
  • Transport level security.
  • IpSec and VPN
  • Wireless network security.
  • Electronic mail security.
  • The problems causing recent security holes in software in contact with networks.
  • Describe tools and methods used in penetration testing / hacking and its effects
  • Explain techniques used to detect and prevent intruders and malicious software.
  • Describe different types of firewalls, and their strengths and weaknesses..

Content

The following main topics are contained in the course: Layers in networks, basic network concepts, the TCP/IP model, network protocols, basic cryptography (symmetric and public key), key distribution and user authentication, transport level security, wireless network security, electronic mail security, intruders, malicious software, firewalls, penetration testing.

Literature

See itslearning for syllabus lists and additional literature references.

Examination regulations

Exam element a)

Timing

Autumn and January

Tests

Portfolio

EKA

N330074102

Assessment

Second examiner: External

Grading

7-point grading scale

Identification

Student Identification Card

Language

Normally, the same as teaching language

Duration

Written examination: 3 hours

Examination aids

Laptop, books and notes may be used. Internet access is not permitted.
More detailed description of the exam rules will be published on the course page in islearning.

ECTS value

7.5

Additional information

Portfolio exam consisting of: a written examination and a number of assignments with an overall evaluation.

Re-exam is changed to oral exam if there are 9 or fewer students enrolled. The oral exam will be in topics that are known in advance. Follow-up questions for the presented topic and other topics from the course.

Indicative number of lessons

65 hours per semester

Teaching Method

At the faculty of science, teaching is organized after the three-phase model ie. intro, training and study phase. These teaching activities are reflected in an estimated allocation of the workload of an average student as follows:

  • Intro phase (lectures) - 39 hours
  • Training phase: 26 hours, including 26 hours tutorials 
The intro phase facilitates an introduction to new material and topics, which in the skills training phase are processed with exercises prepared at home and discussed in class to validate the acquired knowledge.

Activities during the study phase: Reading from text books, solving homeworks and applying acquired knowledge to practical projects.

Teacher responsible

Name E-mail Department
Peter Mayer mayer@imada.sdu.dk Concurrency

Additional teachers

Name E-mail Department City
Luís Cruz-Filipe lcf@imada.sdu.dk Concurrency

Timetable

Administrative Unit

Institut for Matematik og Datalogi (datalogi)

Team at Educational Law & Registration

NAT

Offered in

Odense

Recommended course of study

Transition rules

Transitional arrangements describe how a course replaces another course when changes are made to the course of study. 
If a transitional arrangement has been made for a course, it will be stated in the list. 
See transitional arrangements for all courses at the Faculty of Science.