Students

COMP8260 – Advanced System and Network Security

2022 – Session 2, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convener and Lecturer
Muhammad Ikram
muhammad.ikram@mq.edu.au
Contact via 02 9850 8439
Room 286, Level 2, 4 Research Park Drive, Becton-Dickinson (BD) Building
Tuesdays 4:00-5:00PM
Lecturer
Tao Gu
tao.gu@mq.edu.au
Contact via 02 9850 4357
Room 267, 4 Research Park Drive, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia
Tutor
I Wayan Budi Sentana
iwayanbudi.sentana@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
ITEC647 or COMP6250
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
COMP7260
Unit description Unit description
As organisations and users increasingly rely upon networked applications for assessing information and making critical business decisions, securing distributed applications is becoming extremely significant. The unit is concerned with the protection of information in computing systems and networks. It will address concepts and techniques for securing distributed applications.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Analyse key security requirements and trends in a distributed networked computing settings
  • ULO2: Evaluate security services such as authentication and access control in distributed systems and networks
  • ULO3: Analyse the security threats and develop security architecture and functionalities to counteract the security threats
  • ULO4: Apply (network) security techniques and mechanisms to develop (network) security protocols
  • ULO5: Develop and advance skills of research and critical analysis in a manner consistent with the completion of a postgraduate degree.
  • ULO6: Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication skills to communicate technical ideas

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Submission Penalty

From 1 July 2022, Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of '0' will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern. 

 For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.  

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted 

In this unit, late submissions will be accepted as follows: 

  • Weekly Workshop Tasks – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies 
  • Assignment 1 – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies 
  • Assignment 2 (Group Project) – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
  • Final Exam - NO, unless Special Consideration is granted 

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Final Exam 45% No S2 Exam Period
Workshop Tasks 10% No Weekly
Assignment 1 15% No Week 5
Assignment 2 30% No Week 12

Final Exam

Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: S2 Exam Period
Weighting: 45%

 

The final examination in this unit is a hurdle requirement; students must get a mark of at least 40% in the examination to pass the unit. If students get a mark between 30% and 40% in students' first attempt at the final examination, students will be given a second and final attempt.

Concretely, in order to pass the unit, students must obtain an overall total mark of 50% or higher, and a mark of 40% or higher in the final examination.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse key security requirements and trends in a distributed networked computing settings
  • Evaluate security services such as authentication and access control in distributed systems and networks
  • Analyse the security threats and develop security architecture and functionalities to counteract the security threats
  • Apply (network) security techniques and mechanisms to develop (network) security protocols
  • Develop and advance skills of research and critical analysis in a manner consistent with the completion of a postgraduate degree.

Workshop Tasks

Assessment Type 1: Participatory task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 0 hours
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 10%

 

Weekly tasks or quizzes to assess understanding of the course material.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse key security requirements and trends in a distributed networked computing settings
  • Evaluate security services such as authentication and access control in distributed systems and networks
  • Analyse the security threats and develop security architecture and functionalities to counteract the security threats
  • Apply (network) security techniques and mechanisms to develop (network) security protocols

Assignment 1

Assessment Type 1: Problem set
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: Week 5
Weighting: 15%

 

Assignment on Security Mechanisms and Protocols

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse key security requirements and trends in a distributed networked computing settings
  • Evaluate security services such as authentication and access control in distributed systems and networks
  • Analyse the security threats and develop security architecture and functionalities to counteract the security threats
  • Apply (network) security techniques and mechanisms to develop (network) security protocols

Assignment 2

Assessment Type 1: Project
Indicative Time on Task 2: 40 hours
Due: Week 12
Weighting: 30%

 

Group Project.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse key security requirements and trends in a distributed networked computing settings
  • Evaluate security services such as authentication and access control in distributed systems and networks
  • Analyse the security threats and develop security architecture and functionalities to counteract the security threats
  • Apply (network) security techniques and mechanisms to develop (network) security protocols
  • Develop and advance skills of research and critical analysis in a manner consistent with the completion of a postgraduate degree.
  • Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication skills to communicate technical ideas

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

COMPUTING FACILITIES

Please note that this is a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) unit. You will be expected to bring your own laptop computer (Windows, Mac or Linux), install and configure the required software.

CLASSES AND TUTORIALS

Each week you should complete any assigned readings and review the lecture slides in order to prepare for the lecture. There are two hours of face-to-face lectures every week with a one hour tutorial. The lecture slides and tutorial material will be uploaded to COMP8260's iLearn page by 9:00am on Mondays. You are at the very least expected to go through the lecture slides and tutorial material for better engagement with your lecturers and tutor. Lectures and tutorials will be interactive, and you can ask questions, anytime during the lecture or/and tutorial, related to the lectures, hands on, and take home exercises.

For details of days, times and rooms consult the timetables webpage.

Tutorials and exercises will commence in week 1. Please note that you will be required to submit work every week.

DISCUSSION BOARDS

This unit makes use of discussion boards hosted within iLearn . Please post questions there; they are monitored by the staff on the unit.

REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND/OR MATERIALS

This material for this unit is in part based on the following textbooks:

  • William Stallings, Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practices, Prentice Hall (4th Edition) · Charles Pfleeger, Security in Computing, Prentice Hall, 20026 (4th Edition)

  • Charlie Kaufman, Radia Perlman and Mike Speciner, Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World, Prentice Hall

  • Dieter Gollman, Computer Security, John Wiley

  • Simson Garfinkel and Gene Spafford, Practical Unix Security, O’Reilly & Associates, Inc.

  • Trusted Computing Platforms: TCPA Technology in Context, Ed: Siani Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2003

  • Ross Anderson, Security Engineering, John Wiley, 1st or 2nd Edition

TECHNOLOGY USED AND REQUIRED

iLearn

iLearn is a Learning Management System that gives you access to lecture slides, lecture recordings, forums, assessment tasks, instructions for practicals, discussion forums and other resources.

Echo 360 (formerly known as iLecture)

Digital recordings of lectures are available. Read these instructions for details.

Technology Used

PacketTracer, Anaconda, Jupyter Notebook with Python.

Unit Schedule

Week Topic
1 Introduction: Cyber Security Trends and Concepts
3 Threat Models and Security Goals
2 Cryptography, Cryptographic and Security Protocols
4 Authentication and Access Control
5 Web Security
6 Internet Security Protocol
7 Distributed Systems Security: BGP Security
8 Cloud Computing Security
9 Distributed Denial of Service Attacks and Defences
10 Mobile Platform Security Architecture
11 Anonymity and Censorship Techniques
12 Group Project Presentations
13 Revision

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes from Previous Offering

In this offering, the assessment tasks have been changed with Quiz 1 and 2 have been replaced with Weekly Quizzes. Each week's lecture will be accompanied with a tutorial and exercise questions. The tutorial gives you the opportunity to interact with your peers and with the lecturer. The tutorial sessions involve informal discussions with your peers and the lecturer. Each week you will be given problems to solve prior to the tutorial; preparing solutions is important because it will allow you to discuss the problems effectively with your lecturer and maximise the feedback you get on your work.

Unit information based on version 2022.03 of the Handbook