CPSC400-401---Fall, 2011

Computer Security Integrated Research Component

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Requirements of the project choice:

You must implement something dealing with computer security in whatever language you feel is appropriate. A few representative suggestions will be given, but I encourage you to develop your own ideas. Research that leads to a different or unusual way of implementing something is very, very desirable, although original results are not required. Experiments that test security techniques or tools' effectiveness can be interesting. You might want to look into the computer forensic area also. You do need programming that is substantial enough to demonstrate that you can implement a major programming project. You can't just do a term paper where you research a topic and fail to create something.

You are expected to do a literature search of journal articles about related work as well as research-oriented web sites. I expect you to locate most of your research sources, but I am willing to help whenever possible. The librarian, Chris Schmidt, can help you locate material you may need. You may NOT use only the web for references.

The best projects have been those with the following characteristics:

0) Work on the project is started in the firsst week of the term and continues throughout the term.

1)  A specific object or phenomena is selected to be studied. Do NOT think you are going to be able to construct a complicated tool in approximately 10 weeks!

2) The specific object or phenomena has not been done by someone else or you have been able to improve on what someone else has done. This is not a requirement, but these types of projects normally turn out very well.

3) Journal papers and research-oriented web sites that deal with your topic have been read and explored in order to investigate what others have done.

4) The project is something the student has felt passionately and excited about. When this happens, the necessary time devoted to the project is not work, but fun. Although the IRC carries only 2 hours of credit, that amount was chosen to save you money, not to reflect on the amount of time you will work on the project.

5) The work proceeds evenly over the entire semester and isn't pushed just at the last moment.

Even with good progress all through the semester, you will tend to push at the end to add some things you just thought about doing. PLAN AHEAD TO ALLOW YOURSELF THE TIME!!!

Almost all failures or poor projects have been due to procrastination, a failure to realize the amount of time involved in doing a good job, or a failure to seek help in time. I can help you without it costing you anything.

Textbook: Try to read before class starts as it should help you.

• WRITING FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE (P)
• Author: ZOBEL
• Edition: 2ND
• ISBN: 9781852338022

References to explore:

• * Security-related Resources
• * ACM Digital Library- searchable, some articles available for download     This has many research papers and is available from our library on line.
  
• * IEEE Computer Society Digital Library- searchable, I can download a few articles if viewed as very, very important   All you can do with this one is locate articles.
• * Searchable database of online resources
• * Technical Report Sites- not specifically related to security
  I'd appreciate being told about any sites that are not operative.
  
• * Don't forget the resources that are available at our own library, particularly the Safari Books: http://library.hiram.edu/

  Paper specifics:

• * Paper details (as a .doc file)
• * Sample Journal Papers for Style
• * Some web citation information

  Your deliverables for this course will be:

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  I. A formal proposal for your project.- Due by at least Thursday of week 3 (September 15, 2011) You are encouraged to do this as soon as possible and not wait until Sept. 15

  You should start reading articles IMMEDIATELY to obtain an idea of what you want to do. You need to answer the question, "Can I find reference material on my topic?"

  The proposl must be approximately a 3 page discussion of how you envision your project. Explain:
  1) What you plan to implement- to the best of your knowledge right now.
  2) Why this project is of interest to you.
  3) Specify any web sites and journal articles you have explored already that are about your topic. You must include at least one journal article or convince me there are none available.
  4) Describe how you plan to implement the project in stages.
  
  A staged approach is VERY critical as you will want to have a working project available throughout your entire development. Remember, start simple and add complexity to later versions. Always keep a WORKING version of your project safe (multiple backups are a good idea) and work on a copy to add enhancements. If you tell me at the presentation time that you had a working version last week and now it doesn't work, I will assume you have done nothing and your grade will be the same!
  
  Be sure to write your proposal (and your paper later) in good, scientific style --- i.e. no "I's".
  
  I am aware that you may be changing your ideas during the course of your development. That is fine, but if you don't have an initial vision of your project, you won't make any progress. 
  
  You may chat with me informally about possible projects. Almost all proposals need some refinement and massaging. If you haven't interacted with me at all about possible ideas, I suggest you do so quickly. A mail message is fine to set up an appointment or to explore some ideas.

  mailto: obie@hiram.edu
  
  To get ideas, look at web sites cited as references and search through our textbook. Remember there are many references in Safari also.
  
  You may be able to adapt some existing code provided you:
  1) Document the source of every single line you use that is not yours in a way that I can find easily the original code and see it. Failure to do this will be a plagiarism violation.
  2) You have added a substantial amount of coding that can demonstrate your ability to code a large project. If in doubt, ask me before you assume you have done enough on your own. If a lot of your code is from another source, you have not met the requirements of this course.

  BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT USING CODE FROM OTHER SOURCES. IT IS EASY TO SLIDE INTO A PLAGIARISM SITUATION. ASK IF YOU WANT ADVICE AS TO WHETHER OR NOT YOUR WORK IS ACCEPTABLE!

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  II. A revised proposal, if necessary as soon as possible, but at least by the Thursday of week 4 (September 22, 2011)
  

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  III. Progress reports mailed to me weekly on Sunday, starting on September 18 until the end of the course. These should mention any journal articles you have read, comments about how your project is progressing, any successes you have had, and any problems you have had. These should be helpful when you write your paper to describe what you did, problems you had, etc.

  Put in the title the words:

  Report (<date of the Sunday>)

  and mail to obie@hiram.edu

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  IV.An email to obie@hiram.edu  with the abstract of your project - Due Friday, November 18.

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  V. A talk to be presented to an audience of peers, friends, and faculty during the finals week period. (Note: This is one week before the usual IRC presentations!)

  Talks will be scheduled in the finals week of the semester, on Monday. November 21

  • The talk should be 20 minutes in length with 10 minutes allowed for questioning.
  • Be sure to organize your talk so you can pack a lot of information AND a short demo into the time.
  • You should plan to stay after all of the talks so you can further demo your project to interested individuals.
  • Be sure to plan to be at all nights of presentations as you are expected to participate in the evaluation and questioning of all of the presenters.

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  VI. A poster suitable for a poster session at a conference. To be hung on the walls outside our offices in Colton or outside Colton 106 or Colton 103. This must be hung  by Friday, November 18 .

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  VII. A paper written in a journal style
• See samples and comments listed below.
• Use scientific style -Please, no "I"s!

• Provide a CD which includes all of the above: Your final proposal, your abstract, your powerpoint slides for the talk, your paper, your source code (and instructions for building the executable image in a readme.txt file), an executable file of your code, and the powerpoint slide for your poster . Label the CD with your name and CPSC 35200.  Give this to me Monday, November 21, at your presentation.

GRADING DETAILS:

• 35% Paper- Content and writing quality including clarity and thoroughness of explanations
• 40% Difficulty and quality of project (concept and coding) and level of research exhibited
• 20% Quality of presentation and demonstration
• 5% Timeliness and quality of all deliverables

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The following pages are from some former IRCs.

These will act as background material you might find useful to see the scope of the projects. The "Description of presentations given to our guests" shows the purpose of the projects and the abstracts show some of the projects done in previous sessions.. The Evaluation Form may be modified slightly, but the basic structure will be the same.

Be aware that not all of the abstracts are well done. For example, several incorrectly used the first person voice. Sometimes a student didn't submit the abstract in time. Then the student was responsible for supplying copies at the presentation even though points were lost for not meeting the deadline. More importantly, not all of the projects are well done. To some extend, you can almost spot the poorer ones as the descriptions are vague, talk about being a work in progress, or speak to what they hoped to do, not what they did.

Information about your paper: See the references above.

Information about your poster:

Directions for Creating a Poster

Example Poster 1 - graphics

Example Poster 2 - biology

Information about your presentations:

Some Talk Tips

Description of presentations given to our guests.

Abstracts of Projects -1998

Abstracts of Projects -2001
Abstracts of Projects- 2002

Abstracts of Projects- 2005

Comment made in 1998: I did not edit any of the abstracts so if you see spelling or grammar errors now, and some of you should ;-), it is too late!

Comment made 1/10/2001: Not all projects were acceptable, but most of the difficulties where due to a failure to carry out the project in a reasonable fashion (due to waiting too long to start coding), rather than a failure of the original scope of the project

Sample Evaluation Form Required for Each Presentation (except yours):

• Form