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Information Assurance Program

       


UT Dallas Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) is committed to an initiative in Information Assurance (IA).  This includes enhanced research in security assurance and intelligent network technology to reduce cyber-threats and safeguard the nation’s information assets. In addition, we are providing more students and the community with IA education and training.

Dr. Kamil Sarac of the Computer Science Department was appointed head of the Jonsson School's IA Program, which involves coordination with faculty and staff to continue development of a pervasive IA program on an on-going basis.

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham is the Louis A. Beecherl, Jr. I Distinguished Professor in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science since September 2010. She joined UT Dallas in October 2004 as a Professor of Computer Science and Director of the CyberSecurity Research Center.


UT Dallas received certifications from the U.S. National Security Agency's Information Assurance Courseware Evaluation Program. 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 4013.


M.S. in Computer Science with Information Assurance Track

Headlines ...

NSA and DHS re-designated UT Dallas as a National CAE in Information Assurance Education academic years 2012-2017

NSA and DHS designated UT Dallas as a National CAE in Information Assurance Research academic years 2008-2013

UT Dallas IA faculty members working closely with Collin College professors to share IA curriculum

TexSAW - List of Attendees

UT Dallas hosted the 12th annual National Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education on June 2-6, 2008

State of Texas recognizes UT Dallas for becoming a National CAEIAE

CSEPI hosted InfraGard General Meeting: Cyber Crime

NSA and DHS re-designated UT Dallas as a National CAE in Information Assurance Education academic years 2007-2012

ECS School offers a Minor in Information Assurance

NSA and DHS designated UT Dallas as National CAEIAE for 2004-2007

UT Dallas "World Class" Security Analysis & Information Assurance Lab

UT Dallas grants certificates in Information Assurance

North Texas Homeland Security Symposium May 17, 2005

First UT Dallas Cyber Security Symposium April, 2005

Distinguished Lecturer Series 2005 about Cyber Security at UT Dallas

UT Dallas received $50,000 Grant Award from AT&T Foundation for Cyber Security Research

Minor in Information Assurance

A minor in IA requires 30 credit hours earned through the following courses:

  • CS 1337 Computer Science I

  • CS 2305 Discrete Mathematics for Computing I

  • CS 2336 Computer Science II

  • CS 3305 Discrete Mathematics for Computing II

  • CS 3345 Data Structures and Introduction to Algorithmic Analysis

  • CS 4347 Database Systems

  • CS 4348 Operating Systems Concepts

  • CS 4389 Data and Applications Security

  • CS 4393 Computer and Network Security

  • CS 4398 Digital Forensics

Undergraduate Certificate in Information Assurance
Undergraduate Certificate in IA can be obtained by completing the following 9 credit hours (as well as any required prerequisites):

Note:  This 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 that complete the Minor in Information Assurance will be awarded certificates in Information Assurance.

 

Graduate Certificate in Information Assurance

Graduate Certificate with a concentration in IA 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.

  • Two IA core courses (6 credit hours) and three IA-enhanced courses (9 credit hours)  or
  • Three IA core courses (9 credit hours) and two IA-enhanced courses (6 credit hours)   or
  • 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.

A Sampling of UT Dallas IA-related Courses Offering

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 6352 Performance of Computer Systems and Networks

CS 6378 Advanced Operating Systems

CS 6V81-581 Data Mining and Multimedia

CS 6368 Telecommunication Network Management

CS 6370 Information Systems Engineering

CS 6390 Advanced Computer Networks

CS 6392 Mobile Computing Systems

AIM 6349 Information Technology Strategy and Control

EE 6345 Engineering of Packet-Switched Networks

MAS 6V10 Information Technology Security and Audit

UT Dallas Published Papers and Ph.D. Dissertations on Information Assurance topics

UT Dallas professors and students are active in IA practice and research, and contribute to IA literature.  Click HERE to view examples of UT Dallas published papers on IA topics.

Survey of Research and Education in Digital Forensics and Information Assurance
The National White Color Crime Center (NW3C), with its goals in bringing together academic institutions across our nation for the purpose of collaborating on research projects and the development of academic curriculum in the areas of computer crime and forensics, requested Dr. E. Douglas Harris, Associate Dean and Research Professor of UT Dallas Erik Jonsson School and Executive Director of UT Dallas CyberSecurity and Emergency Preparedness Institute, to continue participation in fostering and establishment of an academic consortium. Through the leadership, foresight, and determination of Dr. Harris, UT Dallas team has put together a survey of education and research in Digital Forensics and Information Assurance.  The final result of this survey will be a great reference document for the NW3C and universities doing research and education in the areas of Network Security, Digital Forensics and Information Assurance.  Click HERE to view the survey result.
Sponsored Research Agreement with QuEST Forum
The Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications (QuEST) Forum signed a 6-year contract agreement (2012-2018) to sponsor UT Dallas CyberSecurity and Emergency Preparedness Institute in research and development of Information Security and Quality Management System.  UT Dallas will provide the primary subject matter experts for the continued research, development and operations of the QuEST Forum Information System, which consists of three systems: Registration Management System (RMS), Measurements Repository System (MRS), and Web System.
UT Dallas Contacts

To find out more information about the UT Dallas CyberSecurity & Emergency Preparedness Institute, please contact:

Dr. E. Douglas Harris, Associate Dean and Research Professor

Executive Director, CyberSecurity & Emergency Preparedness Institute

Erik Jonsson School of Engineering & Computer Science

The University of Texas at Dallas="MARGIN-TOP: 0; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0"> 800 W. Campbell Road

M/S WT-11

Richardson, Texas 75080-3021

Phones: 972-883-2631

Fax: 972-883-4441

Email: edh@utdallas.edu

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

To find out more information about the Information Security at UT Dallas, please contact:

Ms. Leah Teutsch

Chief Information Security Officer

Director, Information Security

Phone: 972-883-6855

Email: teutsch@utdallas.edu

UT Dallas Web Sites

Erik Jonsson School of Engineering & Computer Science (ECS)

CyberSecurity & Emergency Preparedness Institute

School of Management

Shared Faculty - Hieu Vu

McDermott Library

Declared Concentrations

Distance Learning - CS/EE Online

Information Security Office

Computer Science Undergraduate Courses

UT Dallas Training Post

Information Assurance Related Links

National INFOSEC Education and Training Program

Information Assurance Scholarship Program

DOD Biometrics

Colloquium for Information System Security Education

Top 100 Network Security Tools

NIST Computer Security Resource Center

SANS Institute

National Science Foundation (NSF)

An Inventory of Standards Affecting Security

NIST Information Technology Laboratory

National Security Institute's Security Resource Net

The Internet Engineering Task Force

SecurNet Security References

Strategic Information Warfare and Defense

SecurityFocus.com

NSA Security-Enhanced Linux

The Operations Security Professional's Association

NSA Information Assurance Research


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Updated: Thursday, 09 June 2011
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