CS 459 - Science of Cyber Security

Credits: 3

This course focuses on techniques that approach cyber security problems in a principled manner using concepts from data mining, game theory, graph theory, and psychology. The intent of this course is to permit students to bridge the divide between real-world cyber threats and formal, scientific foundations of solutions that address such threats. Real-world cyber security issues, such as spamming, phishing attacks, malware, sybil attacks in social networks, and DDoS attacks, are used to illustrate how cyber threats can be modeled with abstract representations that are amenable to rigorous analysis and formal reasoning. The course also emphasizes the development of cyber defense mechanisms that are rooted in scientific foundations. Prerequisite: CS 350 and CS 375 (All prerequisites must have a grade of C- or better). Term offered varies.