Program Overview

Course Overview

Introduction to Information Security - IMT6011

The course Introduction to Information Security (IMT6011) is a doctoral degree level course that provides insights into the information security domain. The course is strongly recommended for doctoral students in the programme and is intended to provide additional knowledge beyond their immediate area of specialisation.

Course Details

Credits and Duration

• Credits: 5
• Duration: 1 semester
• Level: Doctoral degree level
• Language of instruction: English
• Location: Gjřvik
• Examination arrangement: Assignment

Course Content

Key Areas of Study

• Key results in the theory and modelling of information security
• Network security
• Operating system security
• Human factors in security
• Security engineering and assurance
• Cyber-physical systems security
• Cryptography and cryptanalysis
• Database security
• Information security management
• Anonymity and privacy

Learning Outcomes

Skills

• Identify relevant primary and secondary research literature in the respective areas chosen by the candidate
• Synthesise the state of the art and articulate key research problems and methods in the respective areas chosen by the candidate
• Evaluate the merits and contributions of research articles in the respective areas chosen by the candidate

Knowledge

• Summarise the state of the art in the respective areas chosen by the candidate
• Outline key methods employed by research in the respective areas chosen by the candidate and state relative merits
• Identify main strands of inquiry and key results in the respective areas chosen by the candidate

General Competence

• Appraise the merit of research methods and quality of research in the sub-areas studied
• Cogently discuss the state of the art in the chosen areas for the seminar papers
• Identify gaps in the state of the art in the respective areas chosen by the candidate

Learning Methods and Activities

• Lectures
• Individual discussions
• Seminars
• Literature study

Compulsory Requirements

• Students are required to prepare two papers on one or two of the subject areas covered in the course in coordination with and approved by the lecturer.
• Both paper topics must be approved by the lecturer, for this students must arrange a meeting at the beginning of the semester.
• The final papers are to be submitted into the examination system at the date set by the study administration for the current semester.

Evaluation

Re-sit

• New seminar papers must be provided.
• Forms of assessment: Two seminar papers are to be provided by the candidate and are marked separately by the examiner on a Pass/Fail scale.
• Both papers must be completed successfully to secure an overall Pass grade.

Specific Conditions

Admission

• Admission to a programme of study is required: Information Security and Communication Technology (PHISCT)

Recommended Previous Knowledge

• No pre-requisites, course should normally be taken in the first year of Ph.D. studies.

Course Materials

Textbooks and Research Articles

• The textbooks, monographs, and research articles are determined by the respective sub-area chosen for the seminar papers and will normally need to reflect the state of the art in the area.
• Suggested textbooks:
  • O. Goldreich: Foundations of Cryptography (2 vols.), Cambridge University Press
  • W. Diffie and M. Hellman: New Directions in Cryptography. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 22(6):644-654 (1976)
  • R. L. Rivest, A. Shamir,, and L. Adleman: A method for obtaining digital signatures and public-key cryptosystems. Communications of the ACM 21(2):120-126 (1978)
  • E. Bertino and R. Sandhu: Database Security - Concepts, Approaches, and Challenges. IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing 2(1):2-19 (2005)
  • J. Vaidya and C. Clifton: Privacy-Preserving Decision Trees over Vertically Partitioned Data. ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data 2(3):14 (2008)
  • K. Thompson: Reflections on Trusting Trust Communications of the ACM 27(8):761-763 (1984)
  • J. Feigenbaum, A. Johnson, and P. Syverson: A Model of Onion Routing with Provable Anonymity" Proceedings of the 11th International Conference Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC 2007), Vol. 4886 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Trinidad/Tobago, Feb. 2007, Springer-Verlag.
  • E. Peeters, F.-X. Standaert, and J.-J. Quisquater: Power and Electromagnetic Analysis: Improved Model, Consequences, and Comparisons Integration: The VLSI Journal 40(1):52-60 (2007)
  • D. Agrawal, B. Archambeault, J. R. Rao, and P. Rohatgi: The EM Side-Channel(s) Proceedings of Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems (CHES 2002), Vol. 2523 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Lausanne, Switzerland, Sep. 2002, Springer-Verlag.
  • A. Mishra: Security and Quality of Service in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks, Cambridge University Press, 2010
  • S.K. Das, K. Kant, N. Zhang: Handbook on Securing Cyber-Physical Critical Infrastructure. Elsevier, 2012

Subject Areas

• Information Security
• Informatics