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School of Psychology and Computer Science |
UCLan Coursework Assessment Brief
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Academic Year 2020/21 |
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Module Title: Advanced Topics in IT Security
Module Code: CO4510 |
Level 7 |
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Assignment – Research Paper |
This assessment is worth 60% of the overall module mark |
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RELEASE DATES AND HAND IN DEADLINE Start: 23/10/2020 Submission deadline of the research paper: 05/12/2020 23:59 Please note that
this is the latest time you can submit – not the time to
submit! Feedback will be given to the class within 15 working days of the assignment hand-in date, i.e., 15 working days counting from the complete contribution due date. This will take the format of individual written feedback using the feedback sheet available on Blackboard under the ”Assignment” menupoint. |
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The assignment work should be submitted to the appropriate assignment submission Turnitin folder available on Blackboard[1] by the due date. You should: 1. Use
the ACM SIG template for Word files, which can be found on Blackboard area, under the following
place: ”Assignment” menupoint ->
”ACM SIG Word Template”. Note
that the ACM SIG template uses numbered references, not Harvard style
referencing. 2. Use RefWorks (or similar) to organise your references. RefWorks is available on the UCLan network. |
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1. Learning Outcomes
This assignment addresses the following learning outcomes:
- Evaluate approaches to the management of IT Security
- investigate, summarise and review contemporary topics in IT security
- Apply ideas from research and current practices to address problems of IT system security
2. Assignment Description
This assignment is individual, You have to write a paper with a total size of 2400 words in the ACM SIG template (excluding references). Please check the Section 5 for more info on the template.
Research Paper Structure
The paper should contain at least the following sections. Note that you may add sections and subsections to improve the paper and its structure; for example, you may want to organise the literature review in sub-sections.
1. An abstract provides a compact summary of the report, which hightlight what you have done, and usually include the major findings and their significance. It is very important that based on the abstract a reader should be able to tell whether your paper will be useful to them. (ideally 200-300 words)
2. An introduction summarizes your research question and its context/ background (such as trends, statistics, recent developments in the field), the practical relevance of this question, the initial goal of your paper (how you expected to answer your research question), the relevance of the question for practitioners or researchers, how you did answer your question, and how the paper is structured.
3. A critical analysis of existing literature relevant to your research question. Identify any interesting results, insights, how effective are the proposed methods, and their limitations. Where applicable, also review relevant practices from high quality sources. Additionally, consider the extent to which methods proposed in research papers have been tested in industry. Due to the constraint on page number, only consider the most relevant, recent papers in the field.
4. Based on the drawbacks and limitation identified in this field, propose and discuss a possible (future) direction to improve or overcome some of these drawbacks. You may also discuss the mitigations or counter measures collected from research and/or current practices that minimise or avoid issues identified by the literature review.
· Note that you do not have to develop a method (since it is out of scope of this assignment), but only provide some interesting thoughts and discussion on a possible direction (i.e., mainly expressing your idea).
5. A conclusion drawing conclusions about what you have achieved, reflecting on your initial goal, and summarize the main findings.
3 Selecting a Research Topic
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Important: Let your tutor know about your chosen topic before you start. You should specify
a research question, and you should narrow down the topic. Otherwise,
you will run out of space quickly.
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- Phishing attack
- SQL injection
- Cross site scripting (XSS)
- Cross site request forgery (CSRF)
- Browser security
- Certificate vulnerabilities (e.g., Heartbleed bug)
- Typosquatting
- Based on honeynet/honeypot/honeytokens
- Based on trap documents
- Based on intrusion detection system (IDS)
- Multi-factor authentication
- CAPTCHA
- Graphical Passwords
- Single Sign On (SSO)
3.4. Security and Privacy of Cloud services
- Client-side/end-to-end encryption vs. server side encrytion scheme
- Privacy and accountability of cloud services
- from the data subjects (user), data controller (service provider), and legal perspective.
- Big data problem in cloud computing and storage
- Data theft in cloud (e.g., Fog computing)
- Automated malware analysis in the cloud
- Health-care management in the cloud
3.5. Advanced Persistent Threats (APT)
- Zero-day type attacks and their detection
- coping with attacks based on zero-day or unknown vulnerabilities
3.6 Botnets
- Detecting and mitigating botnets
- Online social networks based command and control (C&C) methods and detection
3.7 Smart City Security (IoT)
- Secure vehicular communications
- Security of smart road traffic control systems
- Centralized and decentralized (peer 2 peer) social networks
- Privacy and accountability of social networks
- from the data subjects (user), data controller (service provider), and legal perspective.
- Protecting children in online social networks
- Crowdturfing activities in online social networks and detection
- Sybil (fake) account problem in online social networks and detection
3.9 Mobile Security
- Privilege escalation attacks
- Android security problems
- IOS security problems
3.10 Firewall, IDS Security
- Firewall/IDS misconfiguration problems
- Inconsistency/Anomaly in firewall and IDS rulesets
- Conformation between high-level firewall/IDS policy and low-level firewall/IDS configuration
3.11 Hardware security modules (HSM)
- Security of Banking Hardware Security Modules
- Security HSM API analysis
3.12 Shilling attacks against recommender systems
· How effective are recommender systems against shilling attack
· E.g., Amazon, Netflix
TOP CONFERENCES AND JOURNALS IN CYBER SECURITY AND PRIVACY
You may browse the websites of the following top conferences and journal for the most relevant related works. Note that each conference and journal have a different version each year, e.g., CCS 2014, CCS 2015, etc., therefore you can Google based on the conference name + year + keywords. Also, keep in mind that these are only recommendation, you are allowed to work with papers from other places.
- ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS)
- USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX)
- IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy
- Network & Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS)
- European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS)
- ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (WISEC)
- ACM Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security (ASIACCS)
- Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS)
- Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society (WPES)
- Annual Privacy Forum (APF)
- Black Hat
- DEF CON
- IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security Journal
- IEEE Security & Privacy Journal
- TDSC - IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing Journal
- TISSEC - ACM Transactions on Information and System Security Journal
- IEEE Communications Magazine
- ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
Penalty
For every 10% you exceed your word limit, you will have 10% of your marks removed until a maximum of 100%. Your word limit does not include references, but does include citations (quotes).
6 Late work
Late work must be submitted to eLearn in the required assignment slot.
6.1. Penalties for late submission
Except
where an extension of the hand-in and presentation deadline dates has been
approved (using extenuating circumstances forms), lateness penalties will be
applied in accordance with University policy as shown in Table 1[1].
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(Working) Days
Late |
Penalty |
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Up to 5 |
Maximum mark 50% |
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More than 5 |
0% |
Table 1: Late submission penalty
7. Mitigating circumstances
Information about how to submit :
9 Unfair Means to Enhance Performance
The University operates an electronic plagiarism detection service (Turnitin) where your work will be automatically uploaded, stored and cross-referenced against other material. You should be aware that the software searches the World Wide Web, extensive databases of reference material and work submitted by members of the same class to identify duplication.
To avoid accusations of plagiarism, give an in-text citation and
provide bibliographic details of any source used in the references list.
Remember that you can reuse ideas from different sources but not literal text.
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Disclaimer: The
information provided in this assessment brief is correct at time of
publication. In the unlikely event that any changes are deemed necessary,
they will be communicated clearly via e-mail and a new version of this assessment
brief will be circulated. |
Version: 1 |
10 Reassessed
Work
Reassessment in written examinations and coursework is at the discretion of the Course Assessment Board and is dealt with strictly in accordance with University policy and procedures. Revision classes for referrals will take place during ’reassessment revision, appeals and guidance week’ as marked on the academic calendar
The mark for the reassessed module is subject to a maximum of 50%.
Please see the UCLAN Academic Regulations and Assessment Handbook for
information and penalties related to “unfair means to enhance performance”[1].
MARKING SCHEME
CO4510 Assignment
Student
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To be awarded a failing grade
(less than 50%) your work will not have met the required standard. The following (non-exhaustive) list contains examples that may cause your work to fail (several of the following points together would lead to a fail).
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To be awarded a pass mark (52,
55, 58) your work will be of a competent standard.
Your report structure, writing style (compact/focused), referencing
quality/quantity will be used to determine whether you receive a low (52),
mid (55) or high (58) pass grade.
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To be awarded a merit grade
(62, 65, 68) your work will be of a very good standard.
Your report structure, writing style (professional/compact/focused)
and referencing quality/quantity will be used to determine whether you
receive a low (62), mid (65) or high (68) merit grade.
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To be awarded a distinction
grade (74, 80, 87, 94, 100) your work will be of a very good standard.
Your report structure, writing style (professional/compact/focused) and referencing quality/quantity will be used to determine whether you receive a low (74), mid (87) or high (94, 100) distinction grade. |
