CSE 4380.010 Information Security

CSE 4380/5380 is a technical elective Computer Science and Engineering course at the University of Texas at Arlington that explores the fundamentals of information security.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Use cryptographic primitives directly in order to understand their respective uses and how they work together to provide security.
  2. Develop simple malware in order to understand hooking and how hooking can be subverted for malicious purposes.
  3. Set up and use defensive and security testing technologies in the network and operating system in order to see how they defend against attacks.
  4. Exploit software vulnerabilities in order to understand how they work and how defenses could stop them.
  5. Study a range of concepts to gain a broad understanding of the field of information security.
  6. Apply class knowledge in a capture-the-flag simulation exercise at the end of the semester.

Info

Class Information

Lecture
Section 010 Fri 1:00 PM - 3:50 PM
Location
WH 221
Course Syllabus
Section 010: 1:00pm - 3:50PM
Zoom Meeting
268 571 9880
Slack
cse4380.slack.com
GitHub
CSE4380 Fall 2025

Instructor

Instructor
Trevor Bakker (trevor.bakker@uta.edu)
Office Hours
Friday 8:30 AM - 11:30 PM, and by appointment
Office Location
321 Engineering Research Building

Help Protocol

  1. Think
  3. Slack
  5. Think
  7. Email
  9. Think
  11. Office Hours

Teaching Assistants

Teaching Assistant
Tong Chen (txc5603@mavs.uta.edu)

Office Hours

Online Office Hours

Online office hours will take place in Zoom Meeting 268 571 9880. Please use the main session for general questions. If you have an individual question, then request a private breakout room.

If you need more individualized attention, please contact the instructor to schedule an appointment.

Schedule

Date Topics Assigned Lab Project
Week 1 - Fri 08/22 No Class
Week 2 - Fri 08/29 Introduction, Chapter 2 and 20 - Encryption Pre-lab 1
Week 3 - Fri 09/05 Chapter 13 - Trusted Computing
Week 4 - Fri 09/12 Chapter 14 - IT Security Management and Risk Assessment Pre-lab 2 Lab 1 System Categorization Assigned
Week 5 - Fri 09/19 Chapter 15 - IT Security Control, Plans, and Procedures
Week 6 - Fri 09/26 Chapter 3 - Access Control and Chapter 4 - Access Control Lab 2.1
Week 7 - Fri 10/03 Chaper 6 - Malicious Software and Chapter 7 - Denial-of-Service Lab 2.2 Security Control Selection, Attack Trees, Risk Assessment & Mitigation
Week 8 - Fri 10/10 Mid-Term Exam
Week 9 - Fri 10/17 Chapter 8 - Intrusion Detection and Chapter 9 - Firewalls Pre-lab 3 Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan
Week 10 - Fri 10/24 Chapter 10 - Buffer Overflow and Chapter 11 - Software Security Pre-lab 4
Week 11 - Fri 10/31 Chapter 12 OS Security and Chapter 13 - Trusted Computing Lab 3
Week 12 - Fri 11/07 Chapter 16 - Physical Security and Chapter 17 - Human Resources Lab 4.1
Week 13 - Fri 11/14 Chapter 19 - Legal and Ethical Aspects Pre-CTF Lab 4.2 System Security Plan and ATO Package
Week 14 - Fri 11/21 TBD CTF
Week 15 - No Class (Thanksgiving Holiday)
Fri 12/05 Final Exam

Requirements

4380 Coursework

Component Points
Labs Labs ( Prelabs 2% + Labs 3% ) * 5 Labs) = 25%
Project Labs 25%
Mid-Term Mid-Term Exam. 25%
Final Exam 25%

Grading

Grade Average
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
F 0-59

Policies

Guide to the Honor Code

For the assignments in this class, you may discuss with other students and consult printed and online resources. You may not quote from books and online sources. You may not look at another student's solution, and you may not copy any portions of other's solutions. Furthermore, you may not utilize AI powered tools such as Co-Pilot, Tabnine, or ChatGPT for any of your programming assignments.

The following table summarizes how you may work with other students and use print/online sources:

Resources Solutions AI Tools
Consulting Allowed Not Allowed Not Allowed
Copying Not Allowed Not Allowed Not Allowed