Computer Science 561 - System Defense and Test

This class trains students to detect and analyze weaknesses and vulnerabilities in target systems as a method of assessing the security of a system. Such techniques have various names, including penetration testing and ethical hacking. We focus on tools and techniques that an attacker would employ but from the perspective of an ethical system administrator. Broad topics include: tools and techniques for penetration testing and attacks, information gathering, social engineering, and defenses. Specific topics include malware, denial-of-service attacks, man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, SQL injection, buffer overflow, session hijacking, and system hacking, network sniffing and scans, wireless encryption weaknesses and other Wi-Fi issues, IDS/Firewall evasion, Metasploit tools, physical security, and setting up honeypots.

Open to graduate Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering students only. UNIV LEC 01 FOR UNDERGRADS; UNIV LEC 02 FOR GRADS. IF AVAILABLE SEATS, ELIGIBLE CSENG MAJORS WITH ECE 371 AND ECE 325 MUST WAIT FOR COURSE TO OPEN TO SELF-ENROLL (DO NOT REQUEST OVERRIDES). U+ LEC 01: ONLINE COURSE FOR GRADUATE CMPSCI STUDENTS ONLY. GRADUATE STUDENTS FROM OTHER DEPARTMENTS WITH INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION, IF AVAILABLE SEATS. STUDENTS NEEDING SPECIAL PERMISSION MUST REQUEST OVERRIDES VIA THE ON-LINE FORM: https://www.cics.umass.edu/academics/course-overrides