Revised 1/2015
NOVACOLLEGE‐WIDECOURSECONTENTSUMMARY
ITN261‐NETWORKATTACKS,COMPUTERCRIMEANDHACKING(4CR.)
CourseDescription
Encompassesin‐depthexplorationofvariousmethodsforattackinganddefendinganetwork.Explores
networksecurityconceptsfromtheviewpointhackersandtheirattackmethodologies.Includestopicsabout
hackers,attacks,IntrusionDetectionSystems(IDS)maliciouscode,computercrimeandindustrialespionage.
GeneralCoursePurpose
Thiscourseintroducesthestudenttotheprocessandtools,includingnmapandotherportscanningtools,
usedtoperformethicalhacking.Adiscussionofdifferentnetworkattacks,computercrime,andhackingis
provided.Thepurposeofthiscourseistoinformthestudentofcommontechniquesusedbyattackersin
ordertoincreaseawarenessandassistthestudentlearnhowtoeffectivelycountertheseattacks.Thiscourse
alsoincludescontent,asindicatedbelowinparenthesisbehindeachlearningobjective,whichdirectlymaps
toDHS/NSA’sCenterofAcademicExcellence–2Year(CAE2Y)criteria.CurrentinformationonNOVA's
CybersecurityProgramislocatedatwww.nvcc.edu/cybersecurity
RecommendedCorequisites/Prerequisites
Prerequisite:ITN260
CourseObjectives
Uponsuccessfulcompletionofthiscourse,thestudentwillhaveaworkingknowledgeof:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Hackerattacktechniques,methodologies,andtools
Networkworms,viruses,andmaliciouscode
Computercrime
Industrialespionage
Informationwarfare
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
NetworkAttacks
MaliciousCode
ComputerCrime
IndustrialEspionage
InformationWarfare
MajorTopicstobeIncluded
StudentLearningOutcomes
1. Attacks
1.1. Explaintheprofessionalhacker’smethodologyforattackinganetwork.
1.2. Explainthescriptkiddie’smethodologyforattackingnetwork.
1.3. Explainnetworksecurityvulnerabilities.
1.4. Explainhackers,hackertechniques,toolsandmethodologies.
1.5. Describehackermotivation
1.6. Describeandperformnetworkreconnaissance
1.7. Describeandperformnetworkmappingandscanning
1.8. Describeandperformgainingaccesstoanetwork.
1.9. Describeandperformmaintainingaccesstoanetwork.
1.10. Describeandperformcoveringtracksaftergainingaccesstoanetwork.
1.11. DescribetheAdversaryModel(resources,capabilities,intent,motivation,riskaversion,access).
1.12. Beabletouseanetworkmappingtool(e.g.Nmap)toidentifyopenportsonanetwork.
2. MaliciousCode
2.1. Describethegeneralsymptomsofavirusattack
2.2. Differentiatebetweenvirusesandworms.
2.3. Identifyanddescribethevariouscategoriesofvirusesandhowtheyoperate.
2.4. Identifyanddescribethevirusattackcategories.
2.5. Identifyanddescribethepropagationofworms.
2.6. Learnthetermsanddefinitionsassociatedwithviruses,wormsandmaliciouscode.
2.7. Describetheuseofsocialengineeringinthepropagationofwormsandviruses.
2.8. Describetheoperationofamacrovirus.
2.9. Defineanddescribethetwobasicapproachestoantivirussoftware.
2.10. Describehowtodefendagainstawormandvirusattack.
3. ComputerCrime
3.1. Describethestepsinplanningforacomputerincident.
3.2. Identifythedifficultyinestablishingwhohasjurisdictionoveracomputercrime.
3.3. Understandthelegalissueswithregardtopreservingdigitalevidence.
3.4. Describethevariousfactorstoconsiderinevaluatingthefinanciallossduetoacomputerincident.
3.5. Identifyanddescribetheincidentresponsegoalsandpriorities.
3.6. Describethefactorsinvolvedinidentifyingacomputerincident.
3.7. Describeandusethevarioustoolsassociatedwithidentifyinganintruder.
3.8. Specifytheprocessfortheinitialresponsetoanincident.
3.9. Identifythevariousfactorsinvolvedinassessinganincident.
3.10. Identifythevarioustypesofdocumentationthatshouldbeexaminedinevaluatinganincident.
3.11. Describehowtohandleandevaluateacomputerincident.
3.12. Recognizetheroleoflawenforcementandruleofparticularityinexecutingasearchwarrant.
3.13. Describetherolethenetworksecurityspecialistwouldplayinassistingthelawenforcementand
prosecutioneffort.
3.14. Describethedifficultiesinprosecutingacomputercrimeincident.
4. IndustrialEspionage
4.1. Differentiatebetweencompetitiveintelligence,economicintelligence,andindustrialespionage.
4.2. Differentiatebetweeninformation,data,knowledgeandintelligence.
4.3. Specifytheadvantagesofintelligenceinindustrialespionage.
4.4. Describetheforeignintelligenceorganizationsinterestedineconomicintelligenceandtheirgeneral
methodology.
4.5. DescribeIndustrialControlSystems(ICS)andsecurityissuesassociatedwithICSandSCADA.
4.6. 4.7. Describepersonnelcountermeasurefactors.
4.8. Describephysicalcountermeasurefactors.
4.9. Describetechnicalcountermeasurefactors.
5. InformationWarfare
5.1. Describethehistoryofwarfareanditsrelationshiptoinformationwarfare.
5.2. Describethehistoricalfactorsthatleadtoinformationwarfare.
5.3. ExplaintheconcernsoftheUS.Governmentwithregardtotheinformationinfrastructure.
5.4. Identifythespectrumofthreatsagainsttheinformationinfrastructure.
5.5. Specifytheroleofoffensiveinformationwarfare.
5.6. Identifythetypesandrolesofinformationwarfareweapons.
5.7. Specifytheroleofdefensiveinformationwarfare.
5.8. Explaintheinformationassurancefactorsrelatingtodefensiveinformationwarfare.
5.9. Explainthemilitaryroleininformationwarfare.
5.10. Explainthecivilianroleininformationwarfare.
5.11. Explainthelawenforcementroleininformationwarfare.
RequiredTimeAllocationperTopic
InordertostandardizethecoretopicsofITN261sothatacoursetaughtatonecampusisequivalenttothe
samecoursetaughtatanothercampus,thefollowingstudentcontacthourspertopicarerequired.Each
syllabusshouldbecreatedtoadhereascloselyaspossibletotheseallocations.Ofcourse,thetopicscannotbe
followedsequentially.Manytopicsaretaughtbestasanintegratedwhole,oftenrevisitingthetopicseveral
times,eachtimeatahigherlevel.Therearenormally45student‐contact‐hourspersemesterforathree
creditcourse.(Thisincludes15weeksofinstructionanddoesnotincludethefinalexamweekso15*3=45
hours.Sectionsofthecoursethataregiveninalternativeformatsfromthestandard16weeksectionstill
meetforthesamenumberofcontacthours.)Thefinalexamtimeisnotincludedinthetimetable.The
category,OtherOptionalContent,leavesampletimeforaninstructortotailorthecoursetospecialneedsor
resources.
Topic
TimeinHours
Percentages
NetworkAttacks
24
53%
MaliciousCode
8
18%
ComputerCrime
3
7%
IndustrialEspionage
2
4%
InformationWarfare
2
4%
OtherOptionalContent
3
7%
ExamsandQuizzes
3
7%
Total
45
100%