This project develops an innovative, engaging, computer security course called Digital Threads. A principal difference in the design of this course, when compared to other security curricula such as those developed at the National Security Agency certified Centers for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance, is the significant reduction in prerequisites for the course. Students taking this introductory course will gain an understanding of the foundational principles and technologies for providing secure and dependable computing services.
The project objectives include defining and satisfying the computer security educational needs of future technology managers and policy developers; determining what concepts need to be taught, and how computer security can be effectively taught to novices; and exploring of the use of service learning to attract and interest students from all corners of colleges and universities. The project develops a high-school outreach program to spur early interest in the computer science and information technology field.
Anticipated outcomes include better security education for computer science majors, which will improve the commercial computer security marketplace as well as stimulating more academic research by those graduates; increased interest, by high-school students, in the field of computer science and information technology; and increased retention of female and minority computer science students. The proposed approach educates future technology policy leaders and managers; increases offering of computer security courses at colleges that currently lack such offerings; improves awareness, across the disciplines, of the need for computer security; and attracts interest from students outside computer science departments.
