This project develops a portable computer security laboratory that may be used in a wide range of computer security and information assurance (CSIA) courses at multiple institutions. A suite of hands-on exercises and case studies dedicated to computer security and information assurance education is developed for use in conjunction with this laboratory. The exercises cover numerous aspects of computer security and information assurance including risk assessment, security policy, firewalls, intrusion detection, secure protocols, and public key infrastructure. In addition to specifying, building, and testing the laboratory, the project develops and tests educational modules that use the laboratory in actual courses at multiple institutions. These modules have instructor and student guides, are usable in multiple courses, and fully integrate classroom material with hands-on exercises in the laboratory. The modules emphasize the importance of the proper, ethical use of the tools and provide ample controls to prevent the laboratory from being used in an unauthorized manner or to launch attacks over the Internet. This project is multidisciplinary, integrating material from computer science, management, law, and other areas important to CSIA. The project team from three universities has well over fifty years of combined experience in research and in teaching in this area. The project creatively uses the existing infrastructure of a regional consortium of universities that already has easy cross-enrollment to leverage new course development and make CSIA knowledge much more accessible at all three institutions. The George Washington University in this project forms a partnership with two local universities with long histories of serving traditionally underrepresented groups. Gallaudet University is the world's only university that brings together deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing students and faculty in the common pursuit of education. Marymount University, until 1986 a women's college, is now a coeducational liberal arts institution in which women make up 70% of its students.
