The objective of this project is to develop a Systems Security and Software Security in Senior Projects (S4-SP) program to incorporate aspects of software security, computer, network, operating systems and database security into all phases of capstone projects. The four major goals of the S4-SP program are: (a) develop course modules in the areas of systems security, software security and cryptography; (b) integrate and use the course modules in the Software Engineering and Senior Capstone Project courses; (c) develop a Virtual Security Lab (VS Lab) that can be remotely used by other institutions; and (d) develop a sequence of two elective courses on Systems Security and Advanced Information.
The S4-SP program establishes a model for incorporating aspects of systems security and software security in a capstone project. The security learning modules are self-contained and no prior security background is required. The security control implementations in the Senior Projects are platform-independent.
JSU is a Historically Black University (HBCU) and more than 90% of its students are African-Americans. Other HBCUs and smaller institutions can efficiently incorporate the security modules as an essential component of their undergraduate Computer Science curriculum without requiring a dedicated security course. The Virtual Security Lab is accessible to other institutions at no additional cost.
The TUES project provided us a platform to develop a suite of lecture modules, question bank and lab projects that could be seamlessly integrated into the core Computer Systems and Software Engineering undergraduate courses (such as Computer Networks, Database Systems, Operating Systems, Software Engineering) so that all Computer Science majors learn about cyber security issues and solutions as well as be able to incorporate aspects of systems security and software security in their final-semester capstone projects. A culture of incorporating cyber security in all the phases of a software lifecycle (requirement, design, coding/development, testing, installation and maintenance) evolved among the Computer Science majors during the period of the TUES project. The TUES project facilitated us to setup a cloud cyber infrastructure that could be used to host virtual machine servers for students to remotely login and do their course projects. The virtual machine images could be customized for the needs of the students taking the specific classes. The TUES project contributed to the development of a suite of three security courses in the undergraduate computer science curriculum at Jackson State University. The three security courses developed and taught during the funding period of the project are: CSC 437 Computer Security, CSC 438 Systems and Software Security and CSC 439 Advanced Information Security. All the course materials are available online in the website of the Principal Investigator (PI): www.jsums.edu/cms/nmeghanathan as well as in the TUES project website: www.jsums.edu/cms/tues. The TUES project gave an opportunity for the PI to embark more on cyber security-related research projects and thereby integrate education with research. The PI conducted research on topics such as source code analysis for software security, secure communication protocols, virtualization and cloud computing and published peer-reviewed articles, and integrated some of the research methodologies and results into the course modules and lab projects developed for the above three cyber security courses.
