Until recently the topic of information security was important only to financial institutions and government agencies.  However, the use of computers and the Internet have grown to become an integral part of our economic, social, professional, governmental and military infrastructure and therefore the significance of information security continues to escalate.  The same fascination for the Internet has led some people to misuse the Internet by hacking systems and gathering sensitive information.  The hackers range from a bright curious student to a seasoned professional.  These hacker activities have made people realize the need to secure the computer systems and networks.

This course (and the MS/IT with Security concentration) has been developed as a result of the well-documented rise in demand for information security personnel.  This course is a basic course which gives an overview of computer systems security and network security.

At the completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Appreciate the importance of information security
• Identify basic security features in Windows and UNIX systems
• Identify basic network and Web related security features
• Use basic security tools
• Appreciate social engineering aspects of security
• Appreciate fundamental ethical, privacy and legal issues related to security