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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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Laboratory for Computer Network Security Instruction
Attacks against computer networks and systems are increasingly common. The University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Computer Science has responded to this challenge by increasing coverage of security principles in its curriculum. However, José Brustoloni says that “many of our students still graduate with only a rather theoretical understanding of security principles and without any firsthand experience of how to use security tools to counter actual attacks.” To help students learn practical “cyber self-defense,” Brustoloni is using his ACIE grant to create a Laboratory for Computer Network Security Instruction. The new laboratory will allow instructors teaching operating systems and networking courses to “recreate in a controlled environment a variety of attack scenarios and then walk students through the process of defending computer systems against them,” explains Brustoloni. The lab includes 12 PCs with extra network interface cards, and four Ethernet hubs, switches, routers, firewalls, Wi-Fi access points, and authentication servers that can be flexibly reorganized in one or more isolated testbeds. Brustoloni is developing for the lab 10 instructional experiments demonstrating live attacks and defenses against them. He says that these “experiments will be designed to engage students in a variety of roles, according to students’ levels and backgrounds.” New experiments will be added to the curriculum as different forms of attack develop. The lab will improve the curriculum both by enriching existing courses with hands-on security experience and by enabling new courses on computer security. The lab is attracting interest from Pitt students in a variety of disciplines as well as from local industry. A grant from Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse will give “practicing engineers from around the region the opportunity to learn in the new lab how to apply security principles in embedded systems,” reports Brustoloni. He anticipates that the lab will help faculty retain the interest of their best students, as well as discover and nurture talent in their classrooms that may not be readily apparent from test scores. “Resources like this lab give students the opportunity to engage in learning activities that may be better suited to their abilities and temperament than are conventional lectures,” adds Brustoloni. “Some students really come alive when they face practical challenges, and it’s fulfilling to the instructor to see that happen.”
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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for Instructional Development & Distance Education |
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