Term Project

Why a Project?

This course covers a very large discipline, and - perhaps more so than many other areas of computer science - the discipline of computer security runs through many other areas. Because the class has a very limited amount of time, we will only touch the surface of many topics. The project gives you an opportunity to explore one of these topics, or some other area or application of computer security that interests you, in some depth. The specific goal of the project is to produce a paper. The paper may document software (or hardware) work, so you may choose that kind of project. The paper must either be of publishable quality, or be publishable should some (small amount) of additional work be done. You are free to work singly or in groups. Groups should have between 2 and 4 people; if you want to have more than 4, please check with me first.

Suggestions for How to Proceed

First, choose a topic. Good ways to find a topic are to think about an area of computer science you enjoy, and try to relate it to computer security (or vice versa); talk to some other graduate students and see if what they are doing suggests any ideas; think of ways security of the system you're working on could be made better; go to the library and browse for an interesting-looking paper; and so forth. The major computer security journals are Computers & Security, the Journal of Computer Security and the ACM Transactions on Information and System Security, but articles appear in almost all journals; the major conferences are Crypto and Eurocrypt (for cryptography), the IEEE Symposium on Research in Security and Privacy, the National Computer Security Conference (also known as the National Information System Security Conference), and the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference. If you need more help or have questions, feel free to talk to me.

Some Suggestions for Project and Report Topics

The following are just to get you thinking. You will need to do much refinement for each!

What Is Due When

All submissions are to be made through MyUCDavis.

Tuesday, April 13
By this time you should have chosen your project. Turn in a 2-3 paragraph write-up of what you want to do, and why; list several sources (at least 3), and describe how you plan to go about completing the project.
Tuesday, June 8
Your completed project is due.


Here is a PDF version of this document.