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 is to give 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 Ground Rules

The project can be a detailed research paper or survey, or a programming project that focuses on validating or working with some formalism or implements a model so others can explore it thoroughly. It can be a formalism, a model, or something else theoretical that we do not cover in class. In any case, check with me before beginning to be sure it is a reasonable project and no-one else has chosen it. Please select something that interests you!

You may work individually, or in groups of up to 3 people (if you want to have more than 3, please come see me). Of course, the larger the group, the more I will expect from it.

Some Suggestions for Project and Report Topics

Below are some suggestions for projects. If you pick one of these, you will need to refine it or limit the scope of your project. I also encourage you to think of a project on your own, especially in an area of computer science, or its application, that interests you.

What Is Due and When

Please submit the following on the dates indicated:

  1. Project selection: due on Friday, January 22; 10% of project score. Submit a write-up with your team members consisting of a one-line title of your project, a one-paragraph description, and the names of all team members. If you’re doing a programming project, state the problem you want to solve and the requirements for a solution.
  2. Progress report: due on Friday, February 12; 20% of project score. Submit a one-page progress report, and a bibliography of references that you have used or plan to use.
  3. Completed project: due on Friday, March 18 no later than 3:00pm Pacific time (no extensions can be given; this is the date and time of the final exam, which ends at 3:00pm); 70% of your project score. Turn in your final project.

Submit these to the class site in Canvas as described in All About Homework. If a team has multiple members, only one need submit the material. The others are to submit a note saying who submitted the material (a one-line text file is fine for this).


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Matt Bishop
Office: 2209 Watershed Sciences
Phone: +1 (530) 752-8060
Email: mabishop@ucdavis.edu
ECS 235B, Foundations of Computer and Information Security
Version of January 2, 2021 at 11:49PM

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