Computer Security: A Hands-on Approach

This book is a part of another book titled "Computer & Internet Security: A Hands-on Approach, 2nd Edition" (687 pages). It is created to lower the cost on students, as many courses only need this part. It covers 17 of the 26 chapters.

This book is based on the author's 18 years of teaching and research experience. It covers the fundamental principles in Computer Security, including software security, hardware security, web security, and cryptography. Its goal is to help readers understand how various attacks work, what their fundamental causes are, how to defend against them, and how various defense mechanisms work. The book can be used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses.

The author strongly believes in "learning by doing", so the book takes a hands-on approach. For each security principle, the book uses a series of hands-on activities to help explain the principle; readers can "touch", play with, and experiment with the principle, instead of just reading about it. For instance, if a security principle involves an attack, the book guides readers to actually launch the attack (in a contained environment). Readers can learn better from such hands-on activities.

The hands-on activities are based on the author's widely adopted SEED Labs, which have been used by over 1000 institutes in more than 65 countries.

About the Author
Du, Wenliang: - Wenliang (Kevin) Du received his bachelor's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1993. After getting a Master's degree from Florida International University, he attended Purdue University from 1996 to 2001, and received his PhD degree in computer science. He became an assistant professor at Syracuse University after the graduation. He is currently a full professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Professor Du has taught courses in cybersecurity at both undergraduate and graduate levels since 2001. As a firm believer of ``learning by doing'', he has developed over 30 hands-on labs called SEED labs, so students can gain first-hand experiences on security attacks, countermeasures, and fundamental security principles. These labs are now widely known; more than 1000 universities, colleges, and high schools worldwide are using or have used these labs. In 2010, the SEED project was highlighted by the National Science Foundation in a report sent to the Congress. The report, titled New Challenges, New Strategies: Building Excellence in Undergraduate STEM Education (Page 16), highlights 17 projects that represent cutting-edge creativity in undergraduate STEM classes nationwide. Due to the impact of the SEED labs, he was given the 2017 Academic Leadership award from the 21st Colloquium for Information System Security Education. In 2019, Syracuse University awarded him the Meredith Professorship for Teaching Excellence. Professor Du works in the area of computer and network security, with specific interests in system security. He has published over 100 technical papers. As of April 2019, his research work has been cited for over 14,100 times (based on Google Scholar). He is a recipient of the ACM CCS Test-of-Time Award in 2013 due to the impact of one of his papers published in 2003. His current research focuses on mobile system security, aiming at developing novel mechanisms at the operating system and hardware levels to enhance the security of smartphones and mobile devices. He also conducts active research in security education, with a focus on developing innovative systems that can be used as platforms for experiential learning in cybersecurity education.