Course Syllabus

Jump to Today

 

Course Description

Students explore the broad range of concepts, governance, and policy involved in protecting information assets within computer systems and networks. This foundational course covers concepts found in the CompTIA Security+ certification including law, ethics, cryptography, and the fundamentals of system and network security. Students develop strategies for identifying and remediating organizational vulnerabilities and risk assessment based on the CIA Triangle security model (confidentiality, integrity, and availability).

 

Essential Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to: 

1. Define issues critical to information security and risk management in a professional environment.
2. Describe the need for contingency planning and discuss scenarios.
3. Analyze information security policy in a business setting.
4. Demonstrate security policy models.
5. Define and discuss security management practices.
6. Identify control classification categories established and maintained by NIST (National Institute for Standards and Technologies) and the ISO (International Organization for Standardization).
7. Evaluate protection mechanisms and formulate cost basis analysis for implementation.
8. Create a SETA plan (security, education, training, and awareness) for an organization or business.

 

Textbooks & Technology

Required Textbooks:

Technology Requirements:

  • This fully online, self-paced class requires Internet access, as well as a backup plan in case your technology fails.

Module Topics

  • Week 1: What is information security?
  • Week 2: Identification & Authentication
  • Week 3: Authorization & Access Control
  • Week 4: Auditing & Accountability
  • Week 5: Cryptography
  • Week 6: Compliance, Laws, Regulations
  • Week 7: Operations Security
  • Week 8: Human Errors
  • Week 9: Physical Security & Business Continuity
  • Week 10: Network Security
  • Week 11: Operating System Security
  • Week 12: Mobile & IoT Security
  • Week 13: Application Security
  • Week 14: Final Project
  • Week 15: Case Study & Final Exam

Grading 

Your final grade will be based on the following assessments:

Assignments and Graded Weight
Assignment Category Grade Weight Percentage

Discussions:

  • Demonstrate Your Learning
 20%

Assignments:

  • Student Research & Chapter Exercises
 30%
Quizzes: 20%
Exams:
30%

 

Assignments Overview

Students will engage in a variety of work to learn the key concepts of this course. Asynchronous discussions will be featured almost every week and allow students to share their thinking with each other. Student Research assignments will allow them to independently investigate and discover ideas on a weekly basis. Chapter Exercises will test their retention for material contained in the text. Case Studies, Exams, and longer Quizzes offer the opportunity to record their learning.

Demonstrate Your Learning forums are a part of every learning module and are post-first discussions, which means that you will post your reply before seeing the replies of others. Discussions will be graded based on the following rubric:

Grading Rubric
Exceeds Expectations Meets Expectations Approaching Expectations Does Not Meet Expectations Points
Knowledge Comprehensive, in-depth and wide-ranging
(25 points)		 Up to date and relevant
(20 points)		 Relevant but not comprehensive
(15 points)		 Limited superficial knowledge/response
(10 points)		 25 points
Understanding Outstanding ability to grasp concepts and relate theory to practice
(25 points)		 High level of ability to conceptualize essential ideas and relate theory to practice
(20 points)		 Some ability to conceptualize essential ideas and relate theory to practice
(15 points)		 Limited ability to draw out concepts and relate theory to practice
(10 points)		 25 points
Writing Skills Excellent mechanics, sentence structure, and organization
(25 points)		 Significant mechanics, structure and organization
(20 points)		 Some grammatical lapses, uses emotional response in lieu of relevant points
(15 points)		 Poor grammar, weak communication
(10 points)		 25 points
Application & Analysis Grasps inner relationship of concepts. Excellent use of a wide range of supporting material
(25 points)		 Demonstrates the ability to analyze and synthesize, independent analysis, good use of a range of supportive material
(20 points)		 Informed commentary with some evidence of genuine analysis; some supportive materials used
(15 points)		 Lacks evidence of critical analysis, poor use of supportive evidence
(10 points)		 25 points
Total Points: 100 points

Assessment 

Students will be assessed with direct feedback from the instructor. Point values for each graded activity are embedded into the assignments.

Feedback

It is important to review feedback for your assignments and discussions to see where you are meeting expectations and where additional work may be needed. You can review rubric results from the instructor for your assignments and discussions. Your instructor may also leave general comments or annotation feedback within the assignment link.

 

Student Support & Policies

Please review the following policies and support services:

 

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due