This is an archived handbook for a previous year. The current undergraduate and postgraduate handbooks can be viewed using the links above.
Postgraduate Handbook 2015-2016 (archived)
Module COMP51215: SECURITY AND FAULT TOLERANCE
Department: Computer Science
COMP51215: SECURITY AND FAULT TOLERANCE
| Type | Level | Credits | Availability | Module Cap | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | 4 | 15 | Not available in 2015/2016 | Durham |
Pre-requisites
- None.
Corequisites
- None.
Excluded Combinations
- None.
Aims
- Distributed systems, with their multiply-redundant components, offer the opportunity to achieve reliable operation which is tolerant to software and hardware faults. This is intimately connected with the problem of achieving security properties in distributed and internet applications. The module presents a thoroughly up to date treatment of these key topics.
Content
- Software security vulnerabilities
- Designing and engineering secure systems
- E-commerce systems security
- Mobile code and malicious attacks
- Security in mobile e-commerce and privacy online
- Concepts and definitions of fault tolerance in distributed systems
- Basic building blocks of fault-tolerant distributed systems
- Reliable, atomic and causal broadcast
- Consistency and replication
- From fault tolerance to attack tolerance
- Laboratory assignment: designing and implementing a secure and fault-tolerant mobile code system for a simple e-commerce application
Learning Outcomes
Subject-specific Knowledge
- Specialist knowledge: fault tolerance principles and practical techniques; evaluation; security and secure architectures; system structuring principles
- Practical design skills: designing and engineering secure systems; designing and implementing a secure and FT system
- Management: weak links and security issues in e-commerce
- Design integration: basic building blocks for security and fault tolerance; the module project
- Engineering of software systems: engineering of secure and fault tolerance systems; software reliability engineering
- Professional skills: non functional attributes (reliability and security) as properties of professional distributed systems
Subject-specific Skills
Key Skills
Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module
- The module comprises 1 week's intensive directed reading and laboratory exercises; 5 days of lectures, tutorials, and reading, and two weeks undertaking a major laboratory assignment. The overall workload conforms to the standard SLAT requirement of 150 hours equivalent to 15 credits.
Teaching Methods and Learning Hours
| Activity | Number | Frequency | Duration | Total Hours | Attendance Monitored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lectures | 10 | 2 per day in week 2 | 1 hour | 10 | Yes |
| Tutorials | 8 | 2 weekly | 1 hour | 8 | Yes |
| Practicals | 5 | daily in week 1 | 6 hours | 30 | Yes |
| Laboratory | 10 | daily in weeks 3 and 4 | 6 hous | 60 | Yes |
| Preparation and Reading | 32 | ||||
| Total | 150 |
Summative Assessment
| Component | Component Weighting | Element | Length/Duration | Element Weighting | Resit Opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laboratory report | 100% | Laboratory report | 2500 words | 100% |
Formative Assessment
Staged written feedback of laboratory and practical work by staff/demonstrators.
Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods
and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative
assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress
procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be
required to leave the University.