Peter Chapin. Email: pchapin@vtc.edu. I will usually respond to email within 24 hours, not including weekends or holidays. Email is the best way to contact me. I am also the CIS Discord server (https://discord.gg/vG4wUyHtHk) and on the Libera.Chat IRC network under the nickname pcc.
The official course outline lists high level course objectives and content.
This course provides a hands-on approach to the field of network security. Specific topics to be examined include network security threats and vulnerabilities to network architectures and protocols, securing network devices, implementing firewall technologies, intrusion detection prevention, and cryptography, VPNs, managing a secure network and implementing security devices such as the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance. Students develop an in-depth, theoretical understanding of network security principles as well as the tools and configurations available.
It is assumed that you have had an introductory networking course such as CIS-2151. Previous experience with Packet Tracer and Cisco switches and routers is helpful, but is not a requirement.
There are several books available via VTC's O'Reilly eBook subscription. Use your VTC credentials to log into the O'Reilly site. Note: Do not start a "free trial." You shouldn't need to do that. Instead, click on the "Sign In" button in the upper right corner of the page to get access to a book.
I have created an email distribution list for the class. I will use this list to distribute announcements and other supplementary materials. Be sure to check your mail regularly (daily) or you might miss something important. If you send a question in email directly to me, I may reply to my distribution list if I think that others would benefit from my answer. If you would rather I did not reply to the list you should say so in your message.
I grade on a point system. Each assignment is worth a certain number of points. At the end of the semester I total all the points you earned and compare that to the total number of possible points. In this course there are two components to your grade.
Homework. 20 pts/each. There will be about ten assignments during the semester for a total of about 200 points. You will have approximately one week to do each assignment.
Exam. 50 pts. There will be one exam. It will be held during the final exam period. It will be comprehensive.
The exam will be a take home exam. When doing the exam you can use any resources available to you except that you can not consult with other students about exam questions nor post questions directly related to the exam on Internet forums or mailing lists (it is okay to read existing posts, however). If you have questions about the exam, please contact me.
For homework you can discuss the material with other students and post questions related to the assignments in on-line forums. However, you should still do your own work. See the section on "Copying Policy" below for more information.
I will not formally take attendance, but I will notice people who seem "disengaged" in the class. Although attendance is not specifically part of my grading policy it will, like other intangible items such as "professionalism," play a role in how likely I am to round up borderline grades.
Roughly, late submissions are not accepted. If something comes up that prevents you from handing in an assignment on time, contact me, before the deadline if at all possible, to discuss your issue. As a practical matter I can accept a late submission if I have neither distributed a solution nor graded the assignment. Since either of those things can happen at any time after the due date, you should plan on submitting all materials on time.
I encourage you to share ideas with your fellow students, so I won't be shocked to learn that you've been talking with someone about an assignment. In fact, if you worked closely with someone else you should make a note on your submission that mentions the names of your associates.
However, I do ask you to do your own work in your final submissions. If two submissions exhibit what I feel to be "excessive similarity" I will grade the submissions based on merit and then divide the grade by two, assigning half the grade to each submission. If I receive more than two excessively similar submissions I will divide the grade by the number of such submissions and distribute the result accordingly.
Since "excessive similarity" is a bit subjective, I may only give you a warning if the similarity is not too excessive—especially for a first offense. However, I will be much less inclined to be forgiving the second time. If you are concerned about the possibility of submitting something that might be too similar to another student's work, don't hesitate to speak with me first.
If you find material on the Internet or in a book that seems to answer questions I ask in an assignment, you may include such material in your submission provided you properly reference it. If I discover that you have included unreferenced material from such sources, I may not give you any credit for the question(s) answered by such material. You do not need to provide a reference to our text book or to materials I specifically provide in class.
Students with disabilities may request accommodation as provided within federal law. All such requests should be made by first contacting Robin Goodall, Learning Specialist, in the Center for Academic Success on the Randolph campus. She can be reached by phone at (802) 728-1278 or by email at rgoodall@vtc.edu.
Last Revised: 2023-01-12
© Copyright 2023 by Peter C. Chapin
<pchapin@vtc.edu>