CS 410 Top: Malware

Credit Hours:	4
Course Coordinator:	Wu-chang Feng
Course Description:	This course will study the motivations of malicious code developers and the common weaknesses expoited by such code. The course will then examine the identification and remedy of malicious code.
Prerequisites:
Goals:	Describe the motivation for writing malware Describe what viruses are and how they spread Describe what worms are and how they spread Describe what backdoors are and their functions Describe what trojans are and their functions Describe what rootkits are and their functions Describe various forms of malicious mobile code Understand basic vulnerabilities and how they are exploited Describe state-of-the-art research for tackling the problem of malware
Textbooks:	(Optional) Malware: Fighting Malicious Code Ed Skoudis, ISBN: 0131014056
References:	none
Major Topics:	Programming languages, computer architecture
Laboratory Exercises:	N/A

Oral and Written Communications:	Students will present research papers that describe the state of the art in the subject area.
Social and Ethical Issues:	Students will study the ethics related to working with malware and software vulnerabilities
Theoretical Content:
Problem Analysis:	Throughout the term, students will be analyzing problems related to the detection and mitigation of malware threats.
Solution Design:	A final project may be given for students in designing malware-resistant systems.