CS 181W: Usable Security and Privacy
There is a growing recognition that technology alone cannot solve
all the problems relating to computer security and data privacy, and
that human factors play an essential role in these areas. This course
will introduce the field of usable security and privacy, which
explores how people interact with security and privacy mechanisms.
Topics include usability and user-interface problems related to
security and privacy, principles of usable security and privacy, and
methods for designing and understanding studies aimed at evaluating
usability issues in this domain.
Prerequisites: CS 51x PO or CS 5 HM. Further computer science
courses
(e.g., CS 54 and 62 or CS 60 and 70) and/or some exposure to
statistics (e.g., Math 58) may be helpful but is not required.
Classes
Classes will place on Mondays and Wednesdays 11:00-12:15 in Lincoln 1135. See the schedule for details.
Instructor
|
Eleanor Birrell eleanor.birrell@pomona.edu Edmunds 221 |
Office hours: Mondays 8-10pm and Tuesdays 1:30-3pm.
The best way to contact me is by email. I try to respond to all emails within 24 hours. |
Assignments
There will be approximately 10 assignments in this class. Most of these assignments will be working towards a semester-long course project. See the assignments page for details. Assignments will generally be due on Tuesdays at 11:59pm PT.
Readings
There will also be some assigned readings. See the schedule for details.
Grades
Finishing all the assignments successfully is required to
pass the class. After that, grades are computed on a point basis, as
follows:
Assignments A0-A8: 40%
Final Project Writeup: 20%
Final Project Presentations: 15%
Readings: 20%
Participation: 5%
Academic Integrity
In general, collaboration is encouraged in this course. This means
that you may discuss approaches to solving problems with anyone in
this class, including me. As specified in the
department policy, you may help, or receive help, in using systems
and tools, in brainstorming debugging or testing strategies, and in
working with high-level design issues. However, unless otherwise
specified, you should never be looking at another student's code.
Moreover, any material from any external source---web page or
person or book---should be cited. The actual solutions to the
assignments and everthing you submit for the project should be your
work. If you have
questions about what is appropriate or inappropriate collaboration,
please speak with the instructor.
Course materials provided to you, are for your use in the course.
You are encouraged to use
them to the fullest extent, but you are not to publish them or
distribute them to other people or organizations.
Accomodations
I am committed to providing equal opportunity for all students. If you have concerns about anything that is preventing you from fully participanting in the class, please talk to me so that we can address it. Requests for formal accommodations may be made by contacting the Disability Coordinator on your home campus; all accomodations will be honored.