Design of a Cyber Security Research Lab

Abstract

Important considerations in the design of a network security teaching and research lab are discussed in the context of the University Of Management and Technology Graduate Network Security MS course. The main objective is to provide a learning and research environment for the student to enrich their understanding of the network and computer security theory taught in the classroom with an extensive set of complementary hands-on laboratory exercises. The mission of Information security and DFIR Laboratory is to support varied demands of research, education, and outreach in information security and cyber forensics. More specifically, the laboratory must be able to be used by professors for conducting research activities; individual student thesis and project work, class projects on information security topics, and to support faculty and students partnering with industry on issues of practical security.The type of expected research projects include Information Hiding, Tracing and Watermarking, Intrusion Detection and prevention, Applications of Machine Learning in Information Security, Key Distribution, Escrow and Security Protocols, Survivable Computation, Cryptography, Malware analysis and classification, Mobile Device Security and Forensics, Software Security, Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Testing to name a few.