Information Technology 411

I. Course Title: Societal Security in Computing

II. Course Number: ITEC 411

III. Credit Hours: 3 credits

IV. Prerequisites: ITEC 120 (Grade of “C” or better)

V. Course Description: 

Course will explore the concepts of Cybercrime, Cyber Law, Cyber Ethics, Cyber Policy, and Privacy.

VI. Detailed Description of Content of the Course:

Topics include:

  1. The scope, cost and legal environment relating to cyber-based intellectual property theft.
  2. The current legal environment in relation to cyberspace.
  3. Understanding and Application of moral reasoning models to addressing current and emerging ethical dilemmas in computing.
  4. Understanding and Analysis of cyber issues as they relate to the national interest generally, and to national (and national security) policy more specifically. 
  5. Understanding of privacy in computing and its related challenges.

VI. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course:

This will be a primarily asynchronous, online course with online meetings to accompany the asynchronous modules.

VII. Goals and Objectives of the Course:

Students who complete the course will be able to:

  1. Discuss various motives for cybercrime behavior.
  2. Summarize terror activities in cyberspace geared toward generating societal fear and uncertainty.
  3. Describe methods for investigating both domestic and international crimes.
  4. Explain why preserving the chain of digital evidence is necessary in prosecuting cybercrimes.
  5. Describe the constitutional foundation of cyber law.
  6. Describe international data security and computer hacking laws.
  7. Interpret intellectual property laws related to security.
  8. Summarize laws governing online privacy.
  9. Distinguish among virtue ethics, utilitarian ethics and deontological ethics.
  10. Paraphrase professional ethics and codes of conduct from prominent professional societies such as ACM, IEEE-CS, AIS and (ISC)2.
  11. Describe ways in which decision-making algorithms could over-represent or under-represent majority and minority groups in society.
  12. Describe major international public policy positions and the impact they have on organizations and individuals.
  13. Summarize nation-specific cybersecurity public policy with respect to the protection of sensitive information and protection of critical infrastructure.
  14. Explain global impact of cybersecurity to culture including areas such as the economy, social issues, policy and laws.
  15. Describe the concept of privacy including the societal definition of what constitutes personally private information and the tradeoffs between individual privacy and security.
  16. Summarize the tradeoff between the rights to privacy by the individual versus the needs of society.
  17. Describe the common practices and technologies used to safeguard personal privacy.

VIII. Assessment Measures:

Student achievement is measured by tests, papers, and quizzes.

Review and Approval

August 2020