CO634 Coursework - Computer Security

Please select any 5 of the questions below and answer them in writing. The expected
answer length per question is half a page (i.e., half of one side of an A4 page), with
minimum font size of 11pt. A guideline for minimum length/content is to ensure that you at
least discuss each of the key points in each question. Also answer each of the sub questions.
You should include a bibliography of all the books, articles, news, blogs, etc. that you have
checked at the end of the report (these do not count to the half page limit). Please use
proper citation (Harvard style) and keep in mind reports will be checked with Turnitin.

Deadline for submitting on Moodle is Friday week 12 (13th December 2019) at 23:55.

1. Security risk management is an essential part of computer security; however, it has a
number of limitations/challenges. What are some of the ways in which these
limitations/challenges may be addressed? Pick 1-2 limitations.
2. Read and write a personal account the research article “The Psychology of Security
for the Home Computer User”. Also consider, what is this important to study? What
are the key issues? What is the pathway forward and why?
3. What makes a good authentication scheme and why? What is your preferred
scheme and why is that better than other schemes?
4. Describe known attacks against the Diffie-Hellman protocol, and the most common
countermeasures to stop them. Consider the date of the attacks and changes over
time that reduced or increased their relevance.
5. Write a description of one of the POODLE/Heartbleed/Shellshock vulnerabilities
against SSL/TLS, extracting possible security lessons from them and detailing how
they have been stopped.
6. How can attackers bypass firewalls? Describe at least 3 possibilities providing
enough technical details and some tools and countermeasures, if applicable.
7. How can attackers bypass intrusion detection systems? Describe in enough technical
detail at least 2 ideas, with available tools and countermeasures.