6005-CEM Security - Coursework 1: Security Audit - Blackhat books
Faculty of engineering, Environment and Computing
Module: 6005-CEM Security
Assignment Brief
Module Learning Outcomes Assessed
1. Critically evaluate a range of encryption and authentication methods for a given set of requirements. 4. Critically evaluate the security of an IT ecosystem.
Task and Mark Distribution
In this coursework you are required to perform a security audit of a computer system and write a report on the results of the audit.
You will have access to a copy of the system, and the source code, you can find details on the learning platform.
Machine / Source Code Release
The VM and source code will be released in week 6 of the module.
The Audit
You will need to perform an audit to find potential flaws in the system. You are free to choose appropriate method(s) for the audit process. This can include (and is not limited to):
Code Review
Use of Automated tools
Fuzzing
Automated Code Review
While you are free to use any appropriate method for the audit. You will be expected to justify the decision. Why are the approaches chosen appropriate for the audit process, what are the benefits and drawbacks of the audit methods chosen.
The Report.
You are expected to write a report suitable for a technical audience.
The report should describe the process used to Audit the system, and discuss any security issues found. It is expected that the report will contain.
A description of the Audit method(s) used. Methods used, and Justification.
Brief Description of any issues found, and an assessment of their seriousness
Overview and description of ALL vulnerabilities found in the system.
Use an appropriate risk rating system for the issues found to categorise them, an show severity.
Detailed description of ONE issue. What is the problem
How Severe is the problem
Any Suggestions for mitigation.
It is expected you make use of the supporting literature, and relevant citations, to support your findings.
Report Structure
A suggested structure for the report would be:
Introduction Audit Method(s)
Description and justification for the Audit methods chosen. Audit Results
Summary of results from code audit.
Summary of security vulnerabilities discovered. Discussion of chosen vulnerability
Detailed description of a single vulnerably Conclusions
Submission Instructions
Please submit your final report in PDF, or WORD format, via the submission link.
Marking Scheme
Component Marks
Introduction and Conclusions 10 Audit Methods 20 Audit Results 30 Discussion of Vulnerability 30 Report Structure 10
Marking Matrix
The Table below gives the minimums required to meet a grade boundary.
Introduction and Conclusions
Should contextualise the report, providing background to the topic, discussing the content of the report in the context of security and highlighting the key findings.
Audit Results
Describe the results of the code audit, and discuss any problems found
Important: In this section the number of issues found is less important than the discussion. There is no "target" number of issues to find.
Comprehensive discussion of issues found, along with appropriate risk rating. Suggestions for mitigation provided, suggestions of priority for fix given
Description of issues found with discussion of risk, appropriate risk rating used. Summary for all issues found
Discussion of Issue
Select one of the issues found. Give a detailed discussion of the issue and its potential impact on the application.
Notes:
- 1. You are expected to use the Coventry University APA style for referencing For support and advice on this students can contact Centre for Academic Writing (CAW).
- Please notify your registry course support team and module leader for disability support.
- Any student requiring an extension or deferral should follow the university process as outlined here.
- The University cannot take responsibility for any coursework lost or corrupted on disks, laptops or personal computer. Students
should therefore regularly back-up any work and are advised to save it on the University system.
- If there are technical or performance issues that prevent students submitting coursework through the online coursework submission
system on the day of a coursework deadline, an appropriate extension to the coursework submission deadline will be agreed. This extension will normally be 24 hours or the next working day if the deadline falls on a Friday or over the weekend period. This will be communicated via your Module Leader.
- You are encouraged to check the origianlty of your work by using the draft Turnitin links on Aula
- Collusion between students (where sections of your work are similar to the work submitted by other students in this or previous
module cohorts) is taken extremely seriously and will be reported to the academic conduct panel. This applies to both courseworks
and exam answers.
- A marked difference between your writing style, knowledge and skill level demonstrated in class discussion, any test conditions and
that demonstrated in a coursework assignment may result in you having to undertake a Viva Voce in order to prove the coursework
assignment is entirely your own work.
- If you make use of the services of a proof reader in your work you must keep your original version and make it available as a
demonstration of your written efforts. Also, please read the univeristy Proof reading policy
- You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted (partially or in full), either for your current course or for
another qualification of this university, unless this is specifically provided for in your assignment brief or specific course or module information. Where earlier work by you is citable, ie. it has already been published/submitted, you must reference it clearly. Identical pieces of work submitted concurrently will also be considered to be self-plagiarism.
