Introduction to Security

The Final Project


We have covered a plethora of security topics in this class. For the final project in the class, you will delve into a current security issue of your choice.


My hope of this final project is that you will:

  1. Specialize in a current security issue of your choice
  2. Gain hands-on experience in the field
  3. Demonstrate technical knowledge
  4. Communicate clearly to a community
  5. Practice writing


There is a very rich history of past projects in this class including:

An archive of past final projects is available at


For this final project, you must:

  1. Provide a detailed outline
  2. Write a paper, 6 pages maximum
  3. Provide your own supporting material that complements your paper

The Outline

An outline is an important part of a CFP (Call For Papers) submission to a major conference, and it will make or break submission. A good read on how to make your CFP and your outline stand out:

The Paper

The following are the guidelines for the paper:

The Supporting Material

Along with your paper, you must produce a supporting material for your paper. Options:

  1. Source code. This can be a demo, an exploit, a new security tool, an extension to an existing security tool or product, a script, a proof-of-concept, or an analysis of the source code. You can use any programming language and there is no requirement for lines-of-code that you have to write. Any source code that you write must be made public on GitHub
  2. A video. Must be at least five (5) minutes long.
  3. A conference presentation slide deck in PDF format on your work and findings. Imagine you are giving a 45-minute talk at a major security conference.

IMPORTANT: This supporting material must be made publicly available.


Unacceptable Ideas

Assessment and Rubric

Your final project will be graded on the following:

See for the rubric I will use for grading the paper



Should your final project is published to a Cyber Security or tech magazine or journal, or is accepted to a major security conference including HOPE in July (bi-annual), DEF CON, BSides, USENIX Security, DerbyCon, O'Reilly Security, etc., I reserve the right to change your final grade.