This book is based on the author's 18 years of teaching and research experience. It covers the fundamental principles in Computer and Internet security, including software security, hardware security, network security, web security, and cryptography. Its goal is to help readers understand how various attacks work, what their fundamental causes are, how to defend against them, and how various defense mechanisms work. The book can be used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses. Over 80 universities and colleges adopted the first edition of this book within the first 15 months since it was published in late 2017.
The author strongly believes in "learning by doing", so the book takes a hands-on approach. For each security principle, the book uses a series of hands-on activities to help explain the principle; readers can touch, play with, and experiment with the principle, instead of just reading about it. For instance, if a security principle involves an attack, the book guides readers to actually launch the attack (in a contained environment). In some cases, if a principle involves a security mechanism, such as firewall or Virtual Private Network (VPN), the book guides readers to implement a mini-version of such a mechanism (e.g., mini-firewall or mini-VPN). Readers can learn better from such hands-on activities.
The hands-on activities are based on the author's widely adopted SEED Labs, which have been used by over 1000 institutes in more than 65 countries.
Dr. Wenliang (Kevin) Du is the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence at Syracuse University. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1993, and got his PhD degree from Purdue University in 2001. He became a tenure-track assistant professor at Syracuse University after the graduation. He is currently a full professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Professor Du has taught courses in cybersecurity at both undergraduate and graduate levels since 2001. He promotes experiential learning in cybersecurity education. To provide students with hands-on experiences, funded by multiple grants from National Science Foundation and over a period of 17 years, he has developed over 30 labs (called SEED labs). These labs are now being used by over 1000 universities, colleges, and high schools in 65 countries. In 2010, his SEED project was highlighted by the National Science Foundation in a report sent to the US Congress. The report highlights "17 projects that represent cutting-edge creativity in undergraduate STEM classes nationwide". Due to the impact of the SEED labs, he received the "2017 Academic Leadership" award from the 21st Colloquium for Information System Security Education. In 2019, Syracuse University awarded him the Meredith Professorship for Teaching Excellence. Professor Du conducts research in the area of computer and network security, with a specific interest in system security. He has published over 100 technical papers. As of April 2019, his research work has been cited for over 14,100 times (based on Google Scholar). He is a recipient of the ACM CCS Test-of-Time Award in 2013 due to the impact of one of his papers published in 2003. His current research focuses on mobile system security, aiming at developing novel mechanisms at the operating system and hardware levels to enhance the security of smartphones and mobile devices. He also conducts research in security education, with a focus on developing platforms for experiential learning in cybersecurity.
