DHP P236/CS150-08 Cyber in the Civil Sector: Threats and Upheavals

Professor Susan Landau
Offices: Fletcher: Mugar 251D; Halligan: 241
Email: susan.landau@tufts.edu
Office Hours Spring 2018: Mondays 2:00-3:00 Halligan 241
Tuesdays 1:30-2:30 Mugar 251D (Fletcher)

Course Description: There is a myth that the Internet erases borders. But as Internet companies' ability to place localized ads show, that's false. What’s more accurate is that the Internet complicates a nation’s ability to control of the flow of information within its borders. (This is not a new challenge for sovereign nations; consider the telegraph.) This fluidity has created great economic opportunity and simplified trans-border access, the latter potentially threatening security and other basic state functions. With bits increasingly controlling the world around us, the Digital Revolution poses a highly disruptive threat. In this course, we'll explore cyber clashes in the civilian sector: from jurisdictional issues and the challenges posed by new technologies to criminal activities and impacts on civil infrastructures. While several of the topics are also covered in International Cyber Conflict:  An Introduction to Power and Conflict in Cyberspace, DHP P249, the intersection between the two courses will be relatively minimal. Cyber in the Civilian Sector will have a greater focus on technology and, naturally enough, on the civilian, as opposed to national-security, side of the house.

Prerequisites: For CS students in A&S or SoE: COMP 11: Introduction to Computer Science and COMP 15: Data Structures. Note that this is a Fletcher graduate course: some technical and academic maturity is required.

Enrollment requirements: No programming background needed, but a willingness to, and interest in, playing with digital tools is required.

Course schedule: This course will meet weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays 11-12:20 during the 2018 spring term.

See syllabus or policies for further details.