e-learning of security and information assurance with sequence diagrams

Abstract

During the last two decades postal mail became e-mail, cash transactions became cashless, libraries became digital libraries, learning became e-learning, banking became online banking, news, TV and games became online entertainment. As soon as a computer starts to share the resources available on the web or local network, it immediately becomes vulnerable to attacks or infiltration. To prevent unscrupulous attacks on such systems it is necessary to consolidate confidentiality, integrity and authentication into applications. For many years, we have been experimenting with methods for introducing important concepts related to computer security and improving e-learning and research experiences for upper-level security and information assurance students. To achieve this goal, sequence diagrams which represent the progression of events over time are introduced to our students. This paper describes an e-learning module developed to help students understand secure distributed systems applications using sequence diagrams.