Applied Cryptography for Computer Science programs: A practitioner's approach

The current ACM/IEEE Joint Computer Science Curriculum guidelines require “... substantial attention to security matters be regarded as compulsory for all computing graduates”. In order to meet ACM/IEEE guidelines, the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at Bradley University, designed and developed undergraduate and graduate Software, Web, and Computer Network Security academic programs (SWCN concentrations). These programs are based on a set of interrelated courses, including “Applied Cryptography”, “Computer Networks and System Security”, “Software and Web Applications Security”, and “Information Security”. This paper presents the main components of the developed “Applied Cryptography” undergraduate and graduate courses within SWCN concentrations; these components are based on most recent ACM/IEEE guidelines and focused on practitioner's approach in teaching.