Syllabus

Policies

Our goal in this class is for you to learn about computer security. As an underlying principle, we will strive to be reasonable toward you, and we ask you to be reasonable toward us. These policies aim to give us some guidelines to make that happen. If in doubt about anything, please don't hesitate to check with the course staff.

• Inclusiveness and Respect: You should expect and demand to be treated by your classmates and the course staff with respect. You belong here, and we are here to help you learn and enjoy a challenging course. Likewise, I expect you to follow the UW Student Conduct Code in your interactions with your colleagues and me in this course by respecting the many social and cultural differences among us, which may include, but are not limited to: age, cultural background, disability, ethnicity, family status, gender identity and presentation, citizenship and immigration status, national origin, race, religious and political beliefs, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and veteran status. If any incident occurs that challenges this commitment to a supportive and inclusive environment, please let me know so the issue can be addressed.


• Late Policy: You may use 5 free late days over the course of the quarter, no questions asked. You may use them on any assignment unless otherwise specified (e.g., no late days for the end-of-quarter final project). If you submit an assignment late, we will assume you are using late days unless we otherwise hear from you. After the allotted 5 days, if you hand in the assignment late, we will take off 20% for each day it is late. When computing the number of days late, we will round up; so an assignment turned in 25 hours late will be downgraded 40%. If you are working in a group and submit something N days late, all group members will use N of their personal late days. Late days are intended to give everyone flexibility for unexpected events (e.g., illness, personal issues, busy weeks) and are not intended to be saved so you can plan your quarter around them. If you ask for additional extensions before you have used all your late days, we will tell you to first use your late days.


• Cheating and Intellectual Honesty: You will only learn effectively if you complete the intellectual work of this course. We believe that you will not cheat, but we also require that you do not cheat. Intellectual honesty violations are very serious. Concern about cheating creates an unpleasant environment for everyone. If you cheat, you risk losing your position as a student in the school and the college. The school's policy on cheating is to report any cases to the college cheating committee. What follows afterwards is not fun for anyone. If you feel inclined to cheat because you are anxious, overwhelmed, overburdened, or out of time, please talk to me and we'll figure out how you can succeed.
  
  If you work in a group, you are responsible for all work handed in under your name.
  
  If we believe you did not complete your work according to our policies:
  • We will file a report to CSSC and email you with a notification that a case is in progress. This will not include any details on the case.
  • You will then be notified by CSSC, and have a meeting with a CSSC case officer who will discuss the case in detail.
  • Only after this meeting is complete, you may request a meeting with course staff about the case.
  • If CSSC finds you responsible, you will receive a 0 for the entire assignment.
  • If CSSC finds you responsble on additional, independent, cases, we may assign a 0 for the entire course.
  • NOTE: You will not receive a final grade (you will get an "X") if there is an unresolved CSSC case when final grades are due. Once your case is resolved, we will assign a final grade.
  Our goal is to have the CSSC process be as fair and consistent as possible. We ask that you meet with CSSC before course staff as part of that goal.


• Collaboration: You are encouraged to discuss material and assignments with others, as collaboration is a great way to learn and flesh out new ideas. But how do you draw the line between collaboration and cheating? We require that you submit your own assignments (unless otherwise specified) and that you are doing the intellectual work of the course yourself. Make sure that after discussing material with others, you're able to solve the problems, write the code, or understand the principles on your own. Never look at another student's solution or provide your solution in any form to another student. Often the best way to do this is to take a little bit of time after talking with others, then do the problems on your own, ensuring that you understand them.


• AI Tools (aka ChatGPT Policy): We discourage the use of generative AI/chatbot tools in CSE 484/584. These tools shortcut some of the critical components of the learning process. More critically, they are often deeply incorrect about nuanced security topics and can teach you the wrong thing! Concretely:
  • Do not use AI tools to solve assignments (e.g. do not paste code from any assignment into a tool, do not copy/paraphrase open-ended writing prompts from assignments, etc.) This is considered an academic integrity violation.
  • You may (though we discourage it!) ask basic factual questions to these tools, the same as you would google or ask a TA. (e.g. "What are the parts of a stack frame? What is the maximum unsigned integer value?") If you use a generative AI tool you must note in the assignment that you did, and what prompts you gave it.
  Ultimately, you are responsible for making sure that what you submit is correct, not plagiarized, etc.


• Ethics Form: To receive a non-zero grade in the course, you must sign the security and privacy course ethics form by the due date (see course schedule). Late forms will not be accepted.


• Course Recordings: Lectures for this course will be recorded and accessible to students enrolled in the course.

Communication

Class Announcements: We will use the Ed board to make official class-related announcements. All such announcements will also send an email from Ed to student emails.

We will assume that all students in the class will be on the Ed board, and will check their associated email for announcments. It is conceivable that we will use this functionality to announce assignments, or to make changes/fixes to assignments.

Reaching Course Staff: To reach all course staff (including the instructor), please post on Ed or email cse484-tas@cs.washington.edu. We will do our best to respond quickly, but please give us up to one business day to respond to your message. In particular, if you email us right before an assignment is due, be aware that we will do our best but may not respond in time.

Discussion Board: For discussions related to the class, please use this Ed Discussion Board: https://edstem.org/us/courses/67599/discussion/.

Grading

CSE 484

• 25% Homeworks
  • 9% Homework 1
  • 9% Homework 2
  • 7% Homework 3
• 45% Labs
  • 25% Lab 1
  • 20% Lab 2
• 10% Participation and in-class activities
• 20% Final project

CSE M 584

• 20% Homeworks
• 40% Labs
• 10% Participation and in-class activities
• 20% Final project
• 10% Research readings

You can check your grades on Gradescope and/or Canvas (TBD).

Additional Resources

Disability Accommodations

Embedded in the core values of the University of Washington is a commitment to ensuring access to a quality higher education experience for a diverse student population. Disability Resources for Students (DRS) recognizes disability as an aspect of diversity that is integral to society and to our campus community. DRS serves as a partner in fostering an inclusive and equitable environment for all University of Washington students. The DRS office is in 011 Mary Gates Hall.

Please see the UW resources at http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/current-students/accommodations/.

Religious Accommodations

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/.

Sexual Harassment

University policy prohibits all forms of sexual harassment. If you feel you have been a victim of sexual harassment or if you feel you have been discriminated against, you may speak with your instructor, teaching assistant, the direction of the school, or you can file a complaint with the UW Ombudsman's Office for Sexual Harassment. Their office is located at 339 HUB, (206)543-6028. There is a second office, the University Complaint Investigation and Resolution Office, who also investigate complaints. The UCIRO is located at 22 Gerberding Hall.

Please see additional resources at http://www.washington.edu/about/ombudsman/role.html and http://f2.washington.edu/treasury/riskmgmt/UCIRO.

WISE: Women In Science and Engineering

Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) is a university-level program housed within the Center for Workforce Development, designed to increase the recruitment and retention of women of all ethnic backgrounds in science and engineering (S&E) and to create an academic and social climate at the UW which is conducive to both men and women in S&E at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Please see additional information at http://www.engr.washington.edu/curr_students/studentprogs/wise.html.

Other Student Resources

A list of helpful links regarding all aspects of student life can be found here: http://f2.washington.edu/treasury/riskmgmt/UCIRO/links/students.