Assignment -
Write a 4,000 word report: Describe the security features available on a platform of your choice (for example, Linux/Android/Mac OS X/Windows/Apache/Java/Perl), to mitigate a specific type of attack (for example, adware/malware/SQL injection/spoofing/tampering).
Include in your discussion:
Introduction: Clearly state your chosen platform and threat, and the technical controls that are available. Marks are allocated for clearly stating the choice of platform and attack: they should be interesting, clear, and have an appropriate scope to form the basis for the report. There are also marks for an overview of the technical controls that are available to mitigate the threat.
Literature review and threat mitigation: Provide a detailed literature review: that is, an overview of the related literature and history (NOT a description of how you conducted the research). Include details on the threat, and how the threat is mitigated, in both cases include technical detail, history, and notable people and events. Aim to include references to seminal (historically important) and scholarly research, such as journal and conference papers. Describe the relationship to related attacks, and make a clear distinction between security controls that are built into the platform, and those that are third party addons.
Configuration: Describe how the security can be configured, and provide configuration examples (such as screen-shots and configuration files). Marks are based on demonstrating technical detail and understanding, and choice of examples.
Limitations and critical reflection: You should reflect critically on the state of the art of security mechanisms and explore any limitations of the security mechanisms or areas for improvements. Marks are allocated for clearly describing the scope of protection and discussion of possible future improvements and areas of active research.
Conclusion: Summarise and conclude your report. In general, you should not bring up new content in a conclusion, but rather highlight the most important aspects.
The report should include a word count, have subheadings and use Harvard referencing.