• Grade Level: 10,11,12
    Credits/Length: 1 Credit – 1 Semester
    Prerequisite: Recommended, but not required - Computer
    Science Principles and/or Principles of Computer Hardware


    Description: This course covers the basic ways that criminals and security experts break—and break into— computer systems. The topics included in this course will change as “black hats” find new ways to infiltrate networks, stand-alone machines, smartphones, and, of course, personal computers. Several possible topics could be Denial of Service attacks, phishing scams, the Internet of Things, Trojan horses, and ransomware. Students wil learn about these topics by hacking into password-protected machines; reading scientific publications and security reports; analyzing, and then writing, malicious software; and researching operating system exploits, including those in iOS, Android, and Windows.