CS 600.443
Assignment 2
MSSI non-programmer track

If you take the track 2 route in this course, you will have a midterm exam on 3/25 in class.

This assignment should be done in groups of 1-4. Please put all participants
names on the assignment before turning it in. 

This assignment is divided into several parts.

Part 1   (20 points)
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Due: March 11, beginning of class

In this part of the assignment, you will do a comprehensive literature review
of viruses and worms. You should hunt down and read anything you can get your
hands on related to the propagation of worms and viruses, how they work, what
they do, and how they can be stopped. Among the topics you should cover, but
not limited to these, are Worhol worms, the Morris worm (a paper with the words
microscope and tweezers in it), Melissa, and all the major epidemics, including
MyDoom. What was it about each that raised the bar over previous ones? 

You should write a report that discusses the previous literature and a timeline 
of the significant events in the advent of worms and viruses. Make sure you include
a comprehensive bibliography that cites every paper you reference in the report.

You will be graded on several factors:

- how comprehensive your coverage of the literature is
- how insightful your survey is
- the overall organization and writing 

How long should the report be? Long enough to cover everything you want to 
say, and no longer.


Part 2   (20 points)
------

Due: April 1, beginning of class

Disclaimer: You are not, under any conditions, to implement anything for this project. In
particular, you are not permitted to write any code that could be used as a virus or a worm.
To do so is to put yourself at risk of expulsion from the university and criminal prosecution.

As an academic exercise, design what you think would be the killer worm/virus. Consider
how quickly it would spread, how it would maintain stealthiness, the damage it would do,
and what its impact might be. Keep in mind all the lessons from the previous worms/viruses
that you covered in your survey. Think of targeting every possible victim on the Internet, including
the backbone itself and all of the critical underlying protocols. Could you bring down the entire Internet?

You will turn in:

A design document that is a detailed design of the worm/virus. You may NOT write any code
for this, but you should give a description that outlines every aspect of it. You should
then give an analysis of how the worm would spread and what the damage would be like.
Discuss any tradeoffs you encountered, and any tricks you implement to avoid potential countermeasures.

One member of your team will present the design of your worm in class, as members of the
other track present their projects.


Part 3  (20 points)
------

Due: 4/29

Considering the worm/virus you designed on part 2, design a defensive strategy that
would protect against this attack. Think about how to protect individual machines,
enterprises, and the overall Internet. Try to make the defense as realistic as possible and
minimize cost, inconvenience to the user. What conclusions can you draw from this exercise?
Is it easier to defend than to attack?  

You will turn in:

A document describing your defensive strategy and the tradeoffs you considered. 

One member of your team will present your defensive strategy to the class, as members of
the other track present their projects.