The course “Selected Aspects of IT Security” was offered by the Department of Business Administration during the summer semester of 2023 in cooperation with usd AG. Andreas Duchmann, CEO of usd, an alumnus, and long-time adjunct professor at Mainz University of Applied Sciences, co-taught the course with Tim Wörner, Senior IT Security Consultant at usd HeroLab.
“It is extremely important to raise students’ awareness of the challenges and risks of today’s digital world at an early stage. The students’ keen interest underscores the importance of embedding information security in their education early on, thereby laying the foundation for a more secure digital environment of the future,” emphasizes Andreas Duchmann.
The lecture provided the bachelor’s students with in-depth knowledge of information security and IT security. Among other topics, the following were covered:
- Technical vulnerabilities, hackers’ motives and strategies
- Overview of selected IT security measures
- Crash course on Linux, concept and installation of virtual machines
- Secure Development Lifecycle & Threat Modeling
- Bug Bounty and Responsible Disclosure
As part of a hands-on assignment, the students took an in-depth look at the secure implementation and operation of a website. Among other things, they addressed the general hardening of the operating system to protect against hacker attacks, file integrity monitoring to secure PHP code on the web server, and the use of security solutions for the proactive detection of hacker attacks. Working in groups, the students developed their strategies, presented their findings, and documented them in a term paper.
“Through this hands-on application, the students were able to put what they had learned into practice, further develop their skills, and gain a deeper understanding of proactive security measures,” summarizes Tim Wörner.
