SIA Curriculum Foundations
SIA Curriculum Overview
SIA Lab Overview
Downloading the Curriculum
SIA Curriculum PGP Key

Introduction

Today's organizations rely on networked systems powered by fast-changing technology. This reliance makes them more vulnerable to attacks and forces system administrators to seek new approaches to computer and network security. To help them, the CERT Program has developed a downloadable three-course curriculum in survivability and information assurance (SIA). This curriculum offers a problem-solving methodology built on key SIA principles that are independent of specific technologies. These principles form the foundation of the CERT SIA Curriculum. A summary of the curriculum is provided below.

SIA Curriculum Foundations

We based the SIA Curriculum on five key foundations. Each is detailed in Foundations of the SIA Curriculum:

1. Principles of Survivability and Information Assurance: Making decisions through an organized thought process
2. The Enterprise Network Supports the Mission of the Business: Understanding how technology choices and applications impact the mission of the business
3. Survivable Functional Units: Reducing the complexity of the enterprise to a manageable size
4. Inherit an Enterprise Network: Integrating seamlessly new functionality in the network while keeping mission and constraints of the business in focus
5. Challenge Assumptions: Understanding first the assumptions, challenging them, and then making an informed decision

These foundations inform the courseware in the SIA Curriculum. Understanding them is the key to successfully teaching and implementing it.

SIA Curriculum Overview

The SIA Curriculum Overview explains the key features of the SIA curriculum: its audience, structure, the technology used, and the characteristics students and teachers should possess to be able to get the most out of the curriculum.

The curriculum consists of the following major topic areas, each of which corresponds to one course:

1. Principles of Survivability and Information Assurance: This course presents in detail the ten principles of survivability and information assurance, on which the entire SIA curriculum is based.
2. Information Assurance Networking Fundamentals: This course applies the ten principles to the concepts and an implementation of TCP/IP networking.
3. Sustaining, Improving, and Building Survivable Functional Units (SFUs)

SIA Lab Overview

In addition to the three core courses, the SIA curriculum offers a companion lab that prepares students for the tasks they will undertake in each course. The SIA Lab Overview provides information about the hardware and the software required for the lab in general and for each specific course. Other topics include configuration management, user identity and privileges, and Internet connectivity.

Downloading the Curriculum

Both student and instructor materials are available for download. Instructors must register with the CERT Program in order to access the instructor materials.

To download, click the general (student) or faculty (instructor) download button. You must read and accept license agreement in order to access and download the course materials. Instructors are required to provide the username and password established during the CERT registration process.

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Note: Check this page periodically for updates and announcements.

SIA Curriculum PGP Key

Our PGP Public Key: sia_curriculum.asc
Fingerprint: 3575 BAA3 0A29 CF38 0F4A F785 5794 5DC9 C63A C9A3

You can also contact us by sending email to sia-curriculum@sei.cmu.edu. If you are sending sensitive information, please encrypt it.