2024/2025: Segurança da Informação (Information Security) - 1º MCI

Specification of the Mini-project

Goals

Promoting the learning of concepts and training of the study and operation of security devices or techniques.

Characterization

The Mini-project, to be assigned to a group of students, consists of the study of a specific security topic and of the production of documentation and, perhaps, some other artifacts (software, videos, ...), to introduce, clarify and demonstrate the topic studied; these products, if time allows, are to be presented in class to the curricular unit's attendants.
The final products should:

• allow the easy understanding of the topic by the fellow students of the curricular unit;
• as a rule, focus on concepts and present technology independent of a specific computer platform (e.g. useful in Linux and in MsWindows);
• as a rule, include a practical component, i.e. demonstration;
• if possible, be useful to FEUP (its computer network, users, informatics' procedures);
• include clear documentation that presents the theoretical context of the subject's scope and application and, if applicable, a description of its architecture and operating modes.

Operational issues

Each Mini-project will be assigned to a group of 3-4 students, as a rule.

The exact specification of the work is left to each group, but will be adjusted by the teacher in terms of scope, level of difficulty and depth in order to try to homogenize the global effort of every group to the Mini-project.

The timeline of the tasks to be performed by each students' group is:

• at the beginning of the semester, the group chooses a theme: one of the already proposed or a new one, if approved by the teacher;
• about a month afterwards, it presents a short document specifying the exact goals of the project and the plan of action to meet them; this document should be approved by the teacher (eventually, with some adjustments);
• about a month afterwards, and one-two weeks before the end of the semester's classes, the group presents the deliverables.

Evaluation for grading

It will focus on the degree of depth, difficulty and quality of the final product. The evaluation will be conducted globally, with no predefined values ​​for the weights applied to each of the aspects mentioned. A qualitative peer assessment, if performed, will be taken into consideration for adjusting the final grade.

If time allows, there will be two public moments of importance for assessment: the presentation of the proposed specification (a month after the classes' beginning; maximum of 10 minutes for each group) and the presentation of the final product (on the final semester's classes; maximum of 20 minutes per group).
However, the final grades of the mini-project will reflect the quality of the final product, not the quality of the presentations.

Proposed themes

In file: themes.pdf