IZBR

Hi! My name is Isaac Basque-Rice, I'm A Security Engineer and former Abertay Ethical Hacker, and this website is a repository for all the cool stuff I've done, enjoy!

Project maintained by IBRice101 Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

My Uni Work

As you may have seen on my home page, I’m currently an Ethical Hacking student at Abertay Uni in Dundee. This page here is the home page for any and all big uni coursework projects I’ve done.

DISCLAIMER: All work shown in this directory is mine and mine only, and is published purely for educational, guidance, and display purposes. Please do not copy or reproduce the work found in this section of the website.

However in the event that my work has provided guidance for you, a little tip by way of thanks would be greatly appreciated :)

Year 1 Semester 1 - CMP101: Computer Hardware Architecture and Operating Systems (CHAOS)

Grade: A
Description: Introduction to the core ideas of computer architecture for students studying the subject of computing, building a mental model of the functioning of a typical computer system that can be used to reason about system (hardware/software) behaviour.
Coursework:
- 1: I was given a small Arduino (Wemos) Microcontroller board, as well as some peripherals, wires, and a breadboard, and told to create what you like, I made a Caesar Cipher (Caesarduino) device that would output to a small LED Screen and display the number of rotations on a 7 segment display (50%)
  - Coursework can be found here
- 2: An exam (50%)

Year 1 Semester 1 - CMP104: Programming with C++

Grade: A
Description: Software development through learning to design and implement applications in C++. The fundamentals of classes and objects, including key features such as class descriptions, constructors, methods and field, together with method implementation through assignment, selection and iterative control structures.
Coursework: A program that emulated a fruit machine
- Coursework can be found here

Year 1 Semester 1 - CMP109: Computer Networking 1

Grade: B+
Description: A basic understanding of computer networking.
Coursework:
- Portfolio (50%):
  - Wireshark HTTP Analysis
  - Wireshark FTP Analysis
  - IP Address Calculation
  - A Network Exercise: Working in Cisco Packet Tracer to emulate a computer network for a small-to-medium sized organisation with four distinct departments
  - Python Networking: A calculator that functions over UDP and TCP, where a client sends two digits and an operand to a server, the server works it out, and then returns the result to the client
- An exam (50%)

Year 1 Semester 2 - CMP102: Software Design

Grade: B
Description: Some of the fundamental ideas of software engineering. Learn to develop and communicate designs for small and large-scale software systems.
Coursework:
- Unit 1 (50%):
  - Quizzes (50%)
  - Coding Exercises (30%)
  - Software Design Exercises (20%)
- Unit 2 (50%: A program to simulate two players playing a game of darts -
  - Coursework can be found here

Year 1 Semester 2 - CMP110: Introduction To Security

Grade: B
Description: Introduction to the broad area of computer security within the context of current legal frameworks.
Coursework:
- Law Presentation (25%): A presentation on the computer misuse act and their equivalent in another country (we chose Russia, done in groups)
  - Coursework can be found here
- Investigation (75%): An investigation into an aspect of security of my own choosing. For this project I did a deep dive into Buffer Overflows, the history, what they are, how they’re used, and ultimately, how one can be triggered.
  - Coursework can be found here

Year 1 Semester 2 - ELE007: Cities of The Future ELECTIVE

Grade: A
Description: This module will introduce the concept of smart cities, which brings together hard infrastructure, social capital including local skills and community institutions, and (digital) technologies to fuel sustainable economic development and provide an attractive environment for all (Department for Business Innovation Skills October 2013)
Coursework: a group presentation on how cities of the future will develop in certain aspects, my group chose IoT devices

Year 2 Semester 1 - CMP201: Data Structures and Algorithms 1

Grade: A
Description: Introduction to the standard data structures and algorithms that form the core of algorithmic thought in computer science that familiarises students with the idea of reasoning about the behaviour and performance of a computer programme.
Coursework: Comparing the speed of two algorithms that perform the same task - I compared the Boyer-Moore and Rabin-Karp string searching algorithms
- Coursework code can be found here
- Presentation can be found here

Year 2 Semester 1 - CMP204: Dynamic Web Development 1

Grade: A+
Description: Dynamic web applications, through client-side and server side internet development.
Coursework:
- Unit 1 (40%): An exclusively client side website themed around a band or musical artist of my choice - I picked Daft Punk
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 2 (60%): Building upon the previous site to integrate server side functionality using PHP and MariaDB (SQL etc.)
  - Coursework can be found here

Year 2 Semester 1 - CMP210: Ethical Hacking 1

Grade: A+
Description: This module develops a critical understanding of the tools used by Ethical Hackers to examine the security of a device or network. Students will systematically investigate a computer network for possible vulnerabilities.
Coursework: performing a security assessment on a small company network - I was given three VMs, a Kali one and two Windows Server ones that were vulnerable and was told to hack it following a specific methodology
- Coursework can be found here

Year 2 Semester 2 - CMP202: Data Structures and Algorithms 2

Grade: B+
Description: Introduction to some of the practical performance concerns in the selection and implementation of algorithms, using a range of case studies drawn from typical real-world applications.
Coursework: To develop a program that makes use of either CPU or GPU multithreading - I made a CPU multithreaded Mandelbrot Set Generator based on code provided to me
- Coursework code can be found here
- Presentation can be found here

Year 2 Semester 2 - CMP209: Digital Forensics 1

Grade: A
Description: The basic technology and techniques used to investigate cybercrime. A systematic approach to planning and implementing a comprehensive computer forensic investigation, particularly evidence collection and the reconstruction of events therein.
Coursework: To perform a digital forensic analysis on a hard drive discovered at the scene of arrest of an alleged criminal, the target was illicit images of birds and other ornithological material such as PDFs, audio files, and videos.
- Coursework can be found here

Year 2 Semester 2 - ELE012: Film and Game Genres ELECTIVE

Grade: A
Description: This module introduces students to the cultural codes and formal content underlying the composition of popular cultural genres, as these are realised traditionally through films, and more contemporaneously through video games.
Coursework:
- Unit 1 (50%): Arrival An Analysis Through The Lens Of SciFi Convention
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 2 (50%): An Exploration of Dystopia in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children Of Men
  - Coursework can be found here

Year 3 Semester 1 - CMP308: Professional Project Planning and Prototyping

Grade: A+
Description: Working within a team, students will learn about project management concepts that enable them to create a project proposal in a professional manner and present their work in a client pitch to a stakeholder. Project briefs are provided by industry/or research based problems. Students work within their team and interact with project stakeholders and gain an understanding of the principles of project management.
Coursework: The creation of a Graphical User Interface for the MOSS Code Plagiarism Checker for Dr Suzanne Prior, the Client, I was the project leader during the course of this module. This module is comprised of two parts, this one being the planning stage, as a result this coursework is extremely documentation-heavy
- Unit 1 (30%): A Presentation on the proposed product and end goal
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 2 (70%): The final proposal document, outlining the project, how it will be implemented, the processes therein, and so on.
  - Coursework can be found here

Year 3 Semester 1 - CMP314: Computer Networking 2

Grade: B+
Description: Introduction to the ideas and concepts of how computers, mobile devices and gadgets communicate via a wide range of communications technologies with each other, and other devices. Module content: VLANS; STP; Static Routing; Subnetting and Variable Length Subnet Masks; Network Application protocols; Firewalls; Intrusion Detection Systems; Network Management.
Coursework: A network assessment and penetration test against a fictional company’s computer network, wherein I fully mapped out a computer network’s topology, addresses, routing, and subnets, as well as performed an in-depth security assessment, providing workable feedback on security vulnerabilities found within the network
- Coursework can be found here

Year 3 Semester 1 - CMP319 - Ethical Hacking 2 (Web App Hacking)

Grade: A+
Description: Advanced techniques used by Ethical Hackers to examine the security of web applications and mobile devices. Module content: Web Application Security; Web Application Technologies; Injecting Code; Bypassing Client Side Controls; Attacking Authentication; Reflected XSS Vulnerabilities, Stored XSS Vulnerabilities, DOM-Based XSS Vulnerabilities, HTTP Header Injection. Countermeasures to XSS; Web Server Security; Basics of mobile application security.
Coursework: A security assessment of a fake, semi-randomly generated vulnerable web application, in my case for “Astley Jewellers”, following (as closely as possible) a web app testing methodology of my choice. In this case I chose the OWASP web app testing methodology. This assessment was in two equally weighted parts but one document, part 2 is differentiated from part 1 by being in purple.
- Unit 1 (50%): The penetration test (black box), following the OWASP web app testing methodology
- Unit 2 (50%): A source code analysis (white box), and overview of vulnerabilities present on the machine with countermeasures
- Coursework can be found here

At the end of Year 3 Semester 1 my GPA was: 4.167 (1st Class)

Year 3 Semester 2 - CMP309 - Software Development for Mobile Devices

Grade: A+
Description: Software development practices to develop applications for a range of smart and mainly mobile devices. Learn to develop and evaluate the techniques used to implement mobile applications. Modules content: Background to Smart and Mobile Development; User Interfaces; Storage; Location awareness; Telephony SMS; Communication Networks; Security; Performance; Mobile Web Application Development.
Coursework: An Android Application that fulfils specific criteria. My app is “Moodr”, a mood tracking and improvement application. More information available in the README.md of the GitHub repo
- Coursework can be found here

Year 3 Semester 2 - CMP311 - Professional Project Development and Delivery

Grade: A+
Description: This module involves completing a team based development project or other technical investigation project, which was planned and initially developed in CMP308 (Professional Project Planning and Prototyping).
Coursework: Developing and delivering a Graphical User Interface fro the Moss Plagiarism Checking software.
- Unit 1 (30%): A presentation about the application
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 2 (70%): A whitepaper describing the project
  - Coursework can be found here

Year 3 Semester 2 - CMP320 - Ethical Hacking 3 (Advanced Ethical Hacking)

Grade: A+
Description: This module develops a critical understanding analysis techniques used by Ethical Hackers to examine binary files and to provide the student with the opportunity to undertake the practical and development of an individual project.
Coursework:
- Unit 1 (50%): Developing a tutorial to illustrate a buffer overflow exploit on a vulnerable media player application
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 2 (50%): A personal project in advanced ethical hacking. I selected APT malware reversing and static analysis
  - Coursework can be found here

At the end of Year 3 my GPA was: 4.33 (1st Class)

Year 4 Semester 1 - CMP408 - IoT and Cloud Secure Development

Grade: A
Description: Students will explore system programming and development, with an understanding of the security implications of such systems.
Coursework:
- Unit 1 (45%): Three quizzes:
  - Quiz 1: Questions on Raspberry Pi and Linux internals (13/15)
  - Quiz 2: More questions on the above with a focus on GPIO and LKM programming (13/15)
  - Quiz 3: Questions on AWS (9/15)
- Unit 2 (55%): An IoT Development mini project that makes use of both AWS and Linux kernel Modules
  - My Proposal: A network speed testing system with an associated web server. It will use a GPIO button to begin the speed test, a red LED to indicate that the test is running, and a green LED to indicate that the test has been completed
  - Code can be found here
  - Report can be found here
  - Poster can be found here

Year 4 Semester 1 - CMP416 - Advanced Digital Forensics

Grade: A+
Description: The forensic investigation of computer (e.g. TCP/IP) and mobile phone networks. Starting with an understanding of the underlying communications technologies, go on to develop a comprehensive, systematic approach to the discovery and examination of evidence from both end-user devices (e.g. phones, tablets etc.) and the networking infrastructure itself. Module content: Mobile Phone technologies and networks; Principles and limitations of mobile operation; Forensic analysis of end-user devices; Cellsite Analysis; Mobile Phone Data mining; Evaluate techniques for the gathering, analysis and use of network based evidence - session data, alert data, statistical data. Tools and techniques - packet tools for real-time capture and analysis, log analysis tools, custom written tools; Network integrity; Live incident response; Intrusion detection systems; Server side forensics.
Coursework:
- Unit 1 (50%): A Digital Forensics Report Into The Storm Botnet
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 2 (50%): A Network Forensics Investigation into Sporting Corruption
  - Coursework can be found here

Year 4 Semester 2 - CMP417 - Engineering Resilient Systems 1

Grade: B+
Description: This module examines social and technical approaches to better security resilience in systems through consideration of methods of attack and defence. The aim of this module is to provide the student with specialist knowledge and experience of advanced hacking techniques, both human and technical, and their countermeasures which can be used to improve socio-technical system resilience
Coursework:
- Unit 1 (33%): A report into a security issue present on the network of ScottishGlen, a small fictional energy company. Specifically I chose vulnerabilities associated with Kerberos
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 2 (33%): A report outlining the usefulness of certain Machine Learning algorithms in the context of an intrusion Detection System (IDS). I compared K-Means Clustering and Random Forest.
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 3 (33%): A report regarding both Human Centred Resilience (the risks that come along with people in an organisation and recommendations therein) and authentication design, with descriptions of different forms of authentication and a recommendation for a specific use case
  - Coursework can be found here

Year 4 Semesters 1 and 2 - CMP400 - Honours Project Scoping and Proposal

Grade: A
Description: This module provides the student with the opportunity to undertake the practical and development work for a major, in-depth individual project in an aspect of their programme. Normally the idea for project will be devised by the student and development work will be undertaken during this module. During term 1 proof of concept development will be undertaken to support the specification of a well-researched project proposal document. During term 2 the main development work for the project will be undertaken and completed.

Semester 1:

Coursework:
- Unit 1: Project proposal
  - Coursework can be found here
- Unit 2: Feasibility demo
  - Coursework can be found here

Semester 2:

Coursework:
- Unit 3: Project Execution (Dissertation)
  - Coursework can be found here