Between 2003 and 2007 I studied as an undergraduate at Lancaster, eventually being receiving a BSc in Computer Science with First Class Honours. This is some detail regarding my Final Year Project and information about the courses I took.
Final Year Project
The focus of the project was to investigate network anomaly detection methods based upon network traffic data and examine how a network operator's workflow could be improved by access to such information. It was completed in association with DANTE, the operators of the pan-european research network GÉANT2 and was awarded the Microsoft Research Award for the Best Project in 2007.
Abstract
The aim of this project is to explore the use of aberrance detection techniques for network monitoring in a large network environment. This an important area for research and development as todays networks are expected to function twenty four hours a day, seven days a week; something which is impossible to guarantee relying only on the vigilance and investigative skill of network operators. This pro ject can be broken down into three main areas: research into current aberrant network detection methods and assessment of their suitability; eliciting the requirements of a large network operator, and the production of a prototype system to illustrate the advantages of an aberrance detection system within a network operations environment. The result would be a system which indicates instances of aberrant behaviour as they occur and provides further information for network operators to aid their workflow and allow them to make an initial classification of the event.
The project was completed using a number of different technologies, but was heavily aided by Peter Haag's NfSen project, and modifications to it made by Gabor Kiss to include aberrance detection techniques provided within one of it's componants, RRDtool.
Degree Module List
As with most degree courses in the UK, modules taken and grades attained in the first year have no bearing on the final degree classification.
Second Year
- CSc 240 - Software Design and Project Skills
- CSc 251 - Networking
- CSc 252 - Human Computer Interaction
- CSc 253 - Distributed Systems
- CSc 254 - Languages and Compilation
- CSc 353 - Advances in Telecommunications
- CSc 369 - Embedded Systems
Third Year
- CSc 241 - Computer Architecture and Operating Systems
- CSc 242 - Software Engineering
- CSc 243 - Databases
- CSc 300 - Final Year Project
- CSc 370 - Special Topics in Computer Science
Almost all of the courses thereafter were mandatory, with optional modules making up the final three spaces of the sixteen unit qualification; Software Design and Project Skills and the Final Year Project were worth three units apiece. The options I chose were Advances in Telecommunications, Embedded Systems and Special Topics in Computer Science.