First Lecture of Network Information Technology Security.

Venue : BK7, Building FTMK.
Date : 15-7-2009.
Time : 9.00 a.m. – 10.50 a.m.

Today is the first lecture of Network Information Technology Security. Our lecturer, En. Mohd Zaki Bin M’sud began the lecture by giving us a surprise – the first quiz! That was not expected by us, we expected the lecturer to start the lecture in a normal way just like other subjects. Usually, the first lecture of most of the subjects will begin with a brief introduction about the biodata of the lecturer. Then, the lecturer will explain about the syllabus of that subject. We thought Mr. Zaki was joking only, but he distributed the quiz paper to us and asked us to complete it in 15 minutes. I was stunned for several minutes when I received the paper. This is because I did not study at all. Besides that, marks will be awarded for this quiz. Oh my god, I scared that I do not know how to answer even a single question!

Without further hesitation, I started to answer the questions. There were 12 questions in crossword puzzle form. According to Mr Zaki, the answers were basically the main terms for all chapters in our syllabus. Mr Zaki then emphasized that for those who do not how to answer question 7 will get zero mark for this quiz, thus, I tried very hard to seek for the answer of this question. It was related to the topic of cryptography. I was not familiar with this term actually.
After cracking my head for some times, I have found the “secret” of cryptography. I was quite excited and I got the answer “MY NAME” for question 7. I tried to fill in the answer, but it did not fit the given spaces. That was very weird, I thought the concept I discovered just now was wrong. But it was kind of impossible, because I could get the answer for question 2 by using the same method. I think and think and think for a while, suddenly the words from Mr Zaki just now “for those who do not know how to answer question 7 will get zero…” have inspired me to get the answer. Yeah, the answer was “MODHZAKI”, my lecturer’s name. No wonder he was so concerned on this question. Throughout this quiz, I have learnt a lot of important terms such as firewall, cryptography, worm, piracy, SNORT, etc. Luckily, I have got 10/12 for this quiz.

While marking the quiz, Mr Zaki explained the syllabus briefly to us. After that, he started to teach us the very first chapter for this subject. The first chapter was all about the introduction of Network Information Security. Throughout this lecture, I have learnt a lot of new knowledge for this subject. The lecturer this morning was quite interesting. I am looking forward for the next lecture.