SATC: EDU: Curriculum Development for Secure Blockchain Technologies

区块链技术在政府和行业中的广泛采用，增加了对受过充分培训并能够科普在真实的世界中利用区块链平台的挑战的劳动力的需求。目前区块链专业知识的不足使得将该领域的综合课程纳入网络安全教育成为一个令人信服的理由。 德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校（UT达拉斯）将通过利用其在区块链技术方面的专业知识来创建这样的课程，以加强其目前的网络安全和隐私课程。UT达拉斯建议建立一个教学大纲，以鼓励感兴趣的学生获得区块链经验，重点是架构和应用。该课程将使学生熟悉各种区块链概念，包括挖掘算法，智能合约和各种共识算法，如工作量证明，权益证明等，用于比特币，门罗币和以太坊区块链。此外，该课程还将解决安全问题，例如通过代码重写和使用机器学习方法进行漏洞检测来保护智能合约。此外，该课程将涵盖在物联网数据管理和数据来源中应用区块链技术的各种案例研究。UT达拉斯正在进行的研究将开发新的技术，将在这个项目中纳入。这些技术是新颖的，不容易从其他来源获得。例如，UT达拉斯关于保护智能合约和检测智能合约漏洞的研究将通过这一拟议的顶点课程进行传播。顶点课程将包括与安全区块链及其应用相关的几个模块和实践活动。参加这些课程后，学生将有经验的理论成果应用到真实的世界的应用。通过参与现实的项目，他们将对区块链平台的工具和技术如何渗透到多个学科有一个清晰的认识。学生的表现将不断评估，以衡量课程的效率，并启动必要的改进。该项目有潜力为区块链技术工作者的培训做出贡献，这些工作者拥有专门满足行业和政府需求的技能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The widespread adoption of Blockchain technologies, both in government and industry, has given rise to an increased demand for a workforce that is adequately trained and able to cope with the challenges of leveraging the Blockchain platform in the real world. Current shortfalls in Blockchain expertise make a compelling case in favor of incorporating a comprehensive curriculum in this field into Cybersecurity education. The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) will enhance its current programs in cybersecurity and privacy by leveraging its expertise in Blockchain technology to create such a curriculum. UT Dallas proposes to build a syllabus to encourage interested students to gain experience in Blockchain with a focus on architecture and applications. The course will familiarize students with a variety of Blockchain concepts including mining algorithms, smart contracts, and various consensus algorithms such as Proof-of-Work, Proof-of-Stake, etc. used on Bitcoin, Monero and Ethereum Blockchain. Furthermore, the course will address security concerns such as smart contract protection through code rewriting and vulnerability detection using machine learning method. In addition, the course will cover various case studies in applying Blockchain technology in IoT data management and data provenance. UT Dallas ongoing research will develop new techniques which will be incorporated in this project. These techniques are novel and are not readily available from other sources. For example, UT Dallas research on protecting smart contracts and detection of vulnerabilities in smart contracts will be disseminated via this proposed capstone course. The capstone course will consist of several modules and hands-on activities related to secure blockchain and its applications. After taking these courses, students will have experience with applying theoretical results to real world applications. By engaging in realistic projects, they will gain a clear perspective on how the tools and techniques of Blockchain platform permeate across multiple disciplines. The performance of the students will be evaluated continually to gauge the efficiency of the course curriculum and to initiate necessary improvements. The project has the potential to contribute to the training of Blockchain technology workers with skills specifically catered to industry and government needs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.