Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group

In the fall of 2025 , I was presented with the exciting opportunity to teach CS 433/533: Web Security at Old Dominion University (ODU) . This course was designed and previously taught by Dr. Michael L. Nelson . Having experienced this class firsthand as a student, I was thrilled to transition into the role of an instructor, bringing my unique perspective to the curriculum. Through this blog, I aim to share my journey and insights from teaching this course, with the hope that my experiences will serve as a useful resource for fellow colleagues and those venturing into teaching for the first time.  The goal of this course was to review common web security vulnerabilities and exploits, along with the defenses designed to counter them. Students explored topics such as browser security models, web application vulnerabilities, and various attack and defense mechanisms including injection, denial-of-service , cross-site scripting , and more. Alongside theoretical knowledge, students also...

https://xkcd.com/2385/   Profs. Michael L. Nelson , Michele C. Weigle , and Jian Wu have been awarded a $10,000 COVA CCI Academic Curriculum Development Grant ( RFP COVACCI-21-05 ) with their proposal "Web Science and Web Security".  The deliverables of this project will include preparing and packaging for use outside of ODU four existing Web Science and Digital Libraries (WS-DL) Research Group courses that involve Web Security. Recently, WS-DL’s research and course offerings have moved toward the intersection of the web and security. In the process of developing and delivering our courses, it has become clear that we needed to offer a 400/500 level course focused on web client security .  Given the central role that the web plays in our daily commerce, education, and entertainment, we should be doing a better job producing BS and MS students with expertise in securing web applications. While web security is a significant portion of cybersecurity, it is often overlo...