CS 3710

This was a very lightweight, enjoyable CS elective. I could not recommend it enough! Even though I didn't have to devote much time to it, I learned so much. The labs were interesting and well-guided so you could really understand what you were doing, and the lectures were concise and had a lot of connections to the real-world to keep us engaged. #tCFS24

Super fun and interesting class. If you are looking for an easy and interesting CS elective, you should definitely take this! The homework assignments are very easy and straightforward, and the quizzes are pretty simple. Professor Orebaugh also provides multiple ways of viewing lectures (in-person, on Zoom, or recorded), which is really nice and makes the class very accessible. Professor Orebaugh seems extremely knowledgable, and keeps the lectures interesting and engaging. This was definitely one of my favorite CS classes I have taken here, and I couldn't recommend it more! #tCFS24

Professor Orebaugh is hands down one of the most accessible and approachable professors I have ever had. She's an engaging lecturer with super well-structured slides that are not only good in the moment but also very helpful to reread for homeworks and quizzes. Furthermore, she goes above and beyond for her students by planning additional activities outside of class (coffee chats, etc.) to reach students where they are. I'd encourage you to take advantages of these opportunities and, if you can't, even to plan some time to stop by her office for a few minutes to talk. Whether it's about the class, a cybersecurity career, or life in general, she can give great advice.

The class itself is fairly light and very doable, even when taken alongside tougher classes like CSO2 or DMT2. The class had a series of labs on a roughly weekly pace, quizzes (which essentially function as midterms, and are open-book), two programming assignments, and a final. You should start labs early when you can since the Linux environment can be a little finicky, but they're overall not too bad. Study for the quizzes ahead of time too so you know where to find information when you need it. The programming assignments can also take a bit to get working---the semester I took it, the second programming assignment was to implement RSA, which just takes time to conceptually understand since there's a lot of math involved. Again, though, the course slides are quite helpful, and office hours is also a good source of help. Lastly, make sure to mark out plenty of time for the final; it's a very fun capture-the-flag activity (one of the most enjoyable finals I've ever taken), but it'll just take time to understand the clues and work through the challenges.

One gripe I have is that the class's reputation tends to undersell it. It's way more than a simple "easy A" class; it's an excellently taught, practical course which teaches immediately applicable skills and offers a wonderful introduction to the cybersecurity field. You should approach the class with curiosity rather than the mindset that you're simply there for the GPA boost---you'll get more out of it that way!

Marvelous course. One of the best I've taken. As everyone knows, Orebaugh is a joy to be around and you can tell she's really passionate about learning, teaching, and cybersecurity in equal parts. She makes learning so fun--this was the first CS course that I've genuinely had fun with, and I can see how she would inspire students to go into the cybersecurity field. Assignments are straightforward: complete the seven assigned homeworks (called "labs"), 2 programming assignments, open-note/web content quizzes, and a final. All of the above should be easy as long as you watch/attend lecture and absorb the material she has on her slides. In my opinion, the quizzes feel a bit rushed; although I took notes on every lecture, I found myself struggling to double check my answers at times. Still, they're not difficult. The final was a CTF-style challenge that was VERY fun! It felt really rewarding to complete in full and almost everyone I knew got full points on it. This is a hard class to mess up -- put in the (minimal) effort and you'll come away from the class with an A and a newfound interest in cyber :D #tCFS24

Really enjoyable intro class to cybersecurity. Professor Orebaugh is very understanding and she is passionate about the topic of cybersecurity. There are 7 labs in total and 3 quizzes which are open note. The final is also open note. I think I learned a lot about cybersecurity from this class and would recommend as a CS elective

#tCFS24

Angela is the goat and I mean that entirely. She makes the material so accessible and fun. You don't necessarily need to do class to do well, but if you can you should. Her lecture style enhances the class SO much. As someone with no hacking experience, it was cool to get to learn how it happens and how to protect programs I'm writing from it. The final is more of a hackathon type thing which is super fun

A must-take course for any CS student. Prof. Orebaugh is an experienced expert in the field. She has a background working for consulting firms and tech companies as a cybersecurity specialist. She taught in a very friendly way and explains everything in details and will answer anything that you are unfamiliar with. She recorded her lectures so that we could go back and rewatch at anytime. The assignments are pretty straightforward and the grading is usually generous. Overall, it covers pretty much everything you need including Linux, Hacking Tools, Analyzing Skills, etc., to move forward towards advanced level CS courses. You won't regret taking this course with Prof. Orebaugh! Trust me!

She is fantastic. Angela is literally my favorite professor on grounds. She is super understanding and flexible while also being a great teacher. She really respects the fact that everyone learns differently and because of this she makes all her classes in-person or virtual and also posts all recordings because she understands that some people learn better watching things at their own speed on their own time. She also makes a big effort to get to know the students that do come to class and is just super nice and helpful.
The class structure is pretty simple: weekly homeworks, 2 programming assignments that are pretty easy, a few (3-4) open-note timed quizzes throughout the semester, and a capture the flag style take-home final exam. All the assignments are pretty easy and the TAs and Professor Orebaugh are all more than willing to help you if you get stuck. You do need to study for the quizzes - they are open-note but there's not really time to actual look at your notes while taking the quiz. If you study though, it's generally pretty easy. Overall, for this class, you can get by with a decent grade if you don't care. However, if you actually want to learn something you can also do that in this class; it's really you get out what you put in. There's a lot of good information in this course, you just have to care enough to learn it.

Angela is the one to take this class with. Super interesting course! I learned a lot about cybersecurity starting from basically zero. This was the perfect elective to finish out my minor. Labs are easy to go through and very well explained. The cyberchat was also not too hard. She offers in person, recorded, and zoom lectures and you can just pick which one works for you. I stopped showing up in person which was sad, but it didn't affect my grade negatively at all. #tCFF23

If you're looking for an easy A for a CS elective, this is it. The professor is very nice and chill and does a great job of covering the material. The workload is also very manageable, especially for a CS class. I highly recommend taking Cyber with Angela Orebaugh. #tCFspring2022

Very chill course, a good survey of cybersecurity as a career and technical field. She has a good amount of industry experience and it shows: a lot of the material was about cybersecurity administration and roles. All of the jargon and theory can get a little boring. However, we also got our hands dirty with actual penetration tools in a Linux virtual machine which was the highlight of the class. The labs are almost too easy, usually just copy-pasting the commands and copy-pasting the outputs. If you take the time to understand everything, though, you can still learn a lot.
If you really wanted to, you could skip the readings and lectures and still get a good grade. The quizzes were the kind that come straight from the slides, and for open note that definitely helps.
Overall, interesting and chill, definitely worth your time. But if you're expecting a a lot of technical depth or a deep dive into how cybersecurity tools work under the hood, this won't be the course for you.
#tCFspring2021

Angela's amazing!! It's so interesting, she really makes the lectures engaging. And dumbs it down and explains it in a way that sticks in your head. It's soo easy too. She even gave hints to everyone on the final exam, and even gave me extra hints on Piazza when I couldn't figure out a question lol take it with her!! Highly recommend it.

Also, don't bother with the readings. They're boring. You can just Cntl+F the answers on the quizzes

Angela's amazing!! It's so interesting, she really makes the lectures engaging. And dumbs it down and explains it in a way that sticks in your head. It's soo easy too. She even gave hints to everyone on the final exam, and even gave me extra hints on Piazza when I couldn't figure out a question lol take it with her!! Highly recommend it.

Also, don't bother with the readings. They're boring. You can just Cntl+F the answers on the quizzes

Easy A course. She taught very interesting material without making the course any difficult. The readings are not super important, the labs are essentially guided, quizzes are open note and can easily be handled by looking at her lecture slides. The only thing I did not like about her course is how shallow it is. She focuses more on information security rather than the technical aspect such as company policies and etc, so some chapters feel like a business course than CS course. It would be much more enjoyable if she did more in-depth technical stuff.

Professor Orebaugh teaches this class very differently from other professors. Her primary focus is on teaching important industry-related concepts as opposed to hands-on programming assignments. The homework assignments typically consist of following along with a step-by-step guide for using different cybersecurity tools like Wireshark. Because of this, the class is incredibly easy, to be frank, to the point that it barely registered as important on most weeks. Professor Orebaugh is wonderfully energetic and passionate, but the class leaves a lot to be desired in terms of long term useful content if you are more interested in cybersecurity research. The final exam is a fun CTF that is the most challenging part of the class, but is still fairly simple to figure out given enough time (it's open internet)

this class focused more on information security and the industry, not so much with technical concepts etc. It was enjoyable and fairly easy, but if you're looking for something more technical that isn't how Orebaugh teaches it