Fall 2026

Introduction to Information Security

Senior-level introduction to information security covering cryptographic primitives, security protocols, and system security.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Ethan Cecchetti

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Earlence Fernandes, Rahul Chatterjee: Workload varies by instructor, with some describing simple, fun homework and others citing unnecessarily hard coding assignments. Exams are often open-book, but one review warns that OS security topics can be extremely difficult and heavily weighted.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

COMP SCI 537 or graduate/professional standing or declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals

    • COMPSCI 537
    • graduate/professional standing
    • declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals
    take one
COMPSCI 642

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • COMPSCI 537
    • graduate/professional standing
    • declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals

Professors

Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.10 GPA, 48.6% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 63.0% A/AB (n=54 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Rahul Chatterjee: Rahul Chatterjee’s reviews are polarized. Some praise his clear explanations, helpfulness, and open-note exams, while others find his teaching mediocre or the class unnecessarily hard. Reviewers also note that attendance is optional and projects can be done in pairs.

EARLENCE FERNANDES is recorded teaching in Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ETHAN CECCHETTI is recorded teaching in Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RAHUL CHATTERJEE is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction55 / 750

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Ethan Cecchetti is the current instructor, but reviews describe historical experiences with Rahul Chatterjee and Earlence Fernandes. Students report positive outcomes, praising engaging lectures, approachable instructors, and enjoyable assignments.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 63.0% A/AB (n=54 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.64 GPA, 72.2% A/AB (n=54 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.51 GPA, 76.5% A/AB (n=34 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Earlence Fernandes, Rahul Chatterjee: Workload varies by instructor, with some describing simple, fun homework and others citing unnecessarily hard coding assignments. Exams are often open-book, but one review warns that OS security topics can be extremely difficult and heavily weighted.

Historical reviews of Earlence Fernandes, Rahul Chatterjee: Student experiences diverge sharply. Some praise approachable, passionate instructors and enjoyable projects, while others find lectures unhelpful, speakers disorganized, or the class easy but uneducational. Pair projects are noted as a positive structural feature.

Topics

  • Cryptographic primitives
  • Security protocols
  • System security
  • Emerging topics

Skills

  • Cryptographic primitives and security protocols
  • System security analysis

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

6 earlier forecasts · 0.19 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
COMPSCI 642 · Fall 2026

Introduction to Information Security

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:266:022011",
    "course_id": "COMPSCI 642",
    "course_uid": "course_a76e77747c5b78e3b42f681c",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "022011",
    "source_subject_id": "266",
    "title": "Introduction to Information Security",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "7171032d18bd6979b49f54d3cca211c1a54d27c7b998c09193dabe3e69ed1dcb",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}