276.15 sec. 001 - Cybersecurity, Computer Crime, & Investigation (Fall 2026)
Instructor: Chris Jay Hoofnagle (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only | profile)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 4
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
TuTh 3:35 PM - 5:25 PM
Location: Law 12
From August 18, 2026
To November 19, 2026
Course End: November 19, 2026
Class Number: 33033
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 21
Waitlisted: 20
Enroll Limit: 41
As of: 06/06 06:37 AM
Cybersecurity is instrumental to economic activity and human rights alike. But as digital technologies penetrate almost every aspect of human experience, a broad range of social- political-economic-legal-ethical-military and other considerations have come to envelop the cybersecurity landscape.
Cybersecurity in Context (CiC) explores the most important elements that shape the playing field on which cybersecurity problems emerge and are managed. On policy, the course will emphasize how ethical, legal, and economic frameworks enable and constrain security technologies and policies. It will introduce some of the most important macro-elements (such as national security considerations and the interests of nation-states) and micro-elements (such as behavioral economic insights into how people understand and interact with security features). On law, the course covers the major computer crimes and how investigators access data on individuals' computers and in cloud services.
CiC includes an in-class computer lab component designed to upskill students and expose them to the actual technologies and methods of computer attack, because in order to understand defense, one must be familiar with offense. Students will pledge to not use this knowledge for any illegal or unethical purpose. Students will need a computer (i.e. a Mac or PC, not a tablet/iPad/chromebook)
There are no prerequisites for this course and it is not necessary to have programming or other advanced computer skills.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
Exam Notes: (F) In-class Final Exam
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Exam Length: 3 hours
Course Category: Intellectual Property and Technology Law
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Litigation and Procedure
If you are the instructor or their FSU, you may add a file like a syllabus or a first assignment.
Class materials may also be available on bCourses.berkeley.edu
Readers:
No reader.
Books:
Required Books are in blue
- Cybersecurity in Context: Technology, Policy, and Law
Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Golden G. Richard, III
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9781394262441
e-Book Available: unknown
Price: To Be Determined