Syllabus: AINS6301 Automated Response Systems

Catalog Description

Builds AI-assisted incident response playbooks, orchestration, remediation, escalation, testing, and learning loops.

Course Structure

Each week includes readings, a lecture/slide sequence, an executable lab, and an applied deliverable. Students maintain a reproducible project record and submit work through the LMS or GitHub workflow selected by the instructor.

Weekly Schedule

Week	Topic	Essential Question	Deliverable
1	Incident response lifecycle	Where can automation improve response?	Lab notebook + assignment brief
2	Playbooks and decision trees	How do procedures become executable response logic?	Lab notebook + assignment brief
3	SOAR and tool orchestration	How do response systems coordinate tools?	Lab notebook + assignment brief
4	Containment and remediation automation	What actions can be safely automated?	Lab notebook + assignment brief
5	Human approval and escalation	When must people remain in the loop?	Lab notebook + assignment brief
6	Testing response automation	How can automation be validated before incidents?	Lab notebook + assignment brief
7	Post-incident learning	How does the system improve after response?	Lab notebook + assignment brief
8	Automated response readiness review	What makes a response system deployable?	Lab notebook + assignment brief

Assessment

Component	Weight
Weekly labs and notebooks	30%
Applied assignments	35%
Participation and technical critique	15%
Final synthesis portfolio	20%

Graduate Expectations

Submissions must show technical reasoning, evidence awareness, clear limitations, and responsible use of AI assistance. Code and analysis should be reproducible enough for instructor review.