Survey of Vulnerabilities and Mitigation Techniques for Mooc-Based Applications

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are commonly hosted as web servers for learners worldwide to access education and learning materials at low cost. Many of the well-known MOOCs have adopted open source software and database technologies and frequently operate within cloud environments. It is likely that the well-known software security vulnerabilities may manifest to MOOC-based applications. Unfortunately, few studies have identified a set of common vulnerabilities applicable to MOOC-based applications. This paper1 presents an exploratory study of potential security vulnerabilities and challenges for MOOC platforms, and it provide some guidelines and suggestions to mitigate these concerns. This study helps practitioners (educators and developers) to adopt MOOC applications while considering potential vulnerabilities and be prepared to deal with these risks.