HEART - Introduction to Computer Security and Applied Cryptography

EN 500.111.26 Wednesday 7-8:15pm

Gilman 77

Course Goals

  • Students should leave the course with an understanding that it is important to consider security in the design process and not leave it until the end
  • Students should understand how security is defined and the importance of defining security for each application
  • Students should get a sense of the political and social implications of computer security and cryptography

Course Work and Expectations

  • There will be weekly reading that should be completed before the beginning of class.
  • There will be a presentation created and executed in groups. Each member of the group is expected to contribute to the out-of-class preparation and in class presentation.
  • One class with be a discussion day. Students are expected to listen respectfully, encourage their classmates, and actively contribute in a positive way.

Course Syllabus

  • Note that the schedule on THIS WEBPAGE is authoritative, not the one in the link above

Class Schedule

Class Period Class Topic Reading (Due by Date on Same Row) Slides
Week 1: September 5th No Class N/A N/A
Week 2: September 12th Introduction Economist Article and USENIX 2018 Keynote Slides
Week 3: September 19th Systems Security I
(Yom Kippur - Class will either be guest lectured or canceled)
Reflections on Trusting Trust (Don't worry if you dont understand it) Slides
Code
Week 4: September 26th Systems Security II Ross Anderson, Chapter 1 Slides
Code
Week 5: October 3rd Cryptography I Ross Anderson Crypto Intro(Until p. 143) Slides
Week 6: October 10th Cryptography II Nine Algorithms That Changed The Future, Chapters 4 and 9 Slides
Week 7: October 17th No Class N/A N/A
Week 8: October 24th Presentation Day N/A N/A
Week 9: October 31st Network and Web Security XSS Tutorial Slides
Week 10: November 7th Security Proofs Section 1 of Breif Introduction to Provable Security
Section 2.2 of The Joy of Cryptography
(If you are comfortable with exessive mathematical notation, read all of Joy of Crypto Chap. 2)
Slides
Week 11: November 14th Discussion Day Note: Some testimony includes descriptions of crimes, including child abuse.
Testimony Before Congress on Encryption in Law Enforcment
N/A
Week 12: November 21st No Class N/A N/A
Week 13: November 28th Advanced Cryptography Zero Knowlege Proofs For Your Children and Matt Green's First ZK Blog Post Slides

If you need some information, shoot me an email!