Computer security and privacy

COM-301 / 6 credits

Teacher(s): Bugnion Edouard, González Troncoso Carmela

Language: English

Summary

This is an introductory course to computer security and privacy. Its goal is to provide students with means to reason about security and privacy problems, and provide them with tools to confront them.

Content

The goal of this course is to introduce students to security engineering. The course will help students to think as an adversary so that they can analyse systems and establish security policies. We will cover a number of common security mechanisms at all layers, and learn their properties and limitations.


Core topics:

  • Security design principles
  • Access control
  • Authentication mechanisms
  • Applied cryptography
  • Sotware and Network security
  • Privacy

Keywords

Security Privacy

Learning Prerequisites

Recommended courses

CS-233a or CS-233b Introduction to Machine Learning (for programming)
COM-208 Computer Networks
CS-323 Introduction to operating systems

Important concepts to start the course

Basic notions TCP/IP
Basic notions programming

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Analyze systems for security
  • Decide on security mechanisms to apply
  • Establish a security policy

Teaching methods

Pre-recorded lectures

Practical assignemnts interactivel resolved in class using the concepts learned in the lectures

Written exercises to reaffirm the learning of the course

Practical programming homeworks to develop attacks and defenses

Expected student activities

Attending lectures, solving exercises, reading and demonstrating understanding of provided materials.

Assessment methods

  • Take home exams (80%)
  • Practical homeworks (20%)

Supervision

Office hours Yes
Assistants Yes
Forum Yes

Resources

Bibliography

Computer security by Dieter Gollmann 

 

Security Engineering by Ross Anderson

 

Computer Security: Principles and Practice by Stallings and Brown

Ressources en bibliothèque

Moodle Link

In the programs

  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Computer security and privacy
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Lab: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: mandatory
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Computer security and privacy
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Lab: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: mandatory
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Computer security and privacy
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Lab: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Computer security and privacy
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Lab: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Computer security and privacy
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Lab: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Computer security and privacy
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Lab: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional

Reference week

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