CS 285 Network Security

Fall 2007

[Overview] [Schedule & Lecture Note] [Assignment] [Policy] [Resources]

Course Information

Time: Tuesday/Thursday 11am-12:15pm, Room: 244 Featheringill Hall

Instructor: Yuan Xue (), Office: 383 Jacobs Hall, Phone: 615-322-2926

Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday 2pm-3pm; or by appointment.

Web: http://vanets.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~xue/cs285fall07/index.html

Course description:

This course provides an introduction to the principles and practice of network security. Topics include: security threats in networks, principles for providing security mechanisms (cryptography, key management, message authentication), practice of securing systems (PGP, IPsec, SSL), and recent research topics in security.

Credit: 3 credit hours

Prerequisite:

The course requires a background in computer networks (e.g. cs283 or equivalent) and programming experience (e.g., cs201 or cs270 or equivalent).

Text book:

[WS] Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice (3nd Edition) by William Stallings

Reference books:

[KPS] Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World (2nd Edition), by Charlie Kaufman, Radia Perlman, Mike Speciner

[CSP] Security in Computing (3rd Edition), by Charles P. Pfleeger, Shari Lawrence Pfleeger

[MB] Computer Security: Art and Science, by Matthew A. Bishop

Schedule 

Date	Topic	Lecture Note/Handout	Reading/Assignment
08/30/07	Course Overview	See the course website offered in Fall 2008
09/04/07	Computer Network Review (I)
09/06/07	Computer Network Review (II)
09/11/07	Security Mechanisms Overview		Chapter 1
09/13/07	Secret-key Cryptography (Basics)		Section 2.1
09/18/07	Secret-key Cryptography (Block Cipher Principle)		HW 1 release Section 2.2, 2.3, 3.2, 3.6
09/20/07	Secret-key Cryptography (DES)		Section 3.3, 3.4, 3.5
09/25/07	Block Cipher Mode		Section 3.7
09/27/07	Secret Key Management		Section 7.1, 7.3
10/02/07	Public-key Cryptography (Overview)		Section 9.1
10/04/07	Public-key Cryptography (RSA)		HW 2 release Section 9.2
10/09/07	Message Authentication Code (1)		Section 11.1, 11.2, 11.3
10/11/07	Message Authentication Code (2)
10/16/07	Hash Functions		Project release Section 11.4, 12.1, 12.4
10/18/07	Digital Signature		HW 2 due, HW 3 release Section 13.1, 13.3
10/23/07	Fall Break
10/25/07	Public Key Management		Section 10.1, 10.2
10/30/07	Cryptography Review		Project Proposal due
11/01/07	Midterm Exam
11/06/07	Authentication Protocol (1)		HW 3 due
11/08/07	Authentication Protocol (2)		HW 4 release
11/13/07	Web Security (1)
11/15/07	Web Security (2)		HW4 due (Nov 16)
11/20/07	Thanksgiving holidays
11/22/07	Thanksgiving holidays
11/27/07	Project Design Presentation		Design Report due
11/29/07	Email Security		HW 5 release
12/04/07	IP Security
12/06/07	Worm/DoS attack
12/11/07	Intrusion Detection System/Firewall Beyond Network Security		HW 5 due
12/13/07	Project Presentation (last day of class)
12/18/07	Project Demo		Project Final Report due

Assignment

	Homework 1
	Homework 2
	Homework 3
	Homework 4
	Homework 5
	Project

Policy

Grading Policy

	Class participation: 10%
	Homework: 35%
	Midterm: 25%
	Project: 30%

Homework

There will be five homework assignments throughout the semester.  The homework assignments and their due dates will be listed on the Assignment. Homework assignments are due at the beginning of the class on the day due. Late assignments are not accepted.

Academic Integrity

Students are encouraged to discuss homework assignments and projects with each other but only in a general manner (to help understand the nature of the problem). Specific solutions cannot be discussed. And all the work you submit must be your own work. All students are required to acquaint themselves with the provisions of the University's Honor System.

In addition to the usual expectations regarding academic honesty, this course presents some particular ethical and even legal problems. First, while this is not a course in how to crack systems, it is practically impossible for us to avoid discussing concrete security weaknesses in existing systems. Any attempt to use such information to gain unauthorized access to any system is a violation of the Vanderbilt Policy on Computer Privileges and Responsibilities. Please also refer to Vanderbilt Computing And Networking Policies for more information.

Resources

	Purdue CERIAS
	FIRST
	IETF Security Area Working Groups
	IEEE Technical Committee on Security and Privacy:
	NIST computer security Resource Center
	Security Focus
	The Cryptography FAQ
	"Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems", by Claude Shannon

Survey

As a student of this course, your opinion is particularly valued. Please fill in the online survey form, so that I can better understand your background and your need.

? 2007, Yuan Xue ()