CSC 481/681 – Fall 2021 – Schedule

The following gives a day-by-day breakdown of topics covered, readings assigned, and assignment handouts/due dates. Each topic includes several required readings that students should read before the topic is discussed in class – always look ahead a few days to see what readings you should be doing. Some topics also have supplemental (non-required) readings that students can look into if they want to delve more deeply into that topic.

The schedule in this class is flexible, and past dates will be updated to reflect what was actually covered. Future dates are always tentative and subject to change.

Day 1: Tuesday, August 17

Topics: Class overview and syllabus review; introduction to security: threats, vulnerabilities, and controls [Slides]
Handout: Syllabus

Day 2: Thursday, August 19

Reading: Textbook sections 1.1 and 1.4
Topics: Overview of computer security – basic goals and terminology – day 1 [Slides]
Optional reading on usability in security: Alma Whitten and J. D. Tygar. Why Johnny can’t encrypt: a usability evaluation of PGP 5.0. In Proceedings of the 8th USENIX Security Symposium, 1999, pp. 169–183.
Optional reading on threat modeling: OWASP Threat Modeling Cheat Sheet

Day 3: Tuesday, August 24

Topics: Overview of computer security – basic goals and terminology – day 2

Day 4: Thursday, August 26

Reading: Textbook, sections 1.2, 9.1–9.2 and The Chinese Wall Security Policy
Topics: Security (access control) models – day 1 [Slides]

Day 5: Tuesday, August 31

Topics: Security (access control) models – day 2

Day 6: Thursday, September 2

Graduate/Honors students: Research Reading Summary 1 due
Reading: Textbook section 1.3 and Section 1 of Randomness, Entropy, Keys, and Powers of Two Estimation
Topics: Cryptography: Basic cryptographic threat model, key sizes, brute force attacks, and estimation techniques [Slides]

Day 7: Tuesday, September 7

Due: Assignment 1
Reading: Sections 2–3 of Randomness, Entropy, Keys, and Powers of Two Estimation
Topics: Randomization, probability theory review, entropy, and effect on brute force search (slides continued from last time)

Day 8: Thursday, September 9

Reading: Textbook, sections 8.1–8.2
Topics: Fundamental cryptographic services - encryption (symmetric and public key) and hash functions [Slides]

Day 9: Tuesday, September 14

Graduate/Honors students: Research Reading Summary 2 due
Reading: Textbook, sections 8.3–8.4
Topics: Cryptography for integrity - MACs, digital signatures, certificates (slides continued)

Day 10: Thursday, September 16

Topics: Some specific cryptographic techniques [Slides]

Day 11: Tuesday, September 21

Due: Assignment 2
Reading: Formal Models for Cryptography
Topics: Cryptography: Theory and Practice (models, breakdowns in practice, and programming) [Slides]

Day 12: Thursday, September 23

Reading: Textbook, sections 2.1–2.5
Topics: Physical security [Slides]

Day 13: Tuesday, September 28

Graduate/Honors students: Research Reading Summary 3 due
Reading: Textbook Sections 3.1–3.3
Topics: Operating System Security – Basics and Linux demos - day 1 [Slides]

Day 14: Thursday, September 30

Topics: Operating System Security – Basics and Linux demos - day 2

Day 15: Tuesday, October 5

Due: Assignment 3
Topics: Midterm Information/Review; Advanced OS Security (sandboxes, chroot, and containers) [Slides]

Day 16: Thursday, October 7

Midterm Exam

No class on Tuesday, October 12 (Fall break)
Day 17: Thursday, October 14

Reading: Textbook, Section 3.4
Topics: Software security and vulnerabilities, Part 1 [Slides]

Day 18: Tuesday, October 19

Topics: Software security and vulnerabilities, Part 1 – continued
Graduate/Honors Students Topic: Overview and discussion of final project

Day 19: Thursday, October 21

Topics: Software security and vulnerabilities, Part 2 – Day 1 [Slides]
Required reading:

Supplemental reading: Good information for students who want to dig deeper.

Day 20: Tuesday, October 26

Graduate/Honors Students: Project topic selection due
Topics: Software security and vulnerabilities, Part 2 – continued

Day 21: Thursday, October 28

Reading: Textbook, Chapter 4
Topics: Malware [Slides]

Day 22: Tuesday, November 2

Due: Assignment 4
Reading: Textbook, Chapter 7 and OWASP Top 10
Topics: Web Security – day 1 [Slides]

Day 23: Thursday, November 4

Topics: Web Security – day 2

Day 24: Tuesday, November 9

Reading: Textbook, Chapter 5
Topics: Network Security I – day 1 [Slides]

Day 25: Thursday, November 11

Topics: Network Security I – day 2

Day 26: Tuesday, November 16

Graduate/Honors Students: Progress report due
Reading: Textbook, Sections 6.1–6.4
Topics: Network Security II – day 1 [Slides]

Day 27: Thursday, November 18

Topics: Network Security II – day 2

Day 28: Tuesday, November 23

Due: Assignment 5
Topics: Student-choice topic

No class on Thursday, November 25 (Thanksgiving)
Day 29: Tuesday, November 30

Topics: Class wrap-up and review

Thursday, December 9, 3:30 PM

All students: Final Exam
Graduate/Honors Students: Final report due