This syllabus is tentative and will undoubtedly continue to change as the quarter progresses. If there is a topic you’re interested in but not shown, please let me know; I may well change things to cover it. All readings are from the text unless otherwise indicated.
Week 1: | Dates: Sep 24, Sep 26 |
Lec 1–2 | Topics: Introduction, principles of secure design, threats and policies |
Reading: text, § 1, 14; Papers [Sm12, MA19] | |
Week 2: | Dates: Sep 29, Oct 1, Oct 3 |
Lec 3–5 | Topics: Basic policy models: Bell-LaPadula, Biba, Clark-Wilson |
Reading: text, § 5.1–5.2.2, 5.3, 6.2, 6.4; Paper [Sa93] | |
Week 3: | Dates: Oct 6, Oct 8, Oct 10 |
Lec 6–8 | Topics: Symmetric and public key cryptography |
Reading: text, §10 | |
Due: Oct 8: homework 1; Oct 10: project question | |
Week 4: | Dates: Oct 13, Oct 15, Oct 17 |
Lec 9–11 | Topics: Protocols, authentication |
Reading: text, §11.1, 12.1, 12.4, 12.5, 13; Paper [Ke93] | |
Week 5: | Dates: Oct 20, Oct 22, Oct 24 |
Lec 12–14 | Topics: Access control mechanisms, confinement problem, reference monitor |
Reading: text, §16.1–16.3, 18.1–18.2, 20.1.2.2; Paper [HS16] | |
Due: Oct 22: homework 2 | |
Week 6: | Dates: Oct 27, Oct 29, Oct 31 |
Lec 15–17 | Topics: Confinement problem, vulnerabilities |
Reading: text, §18.2, 24.3–24.4; Papers [La73, Li75] | |
Week 7: | Dates: Nov 3, Nov 5, Nov 7 |
Lec 18–20 | Topics: Elections and e-voting, malware |
Reading: text, §23.6.2–23.7, 23.9, 26.1–26.3, 28.1, 28.3; Papers [Bi00, O+17] | |
Due: Nov 5: homework 3; Nov 7: project progress report | |
Week 8: | Dates: Nov 10, Nov 12, Nov 14 |
Lec 20–22 | Topics: Malware, penetration testing |
Reading: text, §24.1–24.2, 23.1–23.6.1 | |
Note: Nov 11 is a university holiday, for Veterans’ Day | |
Week 9: | Dates: Nov 17, Nov 19, Nov 21 |
Lec 23–24 | Topics: Network security, firewalls, intrusion detection, entropy, information flow |
Reading: text, §23.9.7, C, 17.1, 17.3–17.6; Papers [B+07, De87] | |
Due: Nov 19: homework 4 | |
Week 10: | Dates: Nov 24, Nov 26, Nov 28 |
Lec 25–27 | Topics: Information flow, identity |
Reading: §15 | |
Due: Nov 27: project presentation slides | |
Week 11: | Dates: Dec 1, Dec 3, Dec 5 |
Lec 28–30 | Topics: Identity, anonymity, onion routing |
Reading: §15 | |
Note: Dec 5 is the last class | |
Due: Dec 5: homework 5 | |
Dec 9: | Due: Completed project |
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ECS 235A, Computer and Information Security Version of September 10, 2025 at 12:16PM
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You can also obtain a PDF version of this. |