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Introduction to Security
Lecturer: Mr M.G. Kuhn
(mgk25@cl.cam.ac.uk)
No. of lectures: 6
Prerequisite courses: Discrete Mathematics, Operating Systems
This course is a prerequisite for Distributed Systems (Part II and Diploma) and Security (Part II).
Aims
This course is a broad introduction to both computer security and
cryptography. It covers important basic concepts and techniques.
Lectures
- Introduction.
Application-specific security requirements, security management,
targets and policies, privacy and data protection, computer misuse
legislation, low-cost attack examples, patterns of failure.
- Operating system and network security. Discretionary access
control in POSIX and Windows NT, elevated rights and setuid bits,
auditing, mandatory access control policies, multi-level security
systems, information flow control, covert channels, Clark/Wilson
integrity, capabilities, trusted computing base, OS security
functions, common implementation vulnerabilities, taxonomy of
malicious software, TCP/IP vulnerabilities, address spoofing,
firewalls, denial of service attacks, security evaluation methodology
and standards, computer forensics. [2 lectures]
- Symmetric cryptography. Historic ciphers, Kerckhoffs' principles,
Vernam cipher, properties of pseudo-random and secure hash functions,
computational security, birthday paradox, block ciphers, Feistel and
SP networks, modes of operation, message authentication codes.
- Authentication techniques. Biometrics, passwords,
one-way and challenge-response authentication protocols,
Needham-Schroeder, Kerberos, protocol failure examples, smartcards and
RFID.
- Asymmetric cryptography. Number theory revisited,
discrete logarithm problem, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, ElGamal
encryption and signature, hybrid cryptography, key certificates and
public key infrastructure.
Objectives
By the end of the course students should
- appreciate the range of different meanings that ``security'' has
in different applications
- be familiar with the most common security terms and concepts
- have a basic understanding of the most commonly used attack
techniques and protection mechanisms
- have gained basic insight into aspects of modern cryptography and its
applications
Recommended books
Gollmann, D. (1999). Computer Security. Wiley.
Schneier, B. (1995). Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms,
and Source in C. Wiley (2nd ed.).
Further reading:
Stinson, D. (2002). Cryptography - Theory and Practice.
Chapman & Hall/CRC.
Anderson, R. (2001). Security Engineering: A Guide to Building
Dependable Distributed Systems. Wiley.
Cheswick, W.R. & Bellovin, S.M. (1994). Firewalls and Internet
Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker. Addison-Wesley (2nd ed.).
Garfinkel, S. & Spafford, G. (1996). Practical Unix and Internet
Security. O'Reilly (2nd ed.).
Next: Operating Systems II
Up: Lent Term 2003: Part
Previous: Digital Communication I
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Christine Northeast
Wed Sep 4 14:43:05 BST 2002