Essentials

Instructor:

DanWallach

Time:

2–3:20p

Days:

M/W/F (most weeks, class will meet on two of these three days, usually Monday and Wednesday; class will occasionally be held on Friday to accomodate the staff's schedule.)

Location:

DH 1046

Registration information:

ESTHER listing; CRN: 10769

TA:

DanSandler

Miscellaneous:

Grading Policies, Lecture Calendar

Introduction

This class will focus on computer security in real systems. We will cover theory and practice for the design of secure systems (formal modelling, hardware and compiler-enforced safety, software engineering processes, tamper-resistant and tamper-reactive hardware, firewalls, cryptography, and more). We will also discuss how and why each of these techniques fail.

There will be reading assigned before every class, usually chapters from the book or papers available online somewhere. You're expected to read them. Also, class discussions and announcements will appear on the course newsgroup [news:rice.owlnews.comp527 rice.owlnews.comp527]. You are expected to read this newsgroup regularly. Off-campus students should contact Owlnet about getting an account.

Please enroll online for the class as well.

Texts

Required:

book

Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems
Ross J. Anderson
John Wiley & Sons
Paperback - 612 pages (2001)

If you have trouble getting the book locally, you can always try buying it at Amazon.com, Bookpool, or any other reseller you might like.

As an optional resource, you may also find it helpful to browse The Handbook of Applied Cryptography, available in its entirety online, or you can purchase it at the usual booksellers.

hac_cover

The Handbook of Applied Cryptography
Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot and Scott A. Vanstone
CRC Press
816 pages (1996)

Pre-requisites

((Comp311 or Comp412) and (Comp421 or Comp429)) or (consent of the instructor).

Lecture schedule

See the Calendar.

Office hours

Other security classes

Accommodations

Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations is requested to speak with me during the first two weeks of class. All discussions will remain confidential. Students with disabilities should also contact Disabled Student Services in the Ley Student Center.