ECE 478- Computer and Network Security
Catalog Description: Security principles, models, and attacks. Overview
of cryptography. Building secure systems and security evaluation criteria. Security
in operating systems and computer networks. Management and analysis of security.
Legal and ethical issues in computer security.
Prerequisites:
By course: The course is open to junior and senior undergraduate & graduate
students.
By Topic: Modular arithmetic, Unix and Windows NT operating systems.
Courses that require this as a prerequisite: ECE 575
Credits: 3 Terms Offered: Spring
Instructors:
Primary: C. Koc
Secondary: M. Aydos
Textbooks:
Cryptography and Network Security, W. Stallings, Prentice Hall, upper Saddle
River, New Jersey, 1999. ISBN : 0-13-869017-0
Reference Textbook:
Computer Security, D. Gollmann, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, England,
1999.
ISBN: 0-471-97844-2
Course Learning Objectives:
Students are expected to demonstrate the ability to:
- Identify computer and network security threats, classify the threats and
develop a security model to prevent, detect and recover from the attacks.
(ABET Outcomes: a, c, e, j, k)
- Encrypt and decrypt messages using block ciphers, sign and verify messages
using well known signature generation and verification algorithms. (ABET Outcomes:
c, e, k)
- Analyze existing authentication and key agreement protocols, identify the
weaknesses of these protocols. (ABET Outcomes: c, e, k)
- Download and install an e-mail and file security software, PGP, and efficiently
use the code to encrypt and sign messages. (ABET Outcomes: c, e, k)
- Develop SSL or Firewall based solutions against security threats, employ
access control techniques to the existing computer platforms such as Unix
and Windows NT. (ABET Outcomes: a, c, e, i, k)
- Write an extensive analysis report on any existing security product or code,
investigate the strong and weak points of the product or code. (ABET Outcomes:
a, e, i, j, k, h)
Topics
- Security fundamentals, definitions, principles of security, the layered
approach
- Overview of cryptography, encryption, decryption, stream ciphers, block
ciphers, hash functions, message authentication codes, public-key cryptography,
digital signatures
- Identification, authentication, password schemes, spoofing attacks, single
sign-on
- Access control, subjects and objects, access operations, ownership, access
control structures, intermediate controls, the lattice of security levels
- Unix security, login and user accounts, access control, general security
principles, audit logs, intrusion detection, wrappers, installation and configuration
- Program security, malicious software
- Network security, authentication, and key distribution
- Firewalls and Computer System Security
Structure: Three 50-minute lectures per week.
Original: 4/01
Revised: 9/01