CS6501/ECE6502: Network Security and Privacy, Spring 2024

Course Description

This course investigates security and privacy issues that stem from the Internet infrastructure. We will cover topics such as BGP security, DNS security, DDoS attacks, and anonymous communications. We will also look at various mechanisms to secure the Internet infrastructure as well as privacy enhancing technologies. Note that this course will involve literature review and paper presentation/discussion.

Prerequisites

No formal prerequisites, but assumes basic familiarity with programming in languages like C and Python. Some background in computer networks (e.g., equivalence of CS4457) will be helpful.

Course Schedule

Dates Topic Paper Notes
Wed 1/17 Intro/Network Architecture - Classes start
Mon 1/22 HTTP and TLS -
Wed 1/24 TCP/UDP -
Mon 1/29 Addressing and Naming -
Wed 1/31 Routing and Forwarding - HW1 released
Mon 2/5 Internet scanning IPv6 scanning Paper presentation starts
Wed 2/7 DDoS/Botnet DDoS amplification
Mon 2/12 Routing attack BGP poisoning
Wed 2/14 Routing defense Path-end validation HW1 due on 2/16 (Friday), HW2 released
Mon 2/19 Secure programmable data plane Jaqen
Wed 2/21 TCP attacks Attack discovery
Mon 2/26 DNS attacks Injection attack
Wed 2/28 DNS defense DNSSEC downgrade HW2 due on 3/1 (Friday)
Mon 3/4 (Spring break) -
Wed 3/6 (Spring break) -
Mon 3/11 Certificates Let's Encrypt
Wed 3/13 Certificates Certificate transparency Project form due on 3/11, submit ASAP if you haven't
Mon 3/18 Anomaly detection Dos and Dont's
Wed 3/20 Anonymity systems KIST
Mon 3/25 Fingerprinting Website fingerprinting
Wed 3/27 Censorship GFW
Mon 4/1 Censroship Signal
Wed 4/3 (guest lecture) -
Mon 4/8 Online tracking Mobile tracking
Wed 4/10 Future Internet SCION Last day of paper presentation
Mon 4/15 Project presentation -
Wed 4/27 Project presentation -
Mon 4/22 Project presentation -
Wed 4/24 Project presentation -
Mon 4/29 Project presentation -

Grading

Late Policy

All assignments/reviews are due via Canvas at 11:59pm on the due date.

Communication and Logistics

There is no textbook for the course that you need to purchase. We will distribute materials as needed.

There are several sites, all can be found/linked from Collab:

Please direct all course-related questions to Piazza (or go to office hours). If you want to discuss other topics or have personal/team issues that can and should only be handled by a professor, please email me directly (ys3kz).

Academic Integrity

Please also read the course syllabus carefully for additional information

No plagiarism

You must cite any and every source you consult, other than those explicitly provided by the course itself. This includes talking with a friend/classmate or looking at a website/book. If you're unsure, please ask us. We run all submissions through a plagiarism checker by default.

Write your own code and DO NOT share your code

All assignments are individual work and there is no collaboration allowed. That means you should not push it to GitHub (or any other site), send a copy to anyone, turn your screen to your neighbor, code up solutions together, etc. It is ok to discuss with classmates, but please include the names of students whom you've discussed with.

Consequences of dishonesty

Penalties may be up to and including a failing grade (F) in the course, independent of and in addition to the operations of the Honor Code.

Ack: this section is adapted from CS 2130.