Due to the dynamic and evolving nature of the network security field, the course will feature a mixture of material based on the recommended textbook, on instructor notes, and on scientific articles in order to reflect recent developments in this area.

Recommended textbook: "Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World (2nd edition)",
by C. Kaufman, R. Perlman, M. Speciner,
Prentice Hall 2002 (ISBN 0130460192).

In addition, course material will include research articles from electronic databases such as:
ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Science Direct

The course focuses on the security of network protocols. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with common threats and attacks, and to study the fundamental techniques used to secure network communication over insecure channels. The course will have an applied component, which will help students gain practical experience in attacking and defending networked systems. Topics include authentication systems, secure communication at data link, network, transport and application layers, vulnerabilities of Internet protocols, DNS and routing security, firewalls, intrusion detection, honeypots, wireless networks security, malware propagation and detection, and web security.

A tentative list of topics includes:

• Introduction (overview of network security issues, cryptographic algorithms, authentication techniques)
• Authentication systems, Key establishment protocols, Kerberos
• Secure communication at the data link and network layers (IPSEC and IKE)
• Secure communication at the transport and application layers (SSL/TLS, email security, PGP)
• Vulnerabilities of Internet protocols
• Denial of service (DoS) attacks and defenses
• Firewalls, IP spoofing prevention
• Routing protocols security and router security
• Domain name server (DNS) security
• Traffic monitoring, Intrusion detection, Honeypots
• Wireless networks security
• Spam, Phishing, and Pharming
• Malware propagation and containment, Botnets
• Anonymity and privacy on the Web
• VoIP, Skype, RFID security

Who should take this course?

Graduate students interested in studying the fundamental techniques used to secure network protocols.
The course is also an excellent starting point for finding research topics for M.S. and Ph.D. theses.

Grading policy

Mini-Projects (3)	45%
Midterm exam	25%
Final exam	30%
Class participation	up to 10%