Cryptography and Cryptanalysis, Spring 2005

Abstract:: This course features a rigorous introduction to modern cryptography, with an emphasis on the fundamental cryptographic primitives of public-key encryption, digital signatures, pseudo-random number generation, and basic protocols and their computational complexity requirements.

Network and Computer Security, Fall 2003

Abstract:: Techniques for achieving security in multi-user computer systems and distributed computer systems. Topics: physical security; discretionary and mandatory access control; biometrics; information-flow models of security; covert channels; models for integrity; elementary cryptography; logic of authentication; electronic cash; viruses; firewalls; electronic voting; risk assessment; secure web browsers. 6.857 is an upper-level undergraduate, first-year graduate course on network and computer security. It fits within the department's Computer Systems and Architecture Engineering concentration. Topics covered include (but are not limited to) the following: Techniques for achieving security in multi-user computer systems and distributed computer systems; Cryptography: secret-key, public-key, digital signatures; Authentication and identification schemes; Intrusion detection: viruses; Formal models of computer security; Secure operating systems; Software protection; Security of electronic mail and the World Wide Web; Electronic commerce: payment protocols, electronic cash; Firewalls; and Risk assessment.