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.

Selected Topics in Cryptography, Spring 2004

Abstract:: This course will cover a number of advanced "selected topics" in the field of cryptography. The content may include, depending on the time available and student interest, topics such as: cryptographic protocols (general security definitions, composition theorems, protocols for specific tasks such as commitments and key exchange, general multi-party computation, composable notions of security for PK encryption and signatures), theory of extractors, privacy amplification, special-purpose factoring devices (and algorithms), concrete security arguments, differential cryptanalysis, public-key infrastructures, and protocols for electronic voting.