CSEP564 Computer Security (Autumn 2012)

Overview

CSEP564 is a graduate course on computer security. This course will cover a wide array of research topics in the field. Prerequisites: strong foundation in undergraduate computer science.

Papers: You will be responsible for reading approximately three papers before each class (maybe sometimes more; maybe sometimes less), and contributing your thoughts on each assigned paper to the class discussion board before the class that covers it.

Textbook: Some lectures may also have either required or highly recommended reading from the book Foundations of Security: What Every Programmer Needs to Know. You can get the book from a variety of sellers, including Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Security-Every-Programmer-Experts/dp/1590597842.

We will at times have optional (not required) readings from the book Cryptography Engineering, which is also available from a variety of sellers, including Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cryptography-Engineering-Principles-Practical-Applications/dp/0470474246.

Assignments: Every few weeks or so, there will be a small assignment related to the topics we're covering.

Exam: there will be a take-home final exam. The questions will test your understanding of the material we cover in the reading and during lectures. You'll have a few days to finish and turn in the final exam.

Administrivia

Mailing list: This is the URL for the course mailing list: https://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/csep590a_au12. Because of the challenges with adding this course to the official timetable, not everyone may be on the list yet. Your u.washington.edu email address should be added automatically soon -- within the first week of the course. We will send a test email to the list during the second week of the quarter. The primary purpose of the mailing list is for urgent announcements. See the discussion board for all other announcements and discussions.

Announcements:

Discussion Board

Here's the link to the class discussion board:

The discussion board has three areas:

Reading schedule

Here's the schedule of papers for the course: here.

We'll post papers at least one week in advance of them being due. Note that you're required to read the assigned papers, but the optional additional papers are just that: purely optional, for your interest, if you choose to go deeper on your own. Discussion board entries for the assigned papers are due by noon on the day of the associated lecture.

We may also assign readings from the textbook. Please see the schedule for if/when you are required to post comments about the assigned textbook readings to the class discussion board.

Grading