Computer Science: Network Secrty&Cryptography

Security and secrecy in a networked environment. Cryptography: public and private key. Authentication: trusted agents, tickets. Electronic mail and digital signatures. Privacy and national security. Prerequisite: CS 2240.

Prereqs enforced by the system: CS 2240; Open to Degree and PACE students

https://www.uvm.edu/~jonaolap/teaching/cs3660/sp24/tentativesyllabus.txt

Network security and cryptography comprise two of the many interconnected components of cybersecurity. The first thread of this course explores threats to network security, with emphasis on attack techniques and defense mechanisms. The second thread focuses on cryptography. It explores the internal workings of various building blocks of historical and modern cryptosystems, with emphasis on the mathematical mechanisms that power them. Both threads will run concurrently in this course. Course goals and objectives include: 1. Identify common misconceptions about network security. 2. Analyze various system-level threats to networked systems. 3. Compare historical and modern cryptographic schemes. 4. Evaluate various building blocks of modern cryptographic schemes.

Section Expectations: Attend classes. Complete in-class exercises and homework assignments. Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours per week on coursework outside of class. Required reading: (A) Easttom, Chuck. Computer Security Fundamentals. Pearson Education, 2020. ISBN, 978-0135774779. (B) Smart, Nigel P. Cryptography Made Simple. Springer, 2016. ISBN, 978-3319219356.

Evaluation: Final grades will be computed as follows: 5 homework assignments -> 200 points max. (40 points per homework); 5 in-class exercises -> 40 points (8 points per exercise); Attendance: 10 points. The minimum passing grade is 60%.