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This page is only for getting an overview of the course. Students enrolled in the class, need to
register on the official
course website to
access the full course material, including assignments, slides, and a client-side certificate
to access the virtual laboratory network.
Syllabus
Networks security is a topic that requires as much attention to its real-world implications as its
theoretical underpinnings. The CS 4740/6740 Network Security course allows the students to explore
the practical elements of networks security and related design, and deployment decisions in a
supervised laboratory, while simultaneously acquiring a strong conceptual knowledge of the underlying
theory in the more traditional classroom environment. The combination of these elements provides
students with a vivid picture of why and how networked systems and applications must be designed,
implemented, deployed, and maintained in a secure fashion. The course goals are multi-fold:
- Provide a solid understanding of the design and analysis of network security architectures,
protocols, and services. Most of these protocols are based on cryptographic primitives and can
be used as building blocks for more sophisticated networked systems. Such theoretical knowledge
also provides the foundations to understanding attacks from password cracking to recent SSL/TLS
BEAST and CRIME exploits.
- Provide a in-depth coverage of today's network security standards, their functionality and
limitations e.g., SSL/TLS, Kerberos, IPsec, OAuth, WPA.
- The course covers how industry & international standards are used as part of state of the
art systems such as in Single Sign On, email (e.g., S/MIME, DKIM), web (e.g., HTTPS),
DNS (e.g., DNSSEC), online social networking platforms (e.g, facebook), 2G/3G/4G/WiFi
wireless/mobile communication systems protocols, streaming platforms (e.g., netflix). We will
also discuss recent trends in network security attacks, and cyber-attacks in general,
and analyze a variety of attacks from the analysis of worms spreading, to SSL/TLS session
renegotiation/compression, DNS security, to spam and it's crypto-based countermeasures.
- The course has a substantial hands-on component. In addition to the conceptual problem sets,
each team of students is required to perform several laboratory assignments on a sandboxed
network of virtual machines. Such labs include networks scanning, host/network intrusion detection,
buffer overflow attacks, passwork cracking, sql injection, and cross site scripting. The course
culminates in a project where the students apply the acquired conceptual and practical knowledge
of network security protocols and applications to designing, prototyping and deploying a
networked application (typically a secure instant messaging application). Each team is also
required to analyze other teams designs and implementations, identify potential vulnerabilities
and demonstrate exploits.
Staff
- Instructor
-
Guevara Noubir (noubir ATA ccs DOTA neu DOTA edu)
Office: 238 West Village H
- Lab TAs
-
Sashank Narain (sashank ATA ccs DOTA neu DOTA edu)
Office: 208 West Village H
-
Amirali Sanatinia (amirali ATA ccs DOTA neu DOTA edu)
Office: 208 West Village H
Class Information
- Time/Location
- Thursday 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm, Shilman Hall 305
- Lab Office Hours
- TBA
- Recommended Textbook
-
Network
Security: Private Communication in a Public World Charles Kaufman, Radia Perlman, Mike Speciner, Pearson Education
- Course Home Page
-
https://chimera.ccs.neu.edu/.
- Announcements, discussions, forums
-
All announcements and discussions will be through piazza : https://piazza.com/northeastern/fall2016/cs6740/.
- Prerequisites
-
Knowledge of Internet networking protocols (e.g, a Networking course).
- Course schedule
-
Current Schedule.
- Laboratory
-
Laboratory assignments will be on the course sandboxed network of virual machines and infrastructure (See Laboratory 1).
- Additional Resources
-
List of books.
List of useful links.
Class Materials
Test Your Knowledge
- You can access the weekly Test Your Knowledges here.
Video Demos
- You can access the weekly Video Demos here.
Sample Quizzes and Exams
- Samples of quizzes: Q1, Q2, Q3.
- Sample midtem exam: MT.
Assignments
- Problem Sets
-
- Lab Assignments
- All laboratory assignments will be carried in virtual network environment accessible through a VPN connection.
- Midterm
-
The exam will take place on November 5th. Please mark your calendars
and make sure that you will be able to attend.
- Finals Project
- The final project will build on the problem sets design and programming assignments. Each team of students will
be required to design, implement, and deploy a secure instant messaging system. The student will practice
developing secure networked applications, making use of cryptographic libraries, socket programming, and
multi-threaded applications. The programming language of choice for this year is Python.
Teams Final Designs and Implementations:
Notes
-
Late submissions will result in a 10% penalty per
day (e.g.: 2.5 days late result in 25% penalty.)
-
Academic honesty: we will strictly enforce Northeastern’s academic
integrity policy. Violatoins of academic integrity will be reported to OSCCR and
will have a negative impact on your grade.
-
If a key idea is obtained from another person
(other than the TA or the instructor) or from
another book or paper (other than the course
textbook), then the source of that idea should
be cited. Solutions should be presented in a
clear and concise manner.
-
Teams consist of two students. All the team member should participate actively to
the labs and application development. For
each laboratory each group member
should document his contribution.
-
Undergraduate teams must complete 5 lab (including the Introduction Laboratory 1).
-
Graduate teams must complete 7 lab (including the Introduction Laboratory 1).
Grading
The course grade will be based on:
- 20%: 4 problem sets on network security theoretical concepts
- 10%: 3 quizzes
- 30%: Midterm exam
- 15%: Laboratory assignments
- 20%: Presentations, final project report (design and analyis of other teams), code, and demonstrations
- 5%: Class participation
