Instructor: Guevara Noubir, email: noubir@ccs.neu.edu, phone: (617) 373 5205, office: 238 West Village H.

Time/Location: Mondays 6:00pm-9:00pm, 110 West Village H.

Office Hours: Wed 1:00-3:00 PM.

Teaching Assistant: Eric Bergeron, eriberge@ccs.neu.edu

Required Textbook: "Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World" Charles Kaufman, Radia Perlman, Mike Speciner, Pearson Education, April 2002

Course Home Page. http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/noubir/Courses/CSG254/S05. 

Previous years home page: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/noubir/Courses/CSG254/S04.

Prerequisites: Fundamentals of Computer Networks or Internetworking course.

Course Overview: PDF.

Course Description: This course provides a graduate-level introduction to networks security.

• [PDF] Review of cryptography concepts, algorithms, and security services.
• [PDF] Review of Internet architecture and protocols.
• [PDF] Authentication Protocols
• [PDF] Kerberos.
• [PDF]  Secure Socket Layer SSL/TLS.
• [PDF] Public Key Infrastructures (PKI).
• [PDF] IPsec: AH, ESP, IKE.
• [PDF] Multicast Security.
• [PDF] Secure Electronic Mail (e.g., PGP, SMIME)
• [PDF] Network security tools/devices: monitoring, intrusion detection, firewalls, etc.

Here is a list of books for students interested in learning more about the network security and cryptography.

Some useful links.

Grading: The course grade will be based on :

• 3 problem sets on network security theoretical concepts (25%), 

• Midterm exam (30%),

• 6 incremental laboratory assignments (25%)

• Final competition (20%).

Problem sets:  PS1 [Word], PS2 [Word], PS3 [Word].

Solutions sketch: PS1 [PDF], PS2 [PDF], PS3 [PDF].

Lab assignments: LA1 [HTML], LA2 [HTML], LA3 [HTML], LA4 [HTML, PDF], LA5 [HTML, PDF], LA6 [HTML, PDF].

Lab and competition location: Laboratory assignments and final competition will be carried out in lab space 472 West Village H.

Out of the 6 lab assignments, the lowest grade will be discarded and only 5 will be used. Please keep in mind that the lab assignments are mostly incremental and help you prepare for the competition. Students may discuss the problem sets with one another, but solutions should be written up separately. The exception to this rule is the secure application that has to be designed and implemented by the team. Only one answer has to be submitted by the team for all questions related to the secure application. This year's secure application is "Secure IM". 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.

Midtem: The midtem will take place on March 14th. Please mark your calendars and make sure that you will be able to attend the midterm.

Finals competition: The main goal is to get a hands-on experience with securing networks and designing/developing secure network applications. The final competition will take place the week before finals week. An outline of the competition setup is provided in [Course-Overview]. The homeworks will help the teams to prepare for the competition by gradually building a secure network.