Welcome to the home page for CMSC 491N / Spring 2005. Check this page
regularly, if you are currently enrolled in this class.
Brief Description:
The objective of this course is teach the fundamental concepts of
network security.
Topics covered include: Basics of cryptography; Threat models
including DOS attacks and buffer overflows; Authentication and
Authorization Mechanisms and Standards including AAA and RADIUS;
Packet Filtering, Firewalls, Intrusion Detection, and Virtual Private
Networks; Network layer security including IPSec and Network
attribution Traceback; Transport layer security including SSL; PKI and
digital certificates including X.509; application level and web
security including PGP and Electronic Mail Security.
Pre-requisites: CMSC 341 (Data Structures) AND CMSC 481
(Computer Networks).
Textbook:
Cryptography and
Network Security: Principles and Practice, Third
Edition, William Stallings, ISBN 0130914290, Prentice Hall, 2003.
Grading: The course grade will be determined by two midterms,
final exam, two programming assignments and quizzes; CMSC 691N
students will be required to write a research term paper. The details
are available in the Class handout.
- Syllabus and Course Schedule are available in the Class handout.
Additional Reference Materials:
- Timing
Attack on RSA: Revealing Your Secrets through the Fourth
Dimension, by Wing H. Wing.
- Timing Attacks on Implementations of
Diffie-Hellman, RSA, DSS, and Other Systems, by Paul C. Kocher.
- Remote
Timing Attacks are Practical by D. Brumley and D. Boneh.
- Schneier
on Security: SHA-1 Broken, Feb. 2005.
- Collision
Search Attacks on SHA1, Feb. 2005.
- Speed
Comparison of Popular Crypto Algorithms, 2004.
- A
Security Review of Protocols: Lower Layers, from the book
Firewalls and Internet Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker, by Steven
M. Bellovin, William Cheswick, Aviel D. Rubin, Sample Chapter is
provided courtesy of Addison Wesley.
- Steve Bellovin's papers:
DNS, TCP/IP
security (1989 paper), TCP/IP
Security (2004 follow-on).
-
Stefan Axelsson, Intrusion
Detection Systems: A Survey and Taxonomy, 2000; Longer Version of Report.
- List of topics covered during each
week. Updated fortnighly.
- Projects:
- Project 1: Due March 13, 11PM. Description (PDF); Project1 Starter Openssl
code.
Additional Reference: Network Security with
OpenSSL: Cryptography for Secure Communications, by
John Viega, Matt Messier, and Pravir Chandra, O'Reilly, 2002.
- Project 2: Due May 7 (691N), May 8 (491N), 11PM. Description (PDF); Snort FAQ; Snort Manual.
PROJECT 2 DEMO SLOTS SCHEDULE, Updated
periodically
The project will be done using EMULAB, a testbed where you can have
access to a set of machines and experiment with them (as root and as
regular users). To obtain, an account:
Click on EMULAB
CMSC491N Account Request Form. Try to use your UMBC login ID if
that is available.
- Tests/Exams:
- Research Term Paper: Paper
Requirements.
Due Dates: Mar 1, 2005; Apr 7,
2005, May 15, 2005, 11PM (Extended from original May
12th date).
Review Form.
You may use help from UMBC Writing Center that offers
walk-in tutoring from 10 AM - 7 PM Mon-Wed; 10AM - 5 PM Thu; and
10 AM - 2 PM Friday; Location: Kuhn Library (Lower Entrance),
x53126; or from GSA Writing consultant, appointments via
jrolli@umbc.edu.
Any suggestions to improve this page and enhance its contents are very
welcome. Please send mail to
Prof. Krishna Sivalingam if you have any comments/suggestions.