COMP 435 (Fall 2025)

Monday / Wednesday 2:30 - 3:45pm in SN014.

A working draft of the syllabus can be found here!

Office Hours

Instructor: Kaki Ryan

Mondays: 10-12pm in FB114

TA OH: in SN137

Wednesdays: 11-1pm

Thursdays: 3:30-5pm

Course Links

Assignments

Gradescope (Enrollment code is 42Z24W)

Textbook: Computer Security and the Internet by Paul C. van Oorschot. ISBN: 1619-7100 Publisher: Springer. PDF

Course Schedule

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Week 1

Monday 8/18:

• FDOC!! :)
• Lecture 1: Welcome! Introduction, Security Mindset + Security Policies
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: Section 1.1

Wednesday 8/20:

• Lecture 2: Basic Principles, Intro to Threat Modeling
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: Section 1.2

Week 2

Monday 8/25:

• Lecture 3: More Threat Modeling, Risk
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Written Assignment 1 Released. Due 8/28 11:59pm
• Reading: Section 1.3-1.5

Wednesday 8/27:

• QUIZ 1
• Lecture 4: Intro to Authentication, Passwords
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: Section 3.1, 3.2

Week 3

Wednesday 9/3:

• Lecture 5: Biometrics
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: Section 3.3-3.5

Week 4

Monday 9/8:

• Lecture 6: Finish Authentication, Start Crypto!
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 2.1

Wednesday 9/11:

• Lecture 7: Symmetric Key Encryption, Block Ciphers
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 2.2

Week 5

Wednesday 9/17:

• Lecture 8: Public Key Cryptography, Cryptographic Hash Functions
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 2.3-2.6

Week 6

Monday 9/22:

• Lecture 9: MACs
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 2.6-2.7

Wednesday 9/24:

• QUIZ 2
• Lecture 10: Digital Signatures, DH Key Exchange
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 4.1-4.3

Week 7

Monday 9/29:

• Lecture 11: Pitfalls of Authentication Protocols, Intro to Operating Systems Security
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 5.1, 6.1

Wednesday 10/1:

• Lecture 12: OS Security Cont., Secure Design Principles
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Written Assignment 3 Released. Due 10/9 11:59pm
• Lab 2 Released Released. Due 10/12 11:59pm
• Reading: 1.7

Week 8

Monday 10/6:

• Lecture 13: Access Control
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 5.2-5.7

Wednesday 10/8:

• QUIZ 3
• Lecture 14: Capabililites & Confused Deputy Attack
• Slides
• In-class Practice

Week 9

Monday 10/13:

• Lecture 15: Buffer Oveflow Attacks
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 6.3-6.8

Wednesday 10/15:

• Lecture 16: Software Security: Exploits and Privilege Escalation
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 6.2

Week 10

Monday 10/20:

• Lecture 17: Intro to Network Security
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 10.6, 11.1

Wednesday 10/21:

• QUIZ 4
• Lecture 18: Packet Filters
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 10.1

Week 11

Monday 10/27:

• Lecture 19: Intrusion Detection Systems
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 11.1-11.3, 10.3-10.4

Wednesday 10/29:

• Lecture 20: Secure Shells, Intro to Web Security
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 9.1-9.2

Week 12

Monday 11/3:

• Lecture 21: Cookies
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 9.3,

Wednesday 11/5:

• QUIZ 5
• Lecture 22: Cross-Site Forgery Attacks
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 9.5

Week 13

Monday 11/10:

• Lecture 23: Cross-Site Sripting, Same Origin Policy
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 9.4, 9.6

Wednesday 11/12:

• Lecture 24: SQL Injection & Other Web-based Attacks
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 9.7-9.8

Week 14

Monday 11/17:

• Lecture 24: PKI, Certificates, HTTP over TLS
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 8.1-8.4

Wednesday 11/19:

• Lecture 25: Malware Intro
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 7.1-7.4

Week 15

Monday 11/24:

• Lecture 26: Malware, Virus, Worms
• Slides
• In-class Practice
• Reading: 8.1-8.4

Week 16

Monday 12/1:

• Lecture 27: Rootkits, Trojan Horses, Intro to Privacy
• Slides
• In-class Practice

Wednesday 12/3:

• Lecture 28: Differential Privacy, Hardware Security!
• Slides
• In-class Practice