Computer Security

Abstract

This course covers the basics of computer security. The goal of this course is to teach students how to identify and exploit security vulnerabilities through hands-on experience and a series of Capture the Flag (CTF) challenges.

Objective

In this course, students will study preparatory material and then discuss the topics and solve CTF challenges in a flip classroom model. Solving security challenges enables the students to build a security mindset and provides fundamental and basic knowledge for a career in cybersecurity. Students will tackle challenges in cryptography, web security, and binary-level exploitation. By the end of the course, they will have gained necessary background and tools to understand cybersecurity threats and apply their knowledge in practice. More specifically, students will focus on three topics: 1. Cryptography where students learn about basics of cryptographic implementations with foundations on symmetric and asymmetric cryptography 2. Web and network security where students learn about the vulnerabilities on the internet and how to exploit these vulnerabilities in websites (e.g., SQL injection) 3. Assembly and binary security where students learn about low-level machine codes and how to exploit them (e.g., disassembly, return-oriented programming, buffer overflow)

Resources