6.857: Computer and Network Security

Below are links to material relevant to our lectures. Students are responsible for all items, except those which are starred (*). Starred items are related readings are provided for your own interest, and are optional.

To suggest the addition of a hyperlink or paper, email 6.857-staff at mit.edu.

Lecture 01 (Th 9/9/2004): Introduction

Reading:
- "Why Johnny Can't Encrypt: A Usability Evaluation of PGP 5.0",
  Alma Whitten and J.D. Tygar [ PDF, PS, HTML]
Links:
- MIT PGP Distribution*
- PGP International*

Lecture 02 (Tu 9/14/2004): Electronic Voting

Reading:
- "Analysis of an Electronic Voting System"
  Tadayoshi Kohno, Adam Stubblefield, Aviel D. Rubin, and Dan S. Wallach [PDF]
Handouts:
- Problem Set 1 [PS|PDF]
Links:
- Supporting material for "Analysis of an Electronic Voting System", including Diebold's rebuttal.*
- Ron's Voting Resource Page.*
- "Risks in Computer-Based Elections" from Neumann's Computer-Related Risks.*
- The Daily Show's take on electronic voting.*

Lecture 03 (Th 9/16/2004) : Hash Functions

Reading:
- Section 9.2 in the Handbook of Applied Cryptography (HAC).
Notes:
- Lecture Notes [PDF]
Links:
- SHA-1*
- Collisions for Hash Functions MD4, MD5, HAVAL-128 and RIPEMD [PDF]*
- A file system using Merkle's hash trees for integrity [PDF]*

Lecture 04 (Tu 9/21/2004) : More Hashing Applications, Unconditional Security

Reading:
- DES is not a group [PDF]*
- Is the DES a group? [PDF] (4 megs)*
Handouts:
- Problem Set 2 [PS|PDF]

Lecture 05 (Th 9/23/2004) Web Authentication (Guest Lecturer Kevin Fu)

Slides:
- Kevin Fu's lecture slides [PDF]
Links:
- Dos and Don'ts of Client Authentication on the Web [PDF]*
- Web Cookies: Not Just a Privacy Risk*
- Broken Access Control*
- Biggest Web Problem Isn't About Privacy, It's Sloppy Security*
- More Scary Tales Involving Big Holes In Web-Site Security*

Lecture 06 (Tu 9/28/2004) Intro to Number-Theoretic Crypto

Reading:
- Introduction to Number Theory (2002) [PDF]*
- Ron's notes on χ² (Chi-Squared) Statistical Tests [PDF]*
Handouts
- Problem Set 1 Solutions [PS|PDF]
- Problem Set 3 [PS|PDF]

Lecture 07 (Th 9/30/2004) (Guest Lecturer David Chaum)

Slides:
- David Chaum's lecture slides [PPT]
Reading:
- "Secret Ballot Receipts: True Voter Verifiable Elections"
  David Chaum [PDF]

Lecture 08 (Tu 10/5/2004) Forensics (Guest Lecturer Simson Garfinkel)

Reading:
- "Remembrance of Data Passed: A Study of Disk Sanitization Practices,"
  Simson Garfinkel and Abhi Shelat [PDF]
- "Defining Digitial Forensic Examination and Analysis Tools"
  Brian Carrier [PDF]*
- "Getting Physical with the Digital Investigation Process"
  Brian Carrier and Eugene H. Spafford [PDF]*
Handouts
- Problem Set 2 Solutions [PS|PDF]
- Problem Set 4 [PS|PDF]

Lecture 09 (Th 10/7/2004)

Links:
- LavaRnd random number generator*

Lecture 10 (Tu 10/12/2004) Secret Sharing

Reading:
- "How to Share a Secret"
  Adi Shamir [PDF]
- "Secret Sharing Made Short"*
  Hugo Krawczyk [PDF]
Handouts:
- Problem Set 3 Solutions [PS|PDF]
- Take-Home Midterm [PS|PDF]

Lecture 11 (Th 10/14/2004) AES and DES

Handouts:
- Penance: An explanation of #4-1(e) [PS|PDF]*
Links:
- DES*
- AES* [FIPS] [Rijndael]

Lecture 12 (Tu 10/19/2004)

Handouts:
- Problem Set 4 Solutions [PS|PDF]

Lecture 13 (Th 10/21/2004) ElGamal and Diffe-Hellman

Handouts:
- Project Proposal Guidelines [PS|PDF]
Reading:
- "New Directions in Cryptography"
  Whitfield Diffie and Martin E. Hellman [PDF]

Lecture 14 (Tu 10/26/2004) ElGamal and RSA

Handouts:
- Problem Set 5 [PS|PDF]
Reading:
- "A Public-Key Crytposystem and Signature Scheme Based on Discrete Logarithms"
  Taher ElGamal [PDF]
- "A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-Key Cryptosystems"
  Ron L. Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman [PS]
- "How to Make a Mint: The Cryptography of Anonymous Electronic Cash"
  Laurie Law, Susan Sabett, Jerry Solinas [HTML]
- "Twenty Years of Attacks on the RSA Cryptosystem"
  Dan Boneh [PDF]*
- "Why Textbook ElGamal and RSA Encryption are Insecure"
  Dan Boneh, Antoine Joux, and Phong Q. Nguyen [PS]*

Lecture 15 (Th 10/28/2004)

Reading:
- "A Practical Secret Voting Scheme for Large Scale Elections"
  Atsushi Fujioka, Tatsuaki Okamoto, and Kazuo Ohta [PDF]
Handouts:
- Midterm Solutions [PS|PDF]

Lecture 16 (Tu 11/2/2004) RFID Security and Privacy (Guest Lecturer Steve Weis)

Handouts:
- Lecture Slides [PPT] (3 megs)

Lecture 17 (Th 11/4/2004) Viruses and Worms

Reading:
- "An Undetectable Computer Virus"
  David M. Chess and Steve R. White [PDF]
- Slammed! (Story of Slammer worm)*
- How to 0wn the Internet in Your Spare Time*
- "Computer Virus-Antivirus Coevolution"
  Corey Nachenberg [PDF]*

Lecture 18 (Tu 11/9/2004) Buffer Overflow Attacks

Reading:
- "Reflections on Trusting Trust"
  Ken Thompson [PDF]
- "StackGuard: Automatic Adaptive Detection and Prevention of Buffer-Overflow Attacks"
  Crispin Cowen, et al. [PDF]
- "Blended Attacks, Exploits, Vulnerabilities and Buffer-Overflow Techniques in Computer Viruses"
  Eric Chien and Peter Szor [PDF]*
- "Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit", Phrack Vol. 7, No. 49 *
Quiz Preparation:
- Fall 2003 Quiz 1 Solutions
- Fall 2002 Quiz 1 Solutions

Lecture 19 (Tu 11/16/2004): Quiz 1

Handouts
- Problem Set 6 [PS|PDF]

Lecture 20 (Th 11/18/2004) Program Shepherding (Guest Lecturer Saman Amarasinghe)

Reading:
- "Secure Execution via Program Shepherding"
  Vladimir Kiriansky, Derek Bruening, and Saman Amarasinghe [ PDF]
Slides:
- "Worms and Worm Mitigation" - S. Amarasinghe's lecture slides [PPT]

Lecture 21 (Tu 11/23/2004) Tempest, Tamper Resistance, Power Analysis

Reading:
- "Tamper Resistance - A Cautionary Note"
  Ross Anderson and Markus Kuhn [PDF|PS]
- "Soft Tempest: Hidden Data Transmission Using Electromagnetic Emanations"
  Markus Kuhn and Ross Anderson [PDF]
- "Optical Time-Domain Eavesdropping Risks of CRT Displays"
  Markus Kuhn and Ross Anderson [PDF]

Lecture 22 (Tu 11/30/2004) Biometrics and Trusted Computing

Slides:
- Gummy finger slides (PDF 1.2MB)
- Lamacchia Palladium slides (PPT)
Links:
- Ross Anderson's negative view of trusted computing.*

Lecture 23 (Th 12/2/2004): Talks

Lecture 24 (Tu 12/07/2004): Talks

Lecture 25 (Th 12/09/2004): Talks

6.857: Computer and Network Security

Lectures and Handouts