Objectives

The objective of this course is to introduce students to the main topics in cybersecurity. The course will cover the various dimensions of cybersecurity, namely the technicai, organizational, and economic aspects of cybersecurity.

At the end of the semester, the students will be able to understand and identify the main computer security risks. They will further be able to to propose appropriate technical and organizational measures to prevent and respond to security threats. They will also understand the economic dimensions of cybersecurity, such as security investment and risk assessment.

Contents

The course will cover the following topics:

• Applied cryptography
• Authentication
• Access control
• Malware
• Software security
• Network security
• Machine learning and security
• Incident management
• Security management
• Economics of security

Please note the technical aspects represent about two thirds of the course content.

The course will cover widely used established text-book concepts and techniques, but it wil also include recent findings and mechanisms from scientific publications.

The course and its material are in English. French-speaking students can however ask questions in French.

The course will include a guest lecture from Mathieu Delavy on security incident response, and a simulation exercise on incident response organized by Patricia Egger.

References

[1] William Stallings and Lawrie Brown. 2018. Computer Security: Principles and Practice (4th ed.). Pearson

[2] Dieter Gollman. 2011. Computer Security. Wiley

[3] Ross Anderson. 2021. Security engineering: a guide to building dependable distributed systems (3rd ed.). Wiley

Pre-requisites

General knowledge in computer science (computer networks, programming, ...) and mathematics (probabilities and algebra).

Evaluation

First attempt

Exam:

Written 2h hours

Documentation:

Not allowed

Calculator:

Not allowed

Evaluation:

The evaluation will be based on a final written exam during the exam session, a presentation during the class, and homeworks.

Retake

Exam:

Written 2h hours

Documentation:

Not allowed

Calculator:

Not allowed

Evaluation:

The grade of the second written exam will replace the one of the first written exam. The other grades (presentation, homeworks) will remain unchanged and will be reused for computing the final grade.