IT Security

Week 1: Introduction
Motivation, examples, areas of IT security at a glance.

Week 2: Malicious software (malware)
Types of malicious software (viruses, worms, Trójans, etc.), their operation, spreading mechanisms and hiding techniques (rootkits), applications of malware (cybercrime, botnets, targeted attacks). Detecting malware infections, incident response, reverse engineering malware samples.

Week 3: Software security
Security problems stemming from programming bugs and design mistakes, techniques to exploit software vulnerabilities, illustrative examples (buffer overflow, heap overflow, format string, error handling, race conditions, ROP, etc).  Special features of different programming languages (C/C++, Java, script languages) and frameworks with respect to software security.

Week 4: Secure programming
Security analysis and testing of software (code review, architectural risks, software penetration testing, fuzzing), introduction of some tools that help testing. Secure programming methodologies, illustrative examples.

Week 5: Operating systems security
User authentication, access right management and access control in Windows and Unix/Linux systems. Kernel integrity, process isolation, memory protection (e.g., ASLR). Hardened Oss (Linux Security Modules, Microsoft EMET).

Week 6: Browser security and security of web applications
Security issues and built-in security features in modern browsers (DOM access control model, same origin policy, handling third party cookies, sandboxing and other protection against malicious scripts and content). Security risks of plug-ins and helper objects. Security of web based applications, typical attacks (SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, etc.) and proposed countermeasures. Typical problems of CMS systems (backdoors, executing arbitrary code) and proposed countermeasures.

Week 7: Security of mobile platforms and cloud based systems
Security architectures of Android and iOS, application permission models. Mobile malware. Other security and privacy problems in mobile platforms.  Security challenges of cloud based services, protecting data stored in the cloud, security of virtualization, cloud infrastructure protection against malicious guests.

Week 8: Network intrusion techniques
Phases of a typical network penetration attack (reconaissance, intrusion, installation of a backdoor, lateral movement and privilege escalation, getting root access), methods and tools used in different phases, illustrative examples. Penetration testing of networks, ethical hacking.

Week 9: Firewalls and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS)
Perimeter defense with firewalls, types of firewalls, their operating principles, typical configuration settings and pitfalls, illustrative examples. Introduction of some specific firewall products. Types and operation of IDS systems and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems. Introduction of some specific IDS and SIEM products. Log analysis, log analysis tools.

Week 10: Cryptographic algorithms and basic protocols
Overview of cryptographic primitives. Block encryption modes, message authentincation and integrity protection, random number generation, key exchange protocols, and public key infrastructure (PKI).

Week 11: Secure communication protocols
Practical use of cryptography for providing secure communication channels, illustration through well-known examples (TLS, IPsec, Wifi security). Security analysis of protocols, introduction of some known attacks.

Week 12: Privacy protection
Tracking users on the Web (e.g., browser fingerprinting, third party cookies). Privacy problms in social networks. Anonymous communication systems (e.g., Tor) and their application areas.

Week 13: Risk management and IT security standards
Security risk management basics, risk assessment process, methods. IT security standards and recommendations (e.g., ISO 27000, ISO 17799, COBIT, Common Criteria framework, some important RFCs and NIST standards)

Week 14: Security of an enterprise architecture
Summary and overview of the topics of the whole course via an integrated example, where we illustrate the design of an enterprise security architecture.