On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:

a. Understand security mechanisms in modern computer systems, its role, and its importance;

b. Understand techniques for implementing security policies;

c. Use and operate access-control mechanisms;

d. Understand vulnerabilities associated with computer systems, and how they can be mitigated.

This course introduces computer security mechanisms at an elementary level.

Concepts and Terminology: security; confidentiality, integrity and availability; security policies; security models; mandatory and discretionary access control; access control matrix, capabilities and access control lists; information flow;
Security Models: information flow policies; role-based access control
Implementation of Mechanisms: security mechanisms in hardware and operating systems; memory management, memory protection and logical protection; access control lists
User authentication: passwords, biometrics and user tokens; identity management
Case Studies: Intel processor family; Windows; Unix
Operating system vulnerabilities: how they can be exploited and how they can be prevented
Software security: buffer overflows and exploits; validati