Selected Topics in IT-Security

CS 408 | English

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Frederik Armknecht
Teaching Assistant: Youzhe Heng

The large-scale deployment of Internet-based services and the open nature of the Internet come alongside with the increase of security threats against existing services. As the size of the global network grows, the incentives of attackers to abuse the operation of online applications also increase and their advantage in mounting successful attacks becomes considerable.

These cyber-attacks often target the resources, availability, and operation of online services. In the recent years, a considerable number of online services such as Amazon, CNN, eBay, and Yahoo were hit by online attacks; the losses in revenues of Amazon and Yahoo were almost 1.1 million US dollars. With an increasing number of services relying on online resources, security becomes an essential component of every system.

This course aims to increase the security awareness of students and offers them a basic understanding with respect to a variety of interesting topics. After this course, students will be able to (1) learn about symmetric and asymmetric encryption schemes, (2) classify and describe vulnerabilities and protection mechanisms of popular network protocols, web protocols, and software systems (3) analyze / reason about basic protection mechanisms for modern OSs, software and hardware systems.

Exam Information and Dates

The final exam is a 90 minute written in-person exam. You may find up-to-date information on the exam schedule at https://portal2.uni-mannheim.de/portal2...flow. Please also check the “My Studies – My registrations” section in your student portal. The regular and re-sit exam dates, respectively, for the FSS 2024 will be made available as soon as they have been determined by the university administration.

Lecture and Exercise

  • Lecture: Thursdays, 13:45–15:15, room B1.44, in building A5
  • Exercise: Fridays, 13:45–15:15, room B1.44, in building A5

Lectures by Prof. Arkmnecht (cf. Lecture Roadmap) are offered as inverted lectures, i.e., videos are available on ILIAS for self-study and you may ask questions about or discuss the topic on thursdays.

The exercise sessions are offered on-site only and take place on an almost bi-weekly basis. The exact schedule will be updated continuously. Please note that you need a laptop (or a comparable computing device) for some of the exercises. The exercise scoreboard can be found here: https://itsec.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/

ILIAS & Portal²

Please register via Portal² to gain access to our ILIAS course in which you may find all lecture materials.

Once registered, you may access the course using the following URL: https://ilias.uni-mannheim.de/goto.php?target=crs_1475793

Lecture Topics (tentative)

  • Security Goals
  • Crash Course in Cryptography
  • Access Control
  • Authentication
  • Social Engineering
  • E-Mail Security
  • System Vulnerabilities
  • Malware
  • Network Security
  • Web Security
  • Bitcoin
  • Privacy

Lecture Roadmap (2024)

Tentative Agenda (Last update on: 2024-02-14)
DateTimeRoomTopicsLecturers

Feb. 15

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Intro to and organization of this lectureArmknecht
Feb. 16---

---

---

---

Feb. 2213:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44IntroductionArmknecht

Feb. 23

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44

Exercise Session 01

Heng

Feb. 29

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Access Control

Armknecht

Mar. 01

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Exercise Session 02

Heng

Mar. 07

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Authentication

Armknecht

Mar. 08

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44---

---

Mar. 14

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Social Engineering

Armknecht

Mar. 15

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Exercise Session 03Heng

Mar. 21

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44E-Mail Security

Armknecht

Mar. 22

------------

Mar. 28

------/** Easter---

Mar. 29

------   * ...---

Apr. 04

------   * ...

---

Apr. 05

------   * Break **/

---

Apr. 1113:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44---

---

Apr. 12

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44VulnerabilitiesArmknecht

Apr. 18

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Malware

Armknecht

Apr. 19

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Exercise Session 04

Heng

Apr. 25

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44WLAN Security

Armknecht

Apr. 26---------

---

May 02

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Network Security

Armknecht

May 03

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Exercise Session 05Heng
May 09------//Ascension Day (Public Holiday)---

May 10

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Web Security

Armknecht

May 16

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Bitcoin

Armknecht

May 1713:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Exercise Session 06Heng

May 23

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44External speaker (Deutsche Bank) 

May 24

13:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Exercise Session 07

Heng

May 30------//Corpus Christi (Public Holiday)---
May 3113:45 – 15:15A5, B1.44Lecture and Q'n'AAll