Computer and Network Security

by
Avinash Kak
Think of these lecture notes as a living textbook that strives to strike a balance between
the systems-oriented issues and the cryptographic issues. Without the latter, many
aspects of the former cannot be fully comprehended, and, without the former, the latter
are too dry to appreciate.

Note for instructors using these slides/notes:

It is not uncommon for the instructors who use these notes/slides to want to know
how exactly I use them in class since there is much more information on a typical
slide than you will usually find in a powerpoint presentation.
Here is the answer:

When I teach the theoretical portions of this course, I actually work out the formulas
on the chalkboard and, when I do so, I follow the derivations presented in these lecture notes. On the other hand,
when I teach the systems portion of the course, I spend quite a bit of time demonstrating the issues on my Linux
laptop, again in the manner described in these lecture notes. These lecture notes are intended as much for
showing in class in the form of slides as they are for focused reading by the students on their own. When used as
slides, these serve as backdrop to the explanations provided on the chalkboard or through demonstrations on a
computer.

Regarding homework assignments:

Homework assignments typically involve writing Perl or Python scripts in order to
gain a deeper understanding of the ideas through actual implementation. (From a
pedagogical standpoint, scripting is much more efficient for this than writing code
in raw C.) In the part of the course that deals with encryption and hashing, students
write scripts for implementing DES, AES, RC4, SHA1, SHA512, etc. In the part
of the course that deals with more system related issues, the students are asked to
write scripts that carry out DoS attacks, buffer overflow attacks, etc., against servers
(for buffer overflow attacks, that would be a socket program in C with intentionally
embedded buffer-overflow vulnerability).
If you are an instructor and you'd like to see these homework assignments (along
with the two best solutions submitted by the students at Purdue), send me a note at
[email protected]. If you do so, please place the string "requesting security
homework" in your subject line to get past my merciless spam filter. VERY

IMPORTANT: Your email request for this material must establish two things: that you are an instructor
and that you are using these lecture notes to teach your class. An anonymous email request (using, say, a gmail or
a yahoomail address) that does not indicate your institutional affiliation will be ignored.

Useful resources for homework assignments:

1. The BitVector class in Python is useful for creating compact implementations

for hash functions (see Lecture 15 for an example) and for writing scripts for
block and stream ciphers.
2. The BitVector class in Perl that lets you do everything in Perl that the above

mentioned class does in Python.

3. If you are writing Perl and/or Python scripts for solving homework problems

or for course projects, you will find the book "Scripting with Objects" a
useful resource for this course. Chapters 2 and 3 of the book provide quick and easy-tofollow introductions to Perl and Python, respectively.

4. If you'd rather do your homework in C++ or Java, you will find the book

"Programming With Objects" a useful resource. This book is now being used
at a number of universities for teaching object-oriented programming in both
C++ and Java simultaneously.
If you would like to know about the OBJECTS TRILOGY PROJECT that led to the
two books mentioned above, click here.
The third book in the Objects Trilogy is:

"Designing with Objects"

When will this material be updated next?:

The 2016 update of the lecture notes is finished. The next major update of this
material is scheduled for the January April 2017 time frame.
Lecture Notes

roductory material, course administration handout, etc.

assical Encryption Techniques

Updated January 15, 2016

ock Ciphers and the Data Encryption Standard

Updated January 15, 2016

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Updated: Janu

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ite Fields (PART 1): Groups, Rings, and Fields

Updated January 21, 2016

ite Fields (PART 2): Modular Arithmetic

Updated February 28, 2016

ite Fields (PART 3): Polynomial Arithmetic

Updated February 5, 2016

ite Fields (PART 4): Finite Fields of the Form GF(2n)

Updated February 5, 2016

S: The Advanced Encryption Standard

Updated April 12, 2016

ing Block and Stream Ciphers for Secure Wired and WiFi
mmunications

Updated February 11, 2016

y Distribution for Symmetric Key Cryptography and

nerating Random Numbers

Updated February 11, 2016

me Numbers and Discrete Logarithms

Updated February 28, 2016

blic-Key Cryptography and the RSA Algorithm

Updated February 28, 2016

rtificates, Digital Signatures, and the Diffie-Hellman

y Exchange Algorithm

Updated February 29, 2016

iptic Curve Cryptography and Digital Rights Management

Updated February 28, 2016

shing for Message Authentication

Updated April 12, 2016

P/IP Vulnerabilities and DoS Attacks: IP Spoofing, SYN

ooding, and The Shrew DoS Attack

Updated April 16, 2016

NS and the DNS Cache Poisoning Attack

Updated April 12, 2016

cket Filtering Firewalls (Linux)

Updated March 23, 2016

oxy-Server Based Firewalls

Updated March 24, 2016

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P, IPSec, SSL/TLS, and Tor Protocols

Updated March 29, 2016

e Buffer Overflow Attack

Updated April 19, 2016

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lware: Viruses and Worms

Updated April 21, 2016

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rt and Vulnerability Scanning, Packet Sniffing, Intrusion

tection, and Penetration Testing

Updated April 7, 2016

ctionary Attacks and Rainbow-Table Attacks on Password

otected Systems

Updated April 12, 2016

curity Issues in Structured Peer-to-Peer Networks

Updated April 20, 2016

Updated: Ap

all-World Peer-to-Peer Networks and Their Security Issues

Updated April 14, 2016

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b Security: PHP Exploits, SQL Injection, and the Slowloris

ack

Updated April 19, 2016

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b Security: Cross-Site Scripting and Other Browser-Side

ploits

Updated April 19, 2016

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ts, Botnets, and the DDoS Attacks

Updated April 21, 2016

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Updated: Apr

Updated: Ap

ounting Targeted Attacks with Trojans and Social Engineering

Cyber Espionage

Updated April 20, 2016

tering Out Spam

Updated April 12, 2016

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curity Vulnerabilities of Mobile Devices

Updated April 19, 2016

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ex (HTML)

Updated April 25, 2016

Follow me on Twitter if you want to be automatically informed of when the updates to
these lectures are completed each year.
A BRIEF HISTORY: These lecture notes, at least several of them, made their first

Updated: Ap

appearance on the web in 2006. They have so far gone through eight revisions. With each
revision I have attempted to improve the explanations on the basis of the feedback I receive
from the students at Purdue and from other users of these notes. Regarding the notes that
deal with the systems side of security, I have continually endeavored to find the best ways to
combine the explanation of the concepts involved and their demonstration on a laptop
keeping in the mind the time constraints of a typical lecture period.
HOW CAN YOU BE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST UPDATED VERSION OF A
LECTURE: As I am thinking about the material and teaching it in class, a lecture may go
through as many as a dozen updates. If you are tracking my updates, the only way you can
be certain you have the final version of an updated lecture is to check at the end of April
when I am usually done with all the updating. When I am done, I post a notice to that effect
on Twitter.
EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS? If you experience any problems with downloading or
using any of these PDF files, please send an email to [email protected] with the string
"Problem with computer security notes" in the subject line to get past my spam filter.
FEEDBACK WELCOME! If you have any comments or any suggestions for improving
these notes, please send an email to [email protected] with the string "Comments on
computer security notes" in the subject line to get past my spam filter. Any suggestions that
I incorporate would be duly acknowledged.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE A HOMEWORK PROBLEM OR A
PROJECT? My goal is for these notes to become self-contained as a medium of instruction
in computer and network security. Toward that end, I'd like to end the notes for each lecture
on a set of homework problems and/or projects. If you send me a problem or a project, your
name will be mentioned as the author of that problem or project. If you submit a project,
please make sure that it can be done in one or two weeks' time in some high-level language.
I'll certainly include the problems and projects I currently give out when teaching this
material, but any contributions made by others using these lecture notes would add to the
variety. If you choose to send me a problem or a project, email it to [email protected] with
the string "homework for computer security notes" in the subject line.
SAVE THIS INFORMATION IN A SAFE PLACE: If you are a frequent user of this
material, note that occasionally the web server hosting this material may be down for system
maintenance. If you cannot access this material but you have an urgent need to do so, send
an email immediately to [email protected] with the string "Unable to access computer
security notes" in the subject line to get past my spam filter. I should be able to provide you
with a URL to another web server hosting this material.