IY5512 - Computer Security (Operating Systems)
IY5512 is one of the four compulsory modules on the Information Security MSc. The aims of the module are to introduce the security issues that computer systems must address and to describe some of the techniques for implementing security in operating systems. Lectures take place in Bourne Lecture Theatre 1 (BLT1) on Monday afternoons (14:00 – 17:00) in the autumn term. The course leader is Chris Mitchell.
Copies of the lecture presentations for the 2011/12 academic year will be provided below. Please note that the handouts will be subject to minor modifications during and after delivery of the course to correct any discovered errors, remove redundancy, and/or add additional clarifications.
- Part 0: Preliminaries and introduction to computer systems;
- Part 1: Introduction to computer security;
- Part 2: Design and evalution;
- Part 3: Hardware security;
- Part 4: Software security;
- Part 5: Identification and authentication;
- Part 6: Authorisation;
- Part 7: Windows and Unix security;
- a: Unix security [presented by Antony Stone];
- b: Windows security.
This course has the following associated (non-assessed) coursework:
- Coursework 0: Introduction to computer systems - worked solutions are now available;
- Coursework 1: Introduction to computer security - worked solutions are now available;
- Coursework 2: Design and evalution - worked solutions are now available;
- Coursework 3: Hardware security - worked solutions are now available;
- Coursework 4: Software security - worked solutions are now available;
- Coursework 5: Identification and authentication - worked solutions are now available;
- Coursework 6: Authorisation - worked solutions are now available;
- Coursework 7a: Unix security - worked solutions are now available;
- Coursework 7b: Windows security - worked solutions are now available.
If you wish to have written feedback on your solutions, please submit them by email, as a pdf attachment, to me@chrismitchell.net.
Links of potential use for this course are as follows
- Security standards links:
- The Internet (IETF) documents, including current drafts, are all available at the IETF home page.
- For information regarding published ISO standards, see the ISO web site. Note that those ISO standards that are publicly available (only a small number I'm afraid) are available here.
- Identity verification:
- ENISA (the European Network and Information Security Agency) has published reports on mobile identity management and behavioural biometrics.
- Secure software development:
- The Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) web page is highly recommended. As stated on the page 'The SDL is ... [a] software security assurance process. A Microsoft-wide initiative and a mandatory policy since 2004, the SDL introduces security and privacy throughout the development process'. Of particular interest to all developers are the wide range of development tools provided for free download.
- Vulnerabilities:
- The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR) provides analyses of the changing threat landscape, including software vulnerability disclosures and exploits, malicious software (malware), and potentially unwanted software.
- Foundstone provides a nice range of free tools to test your understanding of penetration testing and finding vulnerabilities.
- This site provides a fascinating insight into how Microsoft manages software vulnerabilities.
- Veracode is a company providing tools to test software for vulnerabilities. The company website provides access to a variety of interesting resources, including twice-yearly reports on software security [thanks to Nigel Stanley for the link].
- A nice example of an attack using DMA is described here [thanks to Daan Stakenburg for the link].
- I am also happy to recommend this Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Analysis site [thanks to Alex Borisov for the pointer].
- There is a really neat animated explanation of buffer overflow attacks here [thanks to Daan Stakenburg for this one].
- Windows security:
- A detailed and very helpful description of 'How Security Descriptors and Access Control Lists work' is available here [thank to Matthew Hodgson for ths link].
- General:
- The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) publishes a wide variety of reports on security topics.
- Some classic papers on computer security are available here and here.
Further security links (including a range of links to security standards pages) are available from Chris Mitchell's home page.