Homework for week 1
by Steven Gordon - Sunday, 18 January 2015, 9:41 AM
 
Your homework for week 1 is to:

    Read the course website, making sure you are clear on the assessment criteria and where to find course resources.
    Read the example on classical ciphers and frequency analysis (HTML, PDF, there is a printed copy in your lecture notes)
    Read the refresher on Statistics for Security (PDF, you also have a printed copy in the lecture notes)

This will not be marked, but I highly recommend doing the reading (especially 3) as it will make it easier for the upcoming lectures.

Steve

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Practice on Statistics for Security
by Steven Gordon - Thursday, 29 January 2015, 8:27 PM
 
In studying computer security (and data communications) we often use mathematics, including statistics, to solve problems. There is some basic math that I assume you know already. However to refresh your knowledge on some key concepts and properties that we use in this course, I recommend you try the practice quiz on "Statistics for Security":

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/quiz/view.php?id=745

This is not assessed, nor is there a time limit. It consists of some written definitions and examples, as well as short YouTube videos of each topic. Then 1 or 2 questions on the topic. Even if you don't try the quiz, at least browse the PDF (which is already in your printed lecture notes) or YouTube videos:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/%7Esgordon/reports/statistics-basics.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvifRcqOOwF917guTdcks9YMQlrSk9DiX

Steve

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Quiz 2 on Block Ciphers
by Steven Gordon - Thursday, 5 February 2015, 8:17 AM
 
Try Quiz 2 (assessed) before Tuesday lecture:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/quiz/view.php?id=748

The same as quiz 1, you have 2 attempts, the highest score will count towards your final grade. I suggest having pen and paper available for this quiz, as we you need to do some table lookups and XORs to encrypt/decrypt.

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Quiz 4 on Number Theory
by Steven Gordon - Sunday, 15 February 2015, 1:42 PM
 
Quiz 4 is now available online. It has 15 questions on the basics of number theory covered in Friday's lecture (e.g. modulo addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, Euler's totient). This is a special case quiz where you get 4 attempts (highest score counts). So everyone should be able to obtain full marks. I highly recommend you try it before Tuesday's lecture, as we will then introduce new concepts based on the basics covered in the quiz.

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/quiz/view.php?id=759

Also keep working on Homework 2.

Steve

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Quiz 5 on RSA
by Steven Gordon - Sunday, 22 February 2015, 1:56 PM

Quiz 5 is available on Moodle. It is a short quiz that gives you some practice on RSA calculations (in preparation for the midterm exam).

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/quiz/view.php?id=769

Steve

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Re: Quiz 5 on RSA
by Steven Gordon - Wednesday, 25 February 2015, 6:03 PM
 

A student asked me how to calculate large power/mods, e.g.

12345^56789 % 23456

The answer: use your calculator. However your handheld calculator probably cannot solve it. So a calculator on a computer. The calculator in Ubuntu will solve it, and I guess in other operating systems as well. Or try online - Wolfram Alpha will also solve it:

12345^56789 mod 23456 = 17529

In the lectures you may see me use a command line calculator called "bc". This is an arbitrary precision calculator, meaning it has no limit on the size of numbers it can deal with. The only limit is the time to calculate and the amount of memory your computer has. It works on Linux and Mac OSX. Just type "bc" on the command line, then calculate:

12345^56789 % 23456
17529

Steve

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Midterm Exam Hints
by Steven Gordon - Tuesday, 24 February 2015, 8:15 AM
 
Hints on the midterm exam are available at:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/page/view.php?id=775

In the lecture today we will finish the discussion of RSA, then on Friday review the material in the midterm exam.

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Re: Midterm Exam Hints
by Steven Gordon - Tuesday, 24 February 2015, 5:57 PM
 
In addition to the Midterm Exam hints, some other resources that may help you study:

Videos of the lectures are linked to from each topic page on Moodle, or directly via Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvifRcqOOwF9yDamCOXtD5O3fA085X6mP

Handwritten notes from the lectures are linked to from each topic page on Moodle, or download the PDF of my notes for each topic directly:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/~sgordon/css322y14s2/notes/

A practice quiz (not assessed) that contains a random set of questions about the topics covered, mainly taken from past quizzes:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/quiz/view.php?id=776

Steve

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Re: Midterm Exam Hints
by Steven Gordon - Sunday, 8 March 2015, 10:55 AM
 
Midterm exam scores and answers are available on Moodle.

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Homework and New Lecture Notes
by Steven Gordon - Sunday, 22 March 2015, 1:47 PM
 
Lecture notes for the remaining lectures are in the copy centre. Please get a copy before Tuesday's lecture.

Homework 4 is released. The instructions may initially seem complex/difficult, but the tasks should not be too hard as I provide most of the OpenSSL commands via examples. In brief you need to:

1. Generate your own RSA key pair with OpenSSL

2. Use Diffie-Hellman to exchange a secret with me using OpenSSL

3. Use the secret to decrypt a file with AES and OpenSSL

4. The decrypted file contains a small example RSA key, which you need to break. This final step is not using OpenSSL. It involves following a modified implementation of RSA.

As I will use software to automatically check/mark some tasks, you must be careful in naming the files correctly. Files with the wrong names will be ignored.

See the detailed instructions at:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/assign/view.php?id=779

Steve

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Quiz 6 on Authentication
by Steven Gordon - Thursday, 2 April 2015, 9:45 AM

Complete Quiz 6 before the lecture on Tuesday 7 April:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/quiz/view.php?id=792

Steve

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Lecture on 17 April
by Steven Gordon - Friday, 10 April 2015, 4:22 PM
 
The lecture for Friday 17 April is still scheduled to go ahead as normal. However for the students that miss the lecture, in the next few days I'll provide some advice on what you can do to make up (e.g. short video to watch, complete some tasks) so you will not be behind.

Enjoy a safe Songkran.

Steve

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Re: Lecture on 17 April
by Steven Gordon - Thursday, 16 April 2015, 2:27 PM
 
Tomorrow's lecture is as normally scheduled: 10:40am in BKD2501. We will be continuing on key distribution, looking at symmetric key distribution using asymmetric (public) key crypto and then how to distribute public keys (slides 17 onwards). They are covered in:

Last 20 minutes of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa3sqbDnXlU

and first 30 minutes of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBPhYn_fhHU

Steve

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Re-schedule Lecture Tomorrow
by Steven Gordon - Monday, 20 April 2015, 3:39 PM
 
As I understand from some students, your classes from 13:00-14:20 tomorrow (Tue 21 Apr) have been cancelled (CSS411 and CSS421). Therefore we can shift CSS322 lecture from 14:40 to instead start at 13:00 in BKD2501, allowing you to finish at 14:30.

If anyone has an concerns with this shift, please let me know.

Steve

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Quiz on Key Distribution
by Steven Gordon - Thursday, 23 April 2015, 4:03 PM
 
Remember to do the latest online quiz on key distribution. I have extended the deadline until 5pm tomorrow (Friday) so you can ask any questions in the lecture. And you are now allowed 3 attempts.

See you at tomorrows lecture which will include course evaluation.

Steve

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Last Homework
by Steven Gordon - Wednesday, 29 April 2015, 2:47 PM

The last homework task for the semester will give you experience in creating a certificate for a webserver and seeing HTTPS operate. Instructions are on the course website. It involves using a virtual network, which you may do on your own computer or in the Network Lab (ground floor). virtnet is already installed in the Network Lab and it is very fast to create a new topology.

Once step involves you generating your public/private key pair. You can do this on any computer (including the virtnet nodes) and you don't have to use your public key used in previous homeworks.

Steve

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Final Exam Hints
by Steven Gordon - Thursday, 7 May 2015, 8:28 AM
 
Hints for the final exam are available at:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/page/view.php?id=809

A reminder that there is NO lecture tomorrow (Friday 8 May). If you have questions about the exam or assignment you can find me in my office from 9-12 tomorrow. (I am unavailable in the afternoon)

Next week I will be available for questions most of Monday and Thursday, as well as Tuesday morning.

Good luck with the exam.

Steve

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Final Exam Results
by Steven Gordon - Sunday, 24 May 2015, 11:13 AM
 
Scores and answers for the final exam are now on Moodle:

http://ict.siit.tu.ac.th/moodle/mod/page/view.php?id=809

Please check your total scores for quiz (21), homework (9) and exams (30 for midterm, 40 for final) in Moodle (click on the Grades link). If you think there are mistakes, please let me know by Tuesday 26 May before I submit your grades.

If you want to see your exam, visit me in my office anytime Monday or Tuesday.

Steve

PS I will not reply to queries about letter grades. If you are considering re-entry and need to know your grade then you must see me Monday or Tuesday.

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