Textbooks

The main resource for this course is the textbook:

Computer Security, 2nd Edition, William Stallings and Lawrie Brown, Prentice Hall, 2012.

The readings for each lecture point to the relevant chapter(s) for that topic.

The textbook has its own online resource page, with links to web sites for each chapter, appendices in PDF, and links to courses at other universities on cryptography and security.

Older editions of the textbook may sometimes be used, as most (not all!) of the chapters we cover have had only small changes between editions. If you are using an older edition, please talk with your friends with the latest edition to check for any differences.

Other textbooks which contain useful material include those by Forouzan, Stallings, and Kaufmann. Some of the course content is covered by the free, online books by Menezes and Anderson. Details of these and other textbooks can be found in my Study Guide.

Prerequisites and Background Material

Although there are no formal pre-requisites for this course, it is assumed you have knowledge of important computer science concepts such as:

These are covered in courses such as: ITS 321, ITS 325, ITS 225, ITS 323 and ITS 100. If you cannot remember some of this material, then it is strongly recommended that you revise your knowledge using your lecture notes from these courses.

Study and Research Resources

For each Topic, a set of links and additional readings are given. In addition, the Study Guide provides general resources on studying and computer networking.

Past Courses

An archive of material from this course held in the past years is available. However before using this material, please be aware that there may be a difference between the course this semester and that in the past years.