University of Padua - MSc in Computer Science
Computer and Network Security
Academic Year: 2014/2015

Lecturer: Mauro Conti


Note: In this page you will find updated information about the course.
(students are invited to visit often this page).






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Language: The course and the exam will be in English.

Credits: 6 CFU.

Schedule: II semester (course schedule is published HERE).

Mailing List: Students enrolled for this course are invited to join THIS Google group.

  • Course Content:

    The first part of the course will cover fundamental concepts in Computer and Network security (i.e., see Table of Content HERE). As part of the syssec initiative "10K students to improve Cyber Security", for the buffer overflow, we will use also the material available HERE.

    10K students


    The second part of the course takes the form of seminars based on a selection of scientific papers (that either have had a strong impact on security today, or explore novel ideas that may be important in the future). The list of topics can be found HERE.
    For each topic will be indicated one primary paper, and possibly other additional papers. All the students are required to read all primary papers and be able to competently discuss the material in class. Each student will be responsible for presenting one lecture (based on one of the primary paper including as much relevant related work as necessary to distill the work presented in the paper). The speaker will have a finite time (20 minutes) to present the papers. The presentation will be followed by 10 minutes of interactive discussion in the class. 48 hours before each lecture each student must submit (via email, to both the lecturer and the teaching assistant) at least two thought-provoking questions for each on the main papers covered in the lecture. These questions should critically evaluate the papers (e.g., questioning the assumptions, criticize the methodology, compare with other solutions, propose alternative solutions, etc.).

    This is intended to be an interactive class: class participation is strongly recommended (and will play a role in the grading criteria). Sleeping during the class is optional, but not recommended.

  • Grading Criteria:

    At the end of the course, each student must write a 5-pages long essay about one of the topics that has been discussed in class (second and third part of the course), or another topic agreed with the lecturer. This can be about the topic the student has presented, or about any other topic that has been discussed in class. The topic and the structure of the essay must be agreed with the lecturer. The essay might include some implementation prototype or experiments/simulations to evaluate/support the claim in the paper (in case this part is a significant part of the essay, two students can agree with the lecturer to work together). In the exceptional case where the student cannot attend the lectures an alternative work (e.g. a longer essay) must be agreed with the lecturer.

    Students will be graded based on:
    • (25%) presentation (during the second part of the course)
      • (15%) Layout and Graphics
      • (30%) Content
      • (20%) Organization
      • (20%) Presentation
      • (15%) Q&A.
    • (25%) participation in the discussions in the class (during the second and third part of the course).
    • (25%) content and quality of the essay
      • (30%) Style
      • (20%) Originality
      • (50%) Organization (Clarity in your argumentation, Coherence between assumptions and conclusions, Logical organization, Evidence to support claims)
    • (25%) oral discussion of the essay (during which the student can also be asked questions on the first part of the course).




Last update: 2015-01-07
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