University of Padua -
MSc in Computer Science
Computer and Network Security
Academic Year: 2020/2021
Lecturer: Mauro Conti
Note: In this page you will find updated information about the course.
(students are invited to visit often this page).
Computer and Network Security
Academic Year: 2020/2021
Lecturer: Mauro Conti
Note: In this page you will find updated information about the course.
(students are invited to visit often this page).
Language: The course and the exam will be in English.
Credits: 6 CFU.
Schedule: I semester (course schedule is published HERE).
Mailing List: Students enrolled for this course are invited to join THIS Moodle.
Course Content:
The course organization follows three sections:- Introduction to Advanced Topics in CyberSecurity.
- Student Presentations.
- Final Project.
- Mobile Devices (Android).
- Future Internet Security.
- IoT and Cyber-Physical System (Industrial security and Vehicular security).
- Machine learning for security (authentication systems, privacy-preserving, threat identification).
- adversarial machine learning (i.e., the security of machine learning applications).
The second part of the course is composed of presentations done by the students, based on a selection of a CyberSecuirty topic (that either has 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, there is a primary paper, and possibly other additional papers. The speakers for that topic (2 or 3 students) have a finite time (20 minutes) to present the assigned topic (primary and at least one of the secondary papers). The presentation will be followed by 10 minutes of interactive discussion in the class.
For each topic, we further select some students to upload on a shared repository at least two thought-provoking questions on the primary paper (48 hours ahead of the topic presentation). These questions should critically evaluate the papers (e.g., questioning the assumptions, criticize the methodology, compare with other solutions, propose alternative solutions).
The third and final part consists of a project session. Each group previously composed during the second part must write a 10-page long essay about the topic presented in class. The direction 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. If the student cannot attend the lectures, an alternative work (e.g. a longer essay) must be agreed with the lecturer. The final essay will be presented during an oral exam, where the students are asked to give a 15-minute presentation to the lecturer and the teaching assistants about the essay (presenting with slides is highly recommended).
Grading Criteria:
Students will be graded according to:
- (25%) the presentation during the second part of the course
- (15%) Layout and Graphics
- (30%) Content
- (20%) Organization
- (20%) Presentation
- (15%) Q&A.
- (25%) the participation in the discussions during the second part of the course
- (25%) the 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%) the oral presentation of the essay, during which the student can also be asked questions on the first part of the course