Massachusetts Institute of Technology Handout 16.857: Network and Computer Security February 4, 2009Professor Ronald L. Rivest and Professor Shafi Goldwasser Due: N/ACourse InformationLecturers: Professor Ronald L. Rivest32-G692, 253–5880, [email protected] Hours by appointmentTeaching Assistant(s): Jayant [email protected] Hours: TBASecretary: Be Blackburn32-G675A, 253–[email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] PrerequisitesThe prerequisites for the course are 6.033 (Computer System Engineering) and 6.042J (Mathematics forComputer Science). It is recommended that students have had 6.006 or 6.046J (Introduction to Algorithms)and experience with modular arithmetic. You may take the course without having the pre-requisites, if youcan convince the TAs that you have equivalent background.2 UnitsThis is a 12-unit (3-0-9) H-level course intended primarily for seniors and first-year graduate students. It fitswithin the Computer Systems and Architecture Engineering Concentration. Graduate students will receiveH-credit for this class.3 LecturesLectures will be held in Room 2-105 on Mondays and Wednesday from 11:00AM to 12:30PM. A schedule oftopics will be posted on the class web site; you can also get a sense of the topics to be covered by lookingat the web sites from previous years. We will not provide lecture notes with the exception of a few lecturescovering bleeding-edge material. Notes from previous years are on the class web site.4 The class onlineThe course web site is online at:http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.857/Handouts, assignments, and announcements will be available online only (except for this first handout, whichis also available in dead-tree format).The web site includes an online registration form (click: Course Registration). You must register for thecourse by completing this form no later than Friday, February 6th. Once you have registered, you will beautomatically subscribed to the course mailing list:2 6.857 : Handout 1: Course Information6857-students [at] mit.eduWe will use this list to make important class announcements. Notify the TAs if you wish to be removedfrom this list.5 TextbookThere is no required textbook for this course. A list of recommended books will be made available. See theReferences page on the course web site for the relevant bibliographic information.6 Groups6.857 is a group-oriented course. Students will work in groups on both homeworks and the final project.For the first three homeworks, you must work in groups of three or four per group as assigned by the6.857 staff. For the later homeworks, and for the final project, you may work in groups of your own choosing.You may re-organize your groups at any time, with permission of the TA(s). It is not expected that yourproject group will be the same as your homework group(s), although that is perfectly OK.The final project team should be determined by the date given below. Students who need help finding aproject group or group for the later homeworks should contact the staff. To keep groups running smoothly,students should ensure that their fellow members are actively participating and should communicate regu-larly. Students who cannot resolve group problems should contact the TA(s). If necessary, groups can bedissolved and reformed, with permission of the TA(s).7 HomeworkWe will distribute approximately five problem sets on approximately a biweekly basis. They will generallybe handed out on Monday and be due two weeks later.Homework submissions are to be sent to the TAs at [email protected] in either PostScript, PDF, orMS Word format. Homework templates will be available on the course web site. For homework involvingnon-trivial mathematics, students are strongly encouraged to use LaTeX to typeset their answers. Homeworkthat is difficult for the graders to read will lose points.Late homework will not be accepted. If in doubt, turn your problem set in early. Solutions will bedistributed with corrected homework—hopefully within a week of being collected.Generally, homework must be done in groups. You are to work on group problem sets and final projectsin groups of three or four (preferably three). One problem set will be turned in by each group, and onegrade will be given for each problem set. You must work in groups; homeworks turned in by individuals,pairs, pentuples, etc. will not be accepted. Be sure that you understand and approve the solutions turnedin to each problem. As noted above, the initial organization into groups for the first three problem sets willbe established by the staff, but you may organize your own groups for the later homeworks and for the finalproject.We may occasionally assign homework that you must answer individually; see Section 11 for the policygoverning these assignments.8 TestsWe will have one in-class quiz on Monday, April 6, 2009. There is no final exam. The quiz will test yourknowledge of material from lectures, problem sets, and readings.6.857 : Handout 1: Course Information 39 Final projectStudents will be responsible for a final project. You must work in a group of three or four people. Thenature and the topic of the project is your choice, although it needs the approval of the teaching staff. Seethe Term Projects page on the course web site for a list of topics from previous years, sample proposals,and additional project-related resources. We will generally approve interesting topics about network and/orcomputer security.It is advisable to get started early; we will gladly accept proposals before the deadline. Early submissiongives us a chance to review and approve your project proposal, and to suggest references that you may haveoverlooked.Important dates for the project:• By Monday, February 23 - Students individually submit one-page project ideas via e-mail. These ideaswill be posted on the course web site. After reviewing their classmates’ project ideas, students willform three or four person teams. These teams need not be the same as homework groups.• By Wednesday, April 1 - Turn in team composition and a multi-page project draft and bibliography.• April 13-17 - During this week, each project group will meet with a TA to review their progress.• May 6, 11, and 13 - Groups will present short talks on their projects in class.• Wednesday, May 13 (last class)- Written projects are due.10 GradingGrades are:45% for the problem sets20% for quiz35% for the final project11 Collaboration and
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