6.857 is an upper-level undergraduate, first-year graduate course on network and computer security. It fits within the department’s Computer Systems and Architecture Engineering concentration. Topics covered include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Techniques for achieving security in multi-user computer systems and distributed computer systems;
- Cryptography: secret-key, public-key, digital signatures;
- Authentication and identification schemes;
- Intrusion detection: viruses;
- Formal models of computer security;
- Secure operating systems;
- Software protection;
- Security of electronic mail and the World Wide Web;
- Electronic commerce: payment protocols, electronic cash;
- Firewalls; and
- Risk assessment.
