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CS 161 Fall 2025
Instructor: David Wagner / Lecture: Monday 2:00–5:00 PM, North Gate 105 [Zoom, Playlist]
Course Calendar
| Wk. | Date | Lecture | Discussion | Vitamins | HW | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Wed Aug 27 | No Lecture (First Day of Class) |
0. 61C Review Discussion: Worksheet / Solutions / Video / Slides |
HW1
(due Fri Sep 05) |
Project 1 Checkpoint
(due Fri Sep 12) |
|
| 2 |
Mon Sep 01 | No Lecture (Labor Day) |
1. Security Principles and x86 Discussion: Worksheet / Slides Exam Prep: Worksheet |
Vitamin 1
(due Mon Sep 08) | ||
|
Tue Sep 02 | 1. Introduction and Security Principles Slides / Recording / Ch. 1 |
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| 2. x86 Assembly and Call Stack Slides / Ch. 2 / x86/GDB Cheat Sheet |
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| 3 |
Mon Sep 08 | 3. Memory Safety Vulnerabilities Slides / Ch. 3 |
2. Memory Safety Discussion: Slides |
HW2
(due Fri Sep 19) |
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| 4. Memory Safety Vulnerabilities 2 Slides / Ch. 3 |
Vitamin 2
(due Mon Sep 15) | |||||
| 4 |
Mon Sep 15 | 5. Mitigating Memory Safety Vulnerabilities Slides / Ch. 4 |
3. Memory Safety Mitigations Discussion: Slides |
Project 1
(due Fri Sep 19) |
||
| 6. Intro to Cryptography Slides / Ch. 5 |
Vitamin 3
(due Mon Sep 22) | |||||
| 5 |
Mon Sep 22 | 7. One-Time Pads and Block Ciphers Slides / Ch. 6 |
4. Symmetric Cryptography Discussion: Slides |
HW3
(due Fri Oct 03) |
Project 2 Spec Quiz
(due Fri Sep 26) |
|
| 8. Block Cipher Modes of Operation Slides / Ch. 6 |
Vitamin 4
(due Mon Sep 29) | |||||
| 6 |
Mon Sep 29 | 9. Cryptographic Hashes and MACs Slides / Ch. 7 / Ch. 8 |
5. Integrity and Authenticity Discussion: Slides |
Project 2 Design Checkpoint
(due Sun Oct 12) |
||
| 10. PRNGs and Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange Slides / Ch. 9 / Ch. 10 |
Vitamin 5
(due Sat Sep 06) | |||||
| 7 |
Mon Oct 06 | 11. Public-Key Encryption and Digital Signatures Slides / Ch. 11 / Ch. 12 |
6. Asymmetric Cryptography Discussion: Slides |
HW4
(due Fri Oct 10) |
||
| 12. Certificates, Passwords, and Case Studies Slides / Recording / Ch. 13 / Ch. 14 |
Vitamin 6
(due Mon Oct 13) | |||||
| 8 |
Mon Oct 13 | 13. Introduction to Web Slides / Ch. 18 / Ch. 19 / Ch. 20 |
7. Cookies and CSRF Discussion: Slides |
Project 2 Testing Checkpoint
(due Fri Oct 24) |
||
| 14. Cookies and CSRF Slides / Ch. 20 / Ch. 21 |
Vitamin 7
(due Mon Oct 20) | |||||
|
Thu Oct 16 | Midterm (7-9PM) |
HW5
(due Mon Oct 13) |
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| 9 |
Mon Oct 20 | 15. XSS and UI Attacks Slides / Ch. 22 / 23 |
8. SQL Injection and XSS Discussion: Slides |
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| 16. SQL Injection and CAPTCHAs Slides / Ch. 17 / Ch. 24 |
Vitamin 8
(due Mon Oct 27) | |||||
| 10 |
Mon Oct 27 | 17. Intro to Networking Slides / Ch. 25 |
9. ARP, DHCP, WPA Discussion: Slides |
HW6
(due Sat Nov 08) |
Project 2
(due Fri Oct 31) |
|
| 18. Low-Level Network Attacks Slides / Ch. 26 / Ch. 27 / Ch. 28 / Ch. 29 |
Vitamin 9
(due Mon Nov 03) | |||||
| 11 |
Mon Nov 03 | 19. BGP and Transport Layer (TCP and UDP) Slides / Ch. 30 |
10. TCP and TLS Discussion: Slides |
Project 3
(due Fri Nov 14) |
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| 20. TLS Slides / Ch. 31 |
Vitamin 10
(due Mon Nov 10) | |||||
| 12 |
Mon Nov 10 | 21. DNS Slides / Ch. 32 |
11. DNS Discussion: Slides |
HW7
(due Sat Nov 22) |
||
| 22. DNSSEC Slides / Ch. 33 |
Vitamin 11
(due Mon Nov 17) | |||||
| 13 |
Mon Nov 17 | 23. Denial of Service and Firewalls Slides / Ch. 34 / Ch. 35 |
12. Intrusion Detection Discussion: Slides |
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| 24. Intrusion Detection Slides / Ch. 36 |
Vitamin 12
(due Mon Nov 24) | |||||
| 14 |
Mon Nov 24 | 25. ML/AI Security | No Discussion (Thanksgiving) | |||
| 26. Anonymity and Tor Slides / Ch. 38 |
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| 15 |
Mon Dec 01 | 27. Special Topics (TBA) | 13. Tor and Firewalls Discussion: Slides |
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| 28. Special Topics (TBA) | ||||||
| 16 |
Mon Dec 08 | No Lecture (RRR Week) |
Topical Review Sessions (RRR Week) | |||
| 17 |
Thu Dec 18 | Final Exam (3–6PM) |
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