Mobile, Embedded, & Wireless Security

14-814: Wireless Network Security - Spring 2011

Cross-listed as 18-639D/SV



Instructor: Patrick Tague
Email: tague [at] cmu [dot] edu
Office: B23 222
Phone: 650-335-2827

Schedule:
Class times: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10:00-11:30am PST (1:00-2:30pm EST)
Locations: B23 118 in SV, CIC 1201 in Pgh
Office hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:30am-12:30pm PST (2:30-3:30pm EST)

Course Description: With communication and network services and applications increasingly leveraging wireless media, the importance of information and network security in the wireless domain continues to grow. The challenges of providing secure communication and network services are considerably more difficult in wireless environments than in traditional wired systems (e.g., the Internet), so the focus of the course will be purely wireless environments such as wireless ad hoc, mesh, and sensor networks. Coverage will focus on wireless vulnerabilities and attacks at various layers of the protocol stack, spanning the stack from aspects of physical communication to application and service security issues. Focus will be placed on securing the operation and performance of wireless networks, with less emphasis on information security. Topics include MAC-layer misbehavior; selective packet dropping, modification, and insertion; jamming; distributed trust in ad hoc environments; reputation systems; and cross-layer attacks. Class material will be largely based on recent and current research; students will read and present recent research papers and participate in a group research project.

Evaluation & Grading: Students will be individually evaluated on all course deliverables. Contributions to the final grade will be 25% for homework and surveys; 30% for project proposal, progress, and final presentations; 25% for written project reports; and 20% for a single mid-semester exam.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing; 14-741: Introduction to Information Security and 14-740: Fundamentals of Telecommunication Networks (or equivalent, e.g., 18-730 and 15-441); 18-759: Wireless Networks is recommended, but not necessary. Contact the instructor directly with questions about requirements.

Textbooks: No primary textbook will be used; course material will be based on research papers. The following optional textbooks may provide relevant background.
Daily schedule (tentative)

Homework Assignments
Homework #1 [PDF]: assigned February 1, due February 10
Homework #2 [PDF]: assigned February 22, due March 3
Homework #3 [PDF]: assigned March 15, due March 24
Homework #4 [PDF]: assigned April 5, due April 19

Posted Reading Material
Each student is responsible for reading the assigned material before class each day. Reading reviews are not required.

Survey Presentations
Throughout the term, students will be presenting survey presentations that cover a particular topic and set of given papers. Each student is expected to present at least one survey presentation, either individually or as part of a team of two students. If a team of three is formed, that team must present two surveys for a chance at the full survey grade. If an individual or team of two presents two survey presentation, the additional presentation can be used to replace a homework assignment grade. Survey presentations should be 60+ minutes in length (leaving time for questions and discussion), providing a general overview of the problem and details of the papers provided.

Project [Overview and Deliverables]
Project Proposal: January 27
Progress Report: March 17
Final Presentation: April 26 & 28
Final Report: May 3

Exam
One exam, part-way through semester: March 31 (tentative)