Mobile, Embedded, & Wireless Security

14-814: Wireless Network Security - Spring 2013

Cross-listed as 18-637 and 96-836

Instructor: Patrick Tague
Email: tague [at] cmu [dot] edu
Office: B19 1029
Phone: 650-335-2827
Skype: ptague
Teaching Assistant: Yu Seung Kim
Email: yuseungk [at] cmu [dot] edu
Office hours: Th 2-3pm PST
Office hours location: B19 1020 and Skype
Contacting the instructor & TAs:
For sensitive or critical questions or concerns, please contact the instructor at the address above. For all other course-related questions, comments, or concerns, please email both the instructor and TA.

Schedule:
Class times: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10:30-11:50am PST (1:30-2:50pm EST)
Locations: B23 118 in SV, CIC 1201 in Pgh
Daily schedule (tentative)

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 individual assignments; 30% for group presentations; 25% for written reports; and 20% for the exam.

Prerequisites:
Graduate standing; students are expected to be comfortable with security at the level of 14-741 or 18-730 and networking at the level of 14-740 or 15-441; 18-759 will be helpful, but is not required. 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.
  • Levente Buttyán and Jean-Pierre Hubaux, Security and Cooperation in Wireless Networks, 2008. [Available Online]
  • Charlie Kaufman, Radia Perlman, and Mike Speciner, Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World, 2002.
  • James Kempf, Wireless Internet Security: Architectures and Protocols, 2008.
  • William Stallings, Wireless Communications & Networks, 2004.
  • David Tse and Pramod Viswanath, Fundamentals of Wireless Communication, 2005. [Available Online]


Homework Assignments
Homework #1:

Homework #2:

Homework #3:

Homework #4:
Posted Reading Material
Each student is individually responsible for reading the assigned material. Reading reviews are not required, but assigned reading material may show up on homework assignments and the exam.

Wireless System Audit
Over the duration of the semester, each student will progressively perform an audit of a specific wireless system or standard, either existing or envisioned, with respect to the topics covered in class. The audit will investigate various aspects of the system, resulting in a summary of recommended changes or best practices for future designers.
Overview and deliverables (PDF)

Survey Presentations
Throughout the term, teams of students will give survey presentations that cover a particular topic. Each team will be responsible for
  1. choosing a set of three papers, to be approved by the instructor at least one week in advance,
  2. preparing a 65-75 minute presentation on the topic, to be approved by the instructor at least one day in advance, and
  3. presenting the survey and holding a Q&A/discussion in class.
The chosen papers and presentation should provide a general overview of the topic of interest and a few specific details of the techniques. Survey teams do not need to be the same as project teams.

Project
Overview and deliverables (PDF)
Important dates:
  • Project Proposal: January 31
  • Progress Report: March 21
  • Final Presentation: April 30 - May 2
  • Final Report: May 9

Exam
One exam, part-way through semester: April 9