Applied Security Laboratory

Overview

Organizers: Prof. Dr. David Basin, Dr. Christoph Sprenger, and Dr. Ralf Sasse. This is an application course.

Lab hours: Thursday 9-12h, in CAB E 87.1

Credits: 8 ECTS

Language: English

Announcements

• We will have an invited talk: Steffen Görlich, Zurich Cantonal Police, Digital Forensics – A practitioner’s perspective, December 7, 11:00 in CAB H 52.
  
• Bring your laptop to the introductory lecture on Sep 21, 2017.
  

Description

This course emphasizes applied aspects of Information Security and consists of two parts.

Independent study

In this part, the students will study a number of topics in a hands-on fashion and carry out experiments in order to better understand the need for secure implementation and configuration of IT systems and to assess the effectivity and impact of security measures. This part is based on a book and virtual machines that include example applications, questions, and answers.

Project work

In the second part, the students will also perform a team project: based on a set of functional and security requirements, they will design and implement a prototypical IT system. In addition, they will conduct a thorough security analysis and devise appropriate security measures for their systems. Finally, they will carry out a technical and conceptual review of another team's system. All project work will be performed in teams and must be properly documented. At the end of the semester, the teams summarize their work in a short presentation.

Topics covered

The Applied Security Laboratory covers four major topics:

• Operating system security (hardening, vulnerability scanning, access control, logging);
• Application security with an emphasis on web applications (web server setup, common web exploits, authentication, session handling, code security);
• Risk analysis and risk management;
• Computer Forensics.

Schedule

• Mandatory introduction lecture: Thursday, Sep 21, 9-10. There will be no other lectures during the semester.
  
• Assisted lab hours: Thursdays, 9-12.
• Open lab hours for indiviual work: rest of the week.

Project schedule

• Sep 29: Register project groups ();
• Oct 23, 12:00: Hand in system description and risk analysis overview / concept ();
• Oct 27: Feedback to your overview / concept;
• Nov 23: Hand in final system description and risk analysis, max 30 pages (); also hand in your VMs and exchange report and VMs with other group for reviewing (see course material page), please come to the lab for this.
  
• Dec 14, by 09:00: Hand in final system reviews, max 18 pages (); presentation of main results (CAB H52, 9-12).

Semester end exam

• Dec 21, ML H 37.1, 10:15-11:45: Written, closed-books, 90 minutes.

Requirements

• The lab covers a variety of different techniques. Thus, participating students should have a solid foundation in the following areas: information security, operating system administration (especially Unix/Linux), and networking. Students are also expected to have a basic understanding of HTML, PHP, JavaScript, and MySQL because several examples are implemented in these languages;
• Students must be prepared to spend more than three hours per week to complete the lab assignments and the project. This applies particularly to students who do not meet the recommended requirements given above. Successful participants of the course receive 8 credits as compensation for their effort;
• All participants must agree and sign the lab's charter and usage policy during the introduction lecture.

Exam

There will be a written exam at the end of the semester. In addition, all participating students will take part in a longer-term project. This project will contribute to the overall grade.