The students are expected to develop:

- a thorough understanding of a) key cryptographic results and principles, and b) practical cryptography;

- a familiarity with the basic security mechanisms of systems and networks and their use;

- the capacity of abstracting and understanding the models and components needed for the design of security protocols;

- an understanding of different attacks against information systems and relevant metrics for analyzing security in those systems;

- the capacity to apply cryptography and security concepts for solving complex security engineering problems.

At the end of the course, students should: (a) master the main results of cryptography and most used cryptographic primitives; (b) be acquainted with the basic security components of network systems and its functioning; (c) be capable of understanding the models of design of security protocols; (d) be acquainted with the various types of attacks to computer systems; (e) be capable of applying their knowledge in the resolution of complex engineering and security problems.

Security in Systems and Networks (Segurança em Sistemas e Redes) focuses on (i) the fundamental principles of security of digital information when it is transmitted through inherently insecure channels, and (ii) the key security tools and mechanisms used in current communication networks and information systems. For this reason, the class presents in some detail important cryptography concepts and results, namely, the notion of perfect secrecy, classical ciphers, symmetric ciphers and public key ciphers. The class also presents the application of such concepts to communication networks, protocols and systems and analyzes their performance in various security architectures. The class is divided in two main parts: 1) Security mechanisms: describing symmetric ciphers, public key cryptography, key distribution, authentication, and Hash functions; 2) Security Services and Protocols: authentication applications, email, IP and web security, intrusion detection, malicious software, firewalls.