Do you want to learn:

• How to leak all kernel memory without leaving any trace
• How to flip bits in memory without accessing them
• How to send anonymous messages and bypass the NSA
• How to invisibly watermark large language models
• How to compute on your encrypted data in the cloud
• How to attack Ethereum to steal $60 million
• ... and more!!

Course description:

15-793 is a graduate-level, introductory course in system security that is appropriate for advanced undergraduates, masters, and graduate students from all areas. Throughout this course, we will cover hardware, software, and cryptographic primitives for building various types of secure systems, both within the datacenter environment and in the decentralized setting. This course will focus on the cross-cutting security requirements of systems and how to bolster their security guarantees using a combination of systems and cryptographic techniques. The course will first review fundamental security concepts (e.g., threat models, trusted computing base, basic cryptography), followed by deep dives into state-of-the-art attacks and defenses mechanisms. The course will span a set of secure system topics such as trusted execution environments, side-channel attacks and hardware attacks (e.g., Meltdown, Spectre, Rowhammer), software security (buffer overflow, symbolic execution), decentralized systems (blockchains, anonymous messaging), and secure machine learning.

Schedule: MWF 3:30 - 4:50 PM

Location: HH B131

Instructors: Wenting Zheng

Office hours: By request via email