These set of skills will be helpful in your research when targeting top tier venues in computer security, systems, and architecture, as well as in industry when building the next state-of-the art systems. The course will also help both junior and senior PhD students in building a solid understanding of fruitful research opportunities and directions.
There are two lab assignments in this course, where students will get hands-on experience implementing important concepts learned in class. Labs should be done in groups of two.
Lab 1: side-channel attack
Lab 2: privacy-preserving database retrieval
Labs will be released according to the schedule.
As part of the core curriculum, each class will consist of instructor-led lecture based on 1 required paper reading. Every student is expected to read all required papers. Each student will also submit a 1-paragraph summary as well as answers to paper questions for all readings. Submission will be done through Gradescope.
Each summary must include the following information:
One of the important learning objectives of this course is to engage students in computer system security research by discussing, evaluating, and critiquing research papers. Thus, each class (with a required reading) will also consist of in-class discussion after the instructor-led lecture. To make the discussion structured, we will incorporate ingredients from role-based discussion. Each student is expected prepare for one of the following four roles for each reading.
Reviewer: The paper has not been published yet and is currently submitted to a top conference where you have been assigned as a peer reviewer. Discuss: What did you like about the paper? What insight did you find to be the most interesting? What assumptions did the paper make that are not realistic? What limitations does the paper have? Are there additional experiments you would suggest?
Archaeologist: This paper was found buried under ground in the desert. You are an archeologist who must determine where this paper sits in the context of previous and subsequent work. Discuss: Find and report on one older paper cited within the current paper that substantially influenced the current paper and one newer paper that cites this current paper.
Academic researcher: You are a Ph.D. student who is working on a new project in this area. Your advisor asked you to read this paper in preparation of starting a new research project. Discuss: How does this paper related to prior topics learned in this class? Propose an imaginary follow-up project not just based on the current paper but only possible due to the existence and success of the current paper.
Industry practitioner: You work at a company or organization developing an application or product of your choice (that has not already been suggested in a prior class). Discuss: Bring a convincing pitch for why you should be paid to implement the method in the paper, and discuss at least one positive and negative impact of this application.
There will be 2 closed-book, in-class exams, each covering roughly half of the course topics. The exams will consist of short answer questions, which will be based on the paper questions as well as lecture content, in-class discussion, and the readings.
See more information here.
Late-work is not accepted unless you are experiencing an emergency. Please email me directly about these issues and I will be happy to work with your advisor, student services, or diability services to develop a plan.