Course Syllabus

Primary Classroom is https://tufts.zoom.us/j/99094369509?pwd=LzNYNEgyZUZrWnVlakd3M1QrUVk3UT09

Weekly DHP D291 graduate seminar (TH 7:00-8:15 pm)  classroom is https://tufts.zoom.us/j/96635855421?pwd=R3UzWU01ZmtXUEpQVnRZTCtPTzE0UT09

(both meeting rooms are limited to tufts.edu users). 

DHP291 Graduate Seminar Syllabus.docx

COMP 12/DHP D291: Computer Science for Future Presidents

Important Message re the Course Schedule

This course is a Computer Science course and follows the AS&E course schedule. The first day of class is September 8, there is no class on November 10 (AS&E Wednesday), and the last day of class is December 10.  There is also no class on October 27.

 

Important message regarding enrollment:

This course is offered as both an undergraduate course (COMP 055-01) and a graduate course (DHP D291). Students at the Fletcher School should enroll in DHP D291, which will have an additional class each Thursday; any other student seeking to enroll in the graduate version will need the permission of the instructor.

Assignments:

Note that this course is offered as a mixed undergrad/graduate course.

All students are required to do Assignment #0, a no-credit assignment, due 5 pm EDT on September 10.

For students taking COMP 12: there will be weekly assignments; some are labs and some are short briefing papers—and some are a mix of both. There is also a brief presentation with a two-page paper and a final. The presentation will be a 5-minute presentation of a new cyber technology, what its purpose and value are, and will be done during the last two weeks of term. The presentation will be done for Professor Landau (that is, not in class).

Grading is as follows:

Labs: 30%

Briefing papers: 15%

Brief presentation and 2-page briefing paper: 15%

Final: 40%

For students taking DHP D291: there will be weekly assignments; some are labs and some are short briefing papers—and some are a mix of both. There is also a presentation and short paper, and a final. The presentation will be a 15-minute presentation on a new technology and what its privacy and security risks are. The presentation will be done during the last two weeks of the Thursday afternoon class.

Grading is as follows:

Labs: 30%

Briefing papers: 20%

Presentation and 5-page briefing paper: 20%

Final: 30%

 

Submission of assignments: Except for the presentations, all work should be submitted through Canvas.  All students should submit a topic by November 10 (students taking DHP D291 will need to avoid duplication of topics). The presentations, just for Professor Landau for COMP 12 students and in the Thursday afternoon class for DHP D291 students, will occur November 30-December 11.

Course Goals

Students will learn about the fundamental underpinnings of the Internet, how to learn about new cyber technologies, and how to discuss the salient points of these new technologies to those without a technical background.

Learning Objectives:

Students will develop:

• a basic understanding of the underpinnings of cyber technologies of current policy interest;
• some hands-on experience with these technologies; 
• skills in writing briefing documents on new technologies;
• skills in presenting the salient features of new technologies.

 

Course Syllabus

Any course titled "Computer Science for Future Presidents" is a course in progress. Reading assignments and other things are subject to change; check the syllabus frequently.

 

September 8-17: Communications Networks: How the Phone Network and the Internet are the Same—and Different          

September 8: Introduction and How the Internet Came into Being

Assignment #0: Due 5 pm September 10.

 

September 10:  How is SMS different from messaging? The different architecture of circuit-switched and packet-switched networks. As time permits, the architecture of mobile communications.

Readings:

• Barry Leiner, Vinton Cerf, David Clark, Robert Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel Lynch, Jon Postel, Larry Roberts, and Stephen Wolff, Brief History of the Internet, 1997.
• David Clark, Tom Berson, and Herbert Lin, eds., At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy: Some Basic Concepts and Issues, National Research Council, 2014, Chapter 2.
• A Packet’s Tale: How Does the Internet Work?
• Brian Kernighan, Understanding the Digital World, Part III: Communications (pp. 120-123) and 8.1-8.9.
• H. Saltzer, D.P. Reed, and D.D.Clark, End-to-End Arguments in System Design(Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, Vol. 2, Issue 4, November 1984.
• Van Jacobson, A New Way to Look at Networking August 30, 2006; watch from the beginning through to minute 28.00.

• Cloudflare, The 6 Steps in a DNS Lookup in Cloudflare in What is DNS? How DNS Works

• Techquickie    00:00-4:20 What is TCP/IP?

Graduate Seminar: 

• Week 1: Organizing for Cyber Policy Part I—International Organizations (NATO, UN, EU)
  • Learning Objectives:
    
    • Seminar introduction and expectations - what you bring to the discussion and what you hope to get out of it
    • Understand the role that international organizations play in defining, deterring, and managing cyber operations.
  • Required Readings: NONE
  • Recommended Readings:
    • “The end of the road for the UN GGE process: The future regulation of cyberspace” [Article, Journal of Cybersecurity. Author argues that failure of GGE will lead to shift towards regional agreements between “like-minded states”.]
      By: Anders Henriksen, January 22, 2019
      https://academic.oup.com/cybersecurity/article/5/1/tyy009/5298865
    • NATO - Cyber Defense Website [NATO cyber defense starting page, which gives very clear overview of NATO’s principal’s cyber activities/ its role in the field, partnerships, Evolution]
      By: NATO, March 17, 2020
      https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_78170.htm
    • European Commission - Cyber Security Website [Landing page for Commission on cybersecurity issues. Good overview of all different elements of EU cyber policy, as well as EU’s international cooperation in the field. Useful because this site makes clear that EU - in contrast to NATO - thinks about cybersecurity much more in cybercrime/Digital Single Market context]
      By: European Commission, May 28, 2020
      https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/cyber-security

    • Cybersecurity Strategy of the European Union  [EU Cybersecurity Security Homepage w/ link to strategy. PDF to be uploaded to Canvas.]

By: European Union, February 7, 2013

https://www.cyberwiser.eu/content/eu-cyber-security-strategy-open-safe-and-secure-cyberspace

 

September 15: Internet Architecture Part I: TCP/IP and DNS

Readings:

• Kernighan: Understanding the Digital World, 9-9.4.

Assignment#1: Due 11 pm EDT September 23.      

 

September 17: Internet Architecture Part II: Routing, BGP; Wireshark demo.

Readings:

• Cloudflare, What is BGP? | BGP Routing Explained
• Tom Strickx, How Verizon and a BGP Optimizer Knocked Large Parts of the Internet Offline Today, Cloudflare, June 24, 2019.
• Anni Piiparinen, China's Secret Weapon in the South China Sea: Cyber Attacks,  The Diplomat, July 22, 2016.

 Graduate Seminar:

• Week 2: Organizing for Cyber Policy Part II—Domestic Organizations (USG, Private Sector)
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Understand how the US government is organized to address the challenges of cyber operations.
    • Know the key actors and their responsibilities, how they interact, and what challenges exist in their operations and interactions
  • Required Readings: (Read 5 pgs., Skim 20 pgs.)
    • “Understanding Federal Cybersecurity” [Paper written for Belfer Center Cyber Project.]
      By: Kate Charlet, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School, April 2018
      Note — Skim pp. 1-13
      https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/files/publication/Understanding%20Federal%20Cybersecurity%2004-2018_0.pdf
    • Presidential Policy Directive 21: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience [Outlines role of DHS as the lead agency for securing CI, Sector-Specific Agencies for 16 CI sectors, and role of other federal agencies/ players in securing CI. Stresses the crucial role of the private sector and cooperation with the private sector. Actions mandated by the Obama administration to improve overall CI cybersecurity – to be executed mainly by DHS]
      By: The White House, February 12, 2013
      Note — Read “Roles and Responsibilities” section only (~5 pgs.)
      https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/presidential-policy-directive-critical-infrastructure-security-and-resil
    • Presidential Policy Directive 41: United States Cyber Incident Coordination
      By: The White House, July 26, 2016
      Note -- Skim (7 pgs.)
      https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/26/presidential-policy-directive-united-states-cyber-incident

 

September 22: Internet Architecture Part III: How does an email get to its destination? How does that change of architecture affect legal protections of the confidentiality of voice communications?

Readings:

• Kernighan: Understanding the Digital World, 9.5-9.5.3 (9.5.3 for its discussion of the architecture of Napster, not the policy issues).
• Steven Bellovin, Matt Blaze, Susan Landau, and Stephanie Pell, It’s Too Complicated: How the Internet Upends Katz, Smith, and Electronic Surveillance Law (Links to an external site.), Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, Vol. 30, Number 1 (Fall 2016), pp. 57-60 (Email Headers and Envelopes).

Assignment #2:  Due 11 pm EDT September 30.

 

September 24-October 8: Understanding the Web and Cloud Computing

September 24: How the Web Works Part I: Architectures: Peer-to-Peer vs. Client-Server; What is a url? How is a web page delivered?

Readings:

• Marco Gillies, What is a Website? 4.1.1.
• Kernighan: Understanding the Digital World, 10-10.2.
• World Wide Web Consortium, Peer-to-Peer v. Client-Server.

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 3: Cyber Strategy and Policy Basics Part I—US Cyber Strategy
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Evaluate, prioritize, and articulate cyber policy goals and objectives within the framework of national interests.
    • Apply the national interest framework to articulate a prioritized list of policy objectives in cyberspace.
    • **Pick nation-state case studies for next week’s discussion**
  • Required Readings: (Read 15 pgs., Skim 4 pgs.)
    • America’s National Interests [Commission draws distinctions among vital, extremely important, important, and secondary interests.]
      By: The Commission on America’s National Interests, July 2000
      Note — Read Executive Summary (pgs. 1-8)
      https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/files/amernatinter.pdf
    • National Security Strategy [Trump administration’s NSS.]
      By: The White House, December 2017
      Note — Skim “Introduction” (4 pgs.)—note descriptions of US national interests and the four pillars; Read “Keeping America Safe in the Cyber Era (pp. 12-13) and “Cyberspace” section on pp. 31-32
      https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf
    • National Cyber Strategy of the United States of America [Trump administration’s NCS.]
      By: The White House, September 2018
      Note — Read “Introduction” (3 pgs.) Skim the rest—note the four pillars
      https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/National-Cyber-Strategy.pdf
  • Recommended Readings:
    • The DoD Cyber Strategy [Will be required reading for Week 8.]
      By: The Department of Defense, September 2018
      Note – Skim, but focus on deterrence language
      https://media.defense.gov/2018/Sep/18/2002041658/-1/-1/1/CYBER_STRATEGY_SUMMARY_FINAL.PDF
    • “Trump's Reckless Cybersecurity Strategy” [OPED, The New York Times. Link to PDF here.]
      By: Josephine Wolff, October 2, 2018
      https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/opinion/trumps-reckless-cybersecurity-strategy.html
    • The White House National Cyber Strategy: Continuity with a Hint of Hyperbole [Article, Council on Foreign Relations.]
      By: Net Politics, October 8, 2018
      https://www.cfr.org/blog/white-house-national-cyber-strategy-continuity-hint-hyperbole

 

September 29: Cookies and Active Content

Readings:

• Kernighan, Understanding the Digital World, 10.3-10.5; 11.2.
• Apalon, Cookie Policy (read this for its definitions of different types of cookies, not for Apalon’s policy per se).
• Susan Landau, Surveillance or Security: The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies, MIT Press, 2011, 3.4-3.5

Assignment #3: Due 11pm EDT October 7 .

 

October 1: Active Content; Attacks via the Internet

Readings:

• Kernighan, Understanding the Digital World, Chap. 10.7.
• Thomas Limoncelli, The Top 10 Things Executives Should Know about Software, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 62, No. 7, July 2019.

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 4: Cyber Strategy and Policy Basics Part II—International Strategies/Policies (Russia, China, Iran)
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Compare other national cyber strategies and policies to US cyber strategy.
    • Pick one nation as a case study and be able to provide key points in seminar discussion.
  • Required Readings (Only read the pieces for your chosen country):
    • Russia: (Read 4 pgs., Skim 24 pgs.)
      • “Russia Wants a Deal with the United States on Cyber Issues. Why Does Washington Keep Saying No?” [Article, Council on Foreign Relations.]
        By: Net Politics, August 27, 2018

Note — Read (4 pgs.)

https://www.cfr.org/blog/russia-wants-deal-united-states-cyber-issues-why-does-washington-keep-saying-no

• • • • Russia’s approach to cyber: the best defence is a good offence [Chaillot Papers, EU ISS.]

By: EU Institute for Security Studies, October 2018
Note – Skim through chapter 1 (~24 pgs.); Recommend skimming other chapters, as desired.
https://www.iss.europa.eu/sites/default/files/EUISSFiles/CP_148.pdf

• • • China: (Read 13 pgs.)
      • “What Are China’s Cyber Capabilities and Intentions?” [Article, International Peace Institute. Author is a visiting scholar in the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a retired colonel from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.]
        By: Lyu Jinghua, IPI, March 22, 2019

Note — Read (5 pgs.)
https://theglobalobservatory.org/2019/03/what-are-chinas-cyber-capabilities-intentions/

• • • • China’s National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 [Link to Blog with a translation of China strategy executive summary.]

Edited By: Rogier Creemers, December 27, 2016

Note: Read blog post (~8 pgs.)
https://chinacopyrightandmedia.wordpress.com/2016/12/27/national-cyberspace-security-strategy/

• • • Iran: (Read 8 pgs., Skim 12 pgs.)
      • “Iran’s Cyber Threat: Espionage, Sabotage, and Revenge” [Article, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.]
        By: Collin Anderson & Karmin Sadjadpour, Carnegie, January 4, 2018
        Note – Read Summary and Introduction (8 pgs.); Skim Chapter 2: “Iran’s Cyber Ecosystem” (12 pgs.); Skim other sections as desired
        https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/01/04/iran-s-cyber-threat-espionage-sabotage-and-revenge-pub-75134

Recommended Readings: NONE.

 

October 6: Cloud and Internet of Things (IoT): What is the cloud? Different types of services (Saas, PaaS, IaaS), Computing on the cloud, IoT

Readings:

• Kernighan , Understanding the Digital World, 11.5.
• Internet Society, Internet of Things: An Overview, October 2015 (this looks long but is a quick read).
• Jeffrey Voas, Rick Kuhn, Philip Laplante, and Sophia Applebaum, Internet of Things (IoT) Trust Concerns, NIST Cybersecurity White Paper, October 17, 2018, Sections 1-2, 6-7, 9-14, 17-18.
• Stephen Watts, SaaS vs. PaaS vs. IaaS: What’s the Difference and How to Choose, September 22, 2017.

 Assignment #4: Due 11 pm EDT October 14.

 

October 8: Open Source: Closed source software: free software and the Free Software Foundation; open source software and licenses; GitHub and GitLab

Readings:

• Nadia Egbahl, Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Infrastructure, July 2016.
• Stanislav Dashevskyi, Achem Brucker, and Fabio Massaci, On the Effort of Security Maintenance of Free and Open Source Components, WEIS 2018.
• Choose an Open Source License: https://choosealicense.com/

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 5: International Law and Politics of Cyber (Tallinn Manual)
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Understand the important role the law plays in the formulation of cyber policy.
    • Understand how international law shapes and constrains cyber operations.
  • Required Readings: (Read 7 pgs., Skim 6 pgs., Review 25 slides)
    • Touring the World of Cybersecurity Law [Power Point briefing with notes]
      Published by RSA Conference, February 2016

Note — Review slides 1-25
https://docplayer.net/17880622-Touring-the-world-of-cybersecurity-law.html

• • • “The Application of International Law to Cyberspace: Sovereignty and Non-Intervention”
      By: Harriet Moynihan, December 13, 2019

Note — Read (7 pgs.)
https://www.justsecurity.org/67723/the-application-of-international-law-to-cyberspace-sovereignty-and-non-intervention/

• • • Tallinn Manual 2.0 [One-page summary by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence]

By: NATO CCDCOE

Note — Skim (1 pg.)

https://ccdcoe.org/research/tallinn-manual/

• • • “The Tallinn Manual 2.0: Highlights and Insights” [Article, Georgetown Journal of International Law.]

By: Eric Talbot Jensen, 2017

Note — Skim only pp. 735-740 (Abstract, Introduction, Process, and first para from The Manual)

https://www.law.georgetown.edu/international-law-journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2018/05/48-3-The-Tallinn-Manual-2.0.pdf

• • Recommended Readings:
    • “Top cybersecurity legislation of 2019” [Online Article, SC Media.]
      By: Teri Robinson, December 2018
      https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/top-cybersecurity-legislation-of-2019/

 

October 13-20: Cryptography: What it is, how it works, and what services it provides.

October 13: Cryptography Part 1: history and uses of cryptography, why key management is essential, public-key cryptography, symmetric-key cryptography.

Readings:

• Kenneth Dam and Herbert Lin, eds., Committee to Study National Cryptography Policy, Cryptography's Role in Securing the Information Society,  pp. 51-57. This is a National Academies report; you can download the entire report, or just this chapter, for free.
• Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption , 11-22; 32-34.

Assignment #5: Due 11 pm EDT  October 21.

 

October 15: Cryptography Part II: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability (CIA) model of security; cryptography's applications to hash functions and TLS; forward secrecy.

Readings:

• Diffie and Landau,  Privacy on the Line:The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption, MIT Press, 2007, pp. 26-30 and 34-43.
• Steven Levy, Battle of the Clipper Chip, New York Times Magazine, June 12, 1994.
• Akamai, Enterprise Security: SSL / TLS Primer Part 1, Data Encryption
• Citizen Lab, Shining a Light on the Encryption Debate: a Canadian Field Guide, pp. 7-8 (forward secrecy).
• Susan Landau, Find Me a Hash, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 53, No. 3, pp. 330-332 (skip discussion from “A common method … And as a result, we are in trouble.”).
• Quynh Dang, Recommendation for Applications Using Approved Hash Functions, NIST Special Publication 800-107, August 2012, Section 4.1 (use Glossary, Section 3.1, for any unfamiliar terms).

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 6: Defending Digital Democracy Part I—Russia vs. Ukraine (Proving ground for Russian TTPs)
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Recognize Russia’s long history of election interference in Europe and the former Soviet Union states (Ukraine, in particular)
    • Understand Russia’s strategic intent to use cyber operations in European elections
  • Required Readings: (Read 18 pgs., Skim 15 pgs.)
    • “Ukraine: Cyberwar’s Hottest Front” [Article, The Wall Street Journal. PDF linked here]
      By: Margaret Coker and Paul Sonne, November 9, 2015

Note — Read (5 pgs.)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-cyberwars-hottest-front-1447121671

• • • Handbook of Russian Information Warfare [Study completed for the NATO Defense College]

By: Keir Giles, November 2016

Note — Read Sections 1 and 2 (pp. 3 - 13); Skim Section 3 (pp. 16 - 30).

https://krypt3ia.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/fm_9.pdf

• • Recommended Readings:
    • “Brandishing the Cybered Bear: Information War and the Russia-Ukraine Conflict” [Journal Article, Military Cyber Affairs; assesses the Russia-Ukraine conflict from a holistic, strategic perspective with implications for U.S. cyber policy]

By: Azhar Unwala and Shaheen Ghori, 2015

https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=mca

 

October 20: Cryptography Part III: DNSSEC, digital time stamping

Readings:

• Johannes Bickel, SSL TLS HTTPS process explained in 7 minutes, April 26, 2014.
• Akamai, Enterprise Security: SSL / TLS Primer Part 2, Data Encryption: Public key Certificates
• ICANN, DNSSEC: What is It and Why is it Important?

Assignment #6: Due 11 pm EDT October 28 (DHP D291 students only).

 

October 22:  Digital time stamping, blockchain

Readings:

• Jose Pagliery, Bitcoin and the Future of Money, Triumph Books, 2014, pp. 28-49.

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 7: Defending Digital Democracy Part II— S. Election Interference and Information Ops (Set up mock debate)
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Describe how Russia interfered in the U.S. election process in 2016
    • Understand the debate and proposed policy changes following the 2016 U.S. election
    • Develop and assess options for defending and responding to attacks on election infrastructure
  • Required Readings: (Read 27 pgs., Skim 7 pgs.)
    • “The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.” [Article, The New York Times. PDF linked here]

By: Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger and Scott Shane, December 13, 2016

Note — Read (26 pgs. It sounds long, but there’s a lot of pictures and it reads like a crime novel.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/russia-hack-election-dnc.html

• • • “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentional in Recent US Elections” [Intelligence Community Assessment of the 2016 Russian election interference.]

By: Intelligence Community, January 6, 2017

Note — Read ‘Key Judgements’ (p. ii); Skim the rest as desired

https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf

• • • Russian Targeting of Election Infrastructure During the 2016 Election: Summary of Initial Findings and Recommendations [PDF linked here]

By: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, May 8, 2018

Note — Skim (6 pgs.)

• • • Recommended Readings:
      • “Everything We Know About Russia’s Election-Hacking Playbook” [Article, WIRED.]

By: Andy Greenberg, June 9, 2017

https://www.wired.com/story/russia-election-hacking-playbook/

 

October 27-November 17: Introduction to Privacy, Security, and Malware

 

October 27: No class.

 

October 29: A quick description of attacks

Readings:

• Jason Healey, ed., A Fierce Domain: Conflict in Cyberspace, 1986-2012; read sections on Cuckoo’s Egg; Morris Worm; Solar Sunrise; Moonlight Maze; From TITAN RAIN to BYZANTINE HADES; Estonian Cyberattacks; Stuxnet, Flame, and Duqu —the Olympic Games.
• Andy Greenberg, The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyberattack in History, WIRED, August 22. 2018.

Assignment #7: Due 11 pm EST November 4.

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 8: The Space Between Peace and War—Policy Implications of Gray Zone Conflicts
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Understand how “gray zone” conflicts challenge traditional notions of offense, defense and deterrence
    • Explain the difference between the 2015 and the 2018 U.S. National Security Strategies
    • Describe “persistent engagement” and “defending forward” as new strategic concepts in the cyber domain
  • Required Readings: (Read 12 pgs., Skim 16 pgs.)
    • “The Gray Zone” [Article, Special Warfare. PDF linked here]

By: Philip Kapusta, December 2015

Note — Read (8 pgs.)

• • • The DoD Cyber Strategy [Was recommended reading in Week 3.]
      By: The Department of Defense, September 2018
      Note – Skim, but note use of “deterrence”, “persistence”, and “competition” (10 pgs.)
      https://media.defense.gov/2018/Sep/18/2002041658/-1/-1/1/CYBER_STRATEGY_SUMMARY_FINAL.PDF
    • “A Cyber Force for Persistent Operations” [Article, Joint Forces Quarterly; Author is the Commander of U.S. Cyber Command and Director of the National Security Agency]

By: GEN Paul Nakasone, January 22, 2019

Note — Read pp. 10-14, Skim pp. 4-10

https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/jfq/jfq-92/jfq-92.pdf

• • Recommended Readings:
    • National Security Strategy [Obama administration’s NSS.]

By: The White House, February 2015

Note — Skim for language related to cyber vis-à-vis national security

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2015_national_security_strategy_2.pdf

• • • National Security Strategy [Trump administration’s NSS. Was required reading in Week 3.]
      By: The White House, December 2017
      Note — This was assigned during Week 2; Review with this week’s learning objectives in mind
      https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf
    • National Cyber Strategy of the United States of America [Trump administration’s NCS. Was required reading in Week 3.]
      By: The White House, September 2018
      Note — This was assigned during Week 2; Review with this week’s learning objectives in mind
      https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/National-Cyber-Strategy.pdf

 

November 3: No class—go and vote (if you're eligible)!

Readings: No readings, but get ahead for Thursday's class

 

Assignment #8: due 11 pm EST November 11.

 

November 5: Privacy and Security Part II: Malware (spam and phishing, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, backdoors, ransomware, zero days) and Technical Protections for Security: Physical security, Hardware Security, OS Security, Network Security, Web Security

Readings:

• Verizon 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report
  • Introduction
  • Summary of Findings
  • Results and Analysis
  • Incident Classification Patterns and Subsets
• Duo Security, Digging Deep into the Verizon DBIR
• Gene Spafford, The Internet Worm Program: An Analysis
• Eric Roberts, Viruses 101 / Anti-Virus Software

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 9: Crypto Policy Implications (Susan guest lectures)
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Understand the conflict between national security, law enforcement, public safety and privacy needs
  • Required Readings: (Read 24 pgs.)
    • “Moving the Encryption Policy Conversation Forward” [Paper, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Cyber Policy Initiative; Prof Landau is a member of the Encryption Working Group]

By: The Encryption Working Group, September 10, 2019

Note — Read (24 pgs.)

https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/09/10/moving-encryption-policy-conversation-forward-pub-79573

 

November 10:  No Class (AS&E Tuesday)

Assignment #9: due 11 pm EST November 18.

 

November 12:  Privacy and Security Part III: Privacy and security are the same and different; threat modeling

Readings:

• Michael Howard and James Whitaker, Demystifying the Threat-Model Process, IEEE Security and Privacy, Vol. 3, No. 5 (September/October 2005). This is somewhat technical; please read at least the first page—and better yet if you can read the whole piece.

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 10: Policy Implications of 5G technology
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Understand the national security and policy implications of 5G technology
    • Describe the concerns with Huawei from a national security perspective
    • Discuss challenges and opportunities associated with 5G technology
  • Required Readings: (Read 8 pgs., Skim 40 pgs)
    • “What Is 5G? Here’s What You Need to Know About the New Cellular Network” [Article, The New York Times. PDF linked here.]

By: Don Clark, December 31, 2018

Note — Read (4 pgs.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/technology/personaltech/5g-what-you-need-to-know.html

• • • “Huawei ban: Full timeline as it reveals Mate 30 lineup in Munich” [Article, Cnet.]

By: Sean Keane, September 30, 2019

Note — Skim (This is a 30 - pg. bulletized list of key dates in the Huawei saga over the last 2.5 years)

https://www.cnet.com/news/huawei-ban-full-timeline-mate-30-pro-security-threat-china/

• • • National Strategy to Secure 5G of the United States of America [Trump administration’s new 5G strategy.]

By: The White House, March 2020

Note — Skim (11 pgs.)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/National-Strategy-5G-Final.pdf

• • • “UK bans Huawei from it 5G network in rapid about-face” [CNN Business News article]

By: Hadas Gold, July 14, 2020

Note — Read (4 pgs.)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/14/tech/huawei-uk-ban/index.html

• • Recommended Readings:
    • “Keeping Huawei Hardware Out of the U.S. Is Not Enough to Secure 5G” [Lawfare Blog]

By: Tom Wheeler and Robert D. Williams, February 20, 2019

https://www.lawfareblog.com/keeping-huawei-hardware-out-us-not-enough-secure-5g

• • • “5G Networks Must Be Secure and Reliable” [Lawfare Blog] 

By: Jim Baker, March 13, 2019

https://www.lawfareblog.com/5g-networks-must-be-secure-and-reliable 

 

November 17-24: Handling Security and Privacy in Different Ways: Attribution, Identity Management, and Contact Tracing

November 17:  Attribution

Readings:

• ODNI’s A Guide to Cyber Attribution
• Dmitri Alperovitch, Bears in the Midst: Intrusion into the Democratic National Committee, June 15. 2016.
• Thomas Rid and Ben Buchanan, Attributing Cyber Attacks, Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1-2 (2015); read parts I and II.
• APT1: Exposing One of China’s Cyber Espionage Units (FireEye)

November 19: Identity Management

Readings:

• Eve Maler and Drummond Reed, The Venn of Identity: Options and Issues in Federated Identity Management, IEEE Security and Privacy, March/April 2008 (read whole article but skim InfoCard section).
• Robin MacKenzie, Malcolm Crompton, and Colin Wallis, Use Cases for Identity Management in E-Government, IEEE Security and Privacy, March/April 2008.

Assignment #10: due 11 pm EST November 25.

Graduate Seminar: 

• Week 11: Student Presentations

 

November 24: Contact Tracing

Readings:

• Max S. Kim, Seoul's Radical Experiment in Contact Tracing, New Yorker, April 17, 2020. 

November 26:  No Class (Thanksgiving)

 

December 1 – December 3: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning: what’s it all about?

December 1:  What is AI? What is ML?

Readings:

• Michael Copeland, What’s the Difference between Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning?, NVDIA, July 29, 2016.
• Michael Jordan, Artificial Intelligence — the Revolution Hasn’t Happened Yet, April 19, 2018.
• John Launchbury, A DARPA Perspective on Artificial Intelligence

Briefing Paper #2: Due December 2. Please submit via Canvas 

December 3: What is ML? — plus a discussion on ethics

Readings:

• Ruha Benjamin et al., Assessing risk, automating racism, Science, Vol. 366, Issue 6454, October 25, 2019.

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 12: Student Presentations

 

December 8: Quantum Computing

December 8: Quantum Computing

Readings:

• Read slides 1-13 in Cyc Reasoning Screenshots.
• National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, Emily Grumbling and Mark Horowitz, eds., Quantum Computing: Progress and Prospects, 2019; Chap. 1-2.3.1.

 

December 10: In conclusion

Graduate Seminar:

• Week 13: Policy Implications of AI and ML
  • Learning Objectives:
    • Assess the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence and machine learning
    • Describe the dangers of AI and ML during wartime
    • Explain the issues of AI and ML from a national security perspective
  • Required Readings: (Read 7 pgs., Skim 26 pgs.)
    • Artificial Intelligence and National Security [CRS paper on potential issues for Congress related to military AI development; domestic perspective and summary of Chinese and Russian AI advancements.]

By: Congressional Research Service, November 21, 2019

Note — Read Summary, Introduction, and AI Terms and Background (4 pgs.); Skim the rest as desired

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R45178.pdf

• • • “AI for cybersecurity is a hot new thing—and a dangerous gamble” [Article, MIT Technology Review. PDF linked here.]

By: Martin Giles, August 11, 2018

Note — Read (3 pgs.)

https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/11/141087/ai-for-cybersecurity-is-a-hot-new-thing-and-a-dangerous-gamble/

• • • “Artificial Intelligence: A Revolution in Strategic Affairs?” [Article, Survival. PDF linked here.]

By: Kenneth Payne, January 8, 2019

Note — Skim (26 pgs.)

https://www.asser.nl/about-the-institute/asser-today/lecture-by-dr-kenneth-payne-on-artificial-intelligence-in-strategic-affairs/           

• • Recommended Readings:
    • “National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Requests New Ideas; RAND Responds” [Article, RAND. Great source of links to 10 additional AI articles on topics including AI for military deception, managing security threats to machine learning, and AI for peace.]

By: Thomas Kostigen, February 21, 2020

https://www.rand.org/blog/2020/02/national-security-commission-on-artificial-intelligence.html