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EECS 388

Course Schedule Fall 2026

Part 1. Security Fundamentals

Part 1. Security Fundamentals
Lectures Lab
Tuesday, Sep. 1 HALDERMAN/ENSAFI
1. The Security Mindset
Threat models, vulnerabilities, attacks; how to think like an attacker and a defender
Thursday, Sep. 3 HALDERMAN
2. Message Integrity
Alice and Bob, crypto games, Kerckhoffs’s principle, hashes and MACs
Crypto Project available
Lab 1 available
Sep. 4/​Sep. 7 LAB
Only pre-recorded video Introduce Crypto Project
Python tutorial
Tuesday, Sep. 8 HALDERMAN
3. Randomness and Pseudorandomness
Generating randomness, PRGs, one-time pads
Thursday, Sep. 10 HALDERMAN
4. Confidentiality
Simple ciphers, AES, block cipher modes
Lab 1 due 6 p.m.
Sep. 11/​Sep. 14 LAB
Length extension
Hash collisions
Tuesday, Sep. 15 HALDERMAN
5. Combining Confidentiality and Integrity
Confidentiality attacks, authenticated encryption
Thursday, Sep. 17 HALDERMAN
6. Key Exchange, Public-Key Cryptography
Diffie-Hellman, RSA encryption, digital signatures
Crypto Project, Part 1 due 6 p.m.
Sep. 18/​Sep. 21 LAB
Padding oracles
Bleichenbacher attacks

Part 2. Web and Network Security

Part 2. Web and Network Security
Lectures Lab
Tuesday, Sep. 22 HALDERMAN
7. The Web Platform
Intro to the web platform; HTTP, cookies, Javascript, etc.
Thursday, Sep. 24 ENSAFI
8. Web Attacks and Defenses
Cookies; XSS, CSRF, and SQL-injection attacks and defenses
Crypto Project, Part 2 due 6 p.m.
Web Project available
Lab 2 available
Sep. 25/​Sep. 28 LAB
Introduce Web Project
SQL tutorial
SQL injection mechanics
Tuesday, Sep. 29 HALDERMAN
9. HTTPS and the Web PKI
The TLS protocol and the CA ecosystem
Thursday, Oct. 1 HALDERMAN
10. HTTPS Attacks and Defenses
Implementation flaws, social engineering attacks, and crypto failures
Lab 2 due 6 p.m.
Oct. 2/​Oct. 5 LAB
Review Crypto Project
HTML and JavaScript tutorial
XSS and CSRF mechanics
Tuesday, Oct. 6 ENSAFI
11. Networking 101
Protocol layers, Ethernet, IP, route hijacking, ARP spoofing
Thursday, Oct. 8 ENSAFI
12. Networking 102
UDP, TCP, and DNS attacks
Web Project due 6 p.m.
Networking Project available
Lab 3 available
Oct. 9/​Oct. 12 LAB
Introduce Networking Project
Python sockets tutorial
Wireshark tutorial
Tuesday, Oct. 13 ENSAFI
13. Network Defense
Denial of service; firewalls, IDSes, VPNs, zero-trust
Thursday, Oct. 15 STAFF
Midterm Review Session
Lab 3 due 6 p.m.
Oct. 16/​Oct. 19 LAB
No Lab

Part 3. Host and Application Security

Part 3. Host and Application Security
Lectures Lab
Fall Study Break
Midterm Exam, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7–9 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 22 STAFF
14. Control Hijacking, Part 1
Software architecture and a simple buffer overflow
Oct. 23/​Oct. 26 LAB
Review Web Project
Binary exploitation primer
Tuesday, Oct. 27 STAFF
15. Control Hijacking, Part 2
Common exploitable application bugs, shellcode
Thursday, Oct. 29 ENSAFI
16. Authentication and Passwords
Passwords, online and offline guessing
Networking Project due 6 p.m.
AppSec Project available
Lab 4 available
Oct. 30/​Nov. 2 LAB
Introduce AppSec Project
Shellcode
ROP exploitation
Ghidra tutorial
Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 3 HALDERMAN
17. Election Cybersecurity
Vulnerabilities, defenses, policy
Thursday, Nov. 5 ENSAFI
18. Access Control and Isolation
Isolation, sandboxing, virtual machines, SGX, containers
Lab 4 due 6 p.m.
Nov. 6/​Nov. 9 LAB
Review Networking Project
Go over midterm exam
Tuesday, Nov. 10 HALDERMAN
19. Machine Learning Security
Adversarial examples, data poisoning, and model extraction; jailbreaks and prompt injection; ML-based vulnerability finding and exploitation
Thursday, Nov. 12 ENSAFI
20. Malware
Viruses and worms, spyware, key loggers, and botnets; defenses
Nov. 13/​Nov. 16 LAB
No Lab

Part 4. Privacy and Security in Context

Part 4. Privacy and Security in Context
Lectures Lab
Tuesday, Nov. 17 ENSAFI
21. Censorship and Circumvention
Internet censorship, geoblocking, censorship measurement, circumvention
Thursday, Nov. 19 HALDERMAN
22. Digital Forensics
Data collection, forensic analysis, anti-forensic techniques
AppSec Project due 6 p.m.
Forensics Project available
Lab 5 available
Nov. 20/​Nov. 23 LAB
Introduce Forensics Project
Autopsy tutorial
Guest Lecture Tuesday, Nov. 24 GUEST
23. Post-Quantum Cryptography
TBA
Lab 5 due 6 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 26
Thanksgiving Break
Nov. 27/​Nov. 30 LAB
No Lab
Tuesday, Dec. 1 ENSAFI
24. Data Privacy
Privacy violations, privacy regulations, data aggregation, privacy/utility tradeoff, differential privacy
Thursday, Dec. 3 ENSAFI
25. Privacy Enhancing Technologies
VPNs, Tor, Signal, etc.
Dec. 4/​Dec. 7 LAB
Review AppSec Project
Final Review, Part 1
Tuesday, Dec. 8 HALDERMAN
26. Physical Security
Locks and safes, lock picking techniques; defenses
(We recommend attending in person for hands-on demos.)
Thursday, Dec. 10 STAFF
Final Review, Part 2
Forensics Project due 6 p.m.
Dec. 11/​Dec. 14 LAB
No Lab
Exam Period
Final Exam, Friday, Dec. 18, 7–9 p.m.