Computer Security: A Hands-on Approach

by Wenliang Du

Overview

Teaching computer security principles via hands-on activities

Unique among computer security texts, this book, in its third edition, builds on the author's long tradition of teaching complex subjects through a hands-on approach. For each security principle, the book uses a series of hands-on activities to help explain the principle. Readers can touch, play with, and experiment with the principle, instead of just reading about it. The hands-on activities are based on the author's widely adopted SEED Labs, which have been used by over 1000 institutes worldwide. The author has also published online courses on Udemy based on this book.

Topics covered in the book

- Software vulnerabilities, attacks, and countermeasures

- Attacks on web applications, countermeasures

- Attacks on hardware: Meltdown and Spectre attacks

- Cryptography and attacks on algorithms and protocols

- Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

- Common hacking and defense techniques

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781733003957
Publisher:	Wenliang Du
Publication date:	05/01/2022
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Wenliang (Kevin) Du received his bachelor's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1993. After getting a Master's degree from Florida International University, he attended Purdue University from 1996 to 2001, and received his PhD degree in computer science. He became an assistant professor at Syracuse University after the graduation. He is currently a full professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Professor Du has taught courses in cybersecurity at both undergraduate and graduate levels since 2001. As a firm believer of &'grave;learning by doing'', he has developed over 30 hands-on labs called SEED labs, so students can gain first-hand experiences on security attacks, countermeasures, and fundamental security principles. These labs are now widely known; more than 1000 universities, colleges, and high schools worldwide are using or have used these labs. In 2010, the SEED project was highlighted by the National Science Foundation in a report sent to the Congress. The report, titled "New Challenges, New Strategies: Building Excellence in Undergraduate STEM Education (Page 16)", highlights "17 projects that represent cutting-edge creativity in undergraduate STEM classes nationwide". Due to the impact of the SEED labs, he was given the "2017 Academic Leadership" award from the 21st Colloquium for Information System Security Education. In 2019, Syracuse University awarded him the Meredith Professorship for Teaching Excellence. Professor Du works in the area of computer and network security, with specific interests in system security. He has published over 100 technical papers. As of April 2019, his research work has been cited for over 14,100 times (based on Google Scholar). He is a recipient of the ACM CCS Test-of-Time Award in 2013 due to the impact of one of his papers published in 2003. His current research focuses on mobile system security, aiming at developing novel mechanisms at the operating system and hardware levels to enhance the security of smartphones and mobile devices. He also conducts active research in security education, with a focus on developing innovative systems that can be used as platforms for experiential learning in cybersecurity education.

Table of Contents

Part I: Software Security

• Chapter 1: Set-UID Programs
• Chapter 2: Environment Variables and Attacks
• Chapter 3: Shellshock Attack
• Chapter 4: Buffer-Overflow Attacks
• Chapter 5: Return-to-libc Attack and Return-Oriented Programming
• Chapter 6: Format String Vulnerability
• Chapter 7: Race Condition Vulnerability
• Chapter 8: Dirty COW Attack
• Chapter 9: Reverse Shell

Part II: Web Security

• Chapter 10: Cross-Site Request Forgery
• Chapter 11: Cross-Site Scripting
• Chapter 12: SQL Injection

Part III: Hardware Security

• Chapter 13: Meltdown Attack
• Chapter 14: Spectre Attack

Part IV: Cryptography

• Chapter 15: Secret-Key Encryption
• Chapter 16: One-Way Hash Function
• Chapter 17: Public-Key Cryptography
• Chapter 18: Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI)