CS 116: Introduction to Security
Tufts University Department of Computer Science, Fall 2025
Course Description
A holistic and broad perspective on cyber security. Attacking and
defending networks, cryptography, vulnerabilities, reverse
engineering, web security, static and dynamic analysis, malware,
forensics. Principles illustrated through hands-on labs and
projects, including Capture The Flag (CTF) games.
Sections
-
In-person, undergrads and grads: Tuesdays, 4:30 - 5:45 PM EST in
Braker Hall Room 1;
Thursdays on Twitch, 4:30 - 5:45 PM EST
-
Online Master's in Computer Science: live sessions on
Wednesdays, 5:30 - 7:00 PM EST (via Zoom)
Instructor
-
Ming Chow,
ming.chow@tufts.edu
-
In-Person Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3:00 - 4:15 PM EST in JCC,
fourth floor --by the kitchen area
Prerequisites
-
CS 15 or Data Structures equivalent course. Recommended (not
required) that you have taken CS 30 or 40.
Please disregard prerequisite that CS 40 is required as
listed in the University's bulletin as they are
incorrect!
Hardware and Software for This Class (on your personal computer)
Absolute Requirements
-
A modern web browser (e.g., Firefox, Google Chrome, Chromium,
Safari, Microsoft Edge)
-
A command line interface to run Unix/Linux commands (e.g.,
macOS, Windows with Linux Subsystem, a Linux-based virtual
machine, a Docker container)
List of Security Tools That Will Be Used in Course
The following is a list of security tools that will be used in the
course. All of these tools are platform-independent.
Assessment
- Labs (80%)
- Quizzes (20%; there will be two)
Course Infrastructure
Syllabus
Important note: always follow Canvas for due date on labs!
Topic 1, starting week of Tuesday, September 2nd |
-
Course Introduction
- By the end of this week, students will learn many
of the fundamental Linux commands, an important
skill for any good security practitioner, by playing
Capture The Flags via OverTheWire. Students will
remember the three principles of the CIA triad,
critical to any organization's security
infrastructure.
-
Readings and Videos
-
Thursday, September 4th: The Command Line Interface
|
-
Lab 1: Working with the Command Line
|
Topic 2, starting Tuesday, September 9th |
|
|
Topic 3, starting Tuesday, September 16th |
-
Attacking Networks
- By the end of this week, students will perform
network reconnaissance and port scanning, and build
a rudimentary Security Information and Event
Management (SIEM) / intrusion detection system
(IDS).
-
Readings and Videos
-
Thursday, September 18th: Reconnaissance using Ping,
Netcat, and Nmap
-
Thursday, September 25th: Distributed Denial of
Service (DDoS) Attacks and Scapy feat John Hammond
|
-
Lab 3: Scanning and Reconnaissance
-
Lab 4: Snake Oil, The Incident Alarm
|
Topic 4, starting Tuesday, September 30th |
-
Cryptography
- By the end of this week, students will be able to
crack passwords on a Linux or Windows system, use
one-way hash functions, and briefly describe how
Transport Layer Security works.
-
Readings and Videos
-
Thursday, October 2nd: Passwords and Password
Cracking with John the Ripper
|
|
Topic 5, starting Tuesday, October 7th |
-
Vulnerabilities
- By the end of this week, students will know the
difference between CVE and CWE.
-
Readings and Videos
-
Thursday, October 9th: Vulnerability Scanning,
Exploitation, Badness-O-Meter
|
-
Quiz 1 open on Monday, October 6th; due Sunday,
October 12th at 11:59 PDT
|
Topic 6, starting Tuesday, October 14th |
-
Web Security
- By the end of this week, students will able to
perform and defend against the following attacks:
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), SQL injection,
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), session
hijacking, cookie tampering, directory traversal,
command injection, remote and local file inclusion.
-
Readings and Videos
-
Thursday, October 16th: SQL Injection and Web
Proxies
-
Thursday, October 23rd: The Mistakes You Can't Make
|
-
Lab 6: The XSS Game
-
Lab 7: Gain Access to Website
|
Topic 7, starting Monday, October 27th |
-
The Capture The Flags (CTF) Game Played Online - By
the end of this week, students will be able to find
and take advantage of a number of vulnerabilities on
a live web application.
-
Readings and Videos
|
|
Topic 8, starting Tuesday, November 4th |
-
Static and Dynamic Analysis
- By the end of this week, students will be able to
perform static analysis and dynamic analysis scans
on software, write a technical risk analysis that is
communicated to upper management.
-
Readings and Videos
-
Thursday, November 6th: Really, Really Bad Code and
Static Analysis
|
|
Topic 9, starting Thursday, November 13th |
-
Malware - By the
end of this week, students will be able to describe
types of malware, see certain malware behaviors,
scan and analyze malware, reverse engineer Android
apps to determine if they are malicious.
-
Readings and Videos
-
Thursday, November 13th: Malware and Malware
Analysis
-
Thursday, November 20th: Forensics
|
-
Lab 10: Android Malware Analysis
|
Topic 11, starts Tuesday, December 2nd |
-
The Future: Nihilism or Hope? - By the end of
this week, students shall debate and ponder the
hard questions in security, and be able to argue
multiple viewpoints.
Lessons Not Learned: We Can't Even Get the Basics
Right
-
Readings and Videos
-
Thursday, December 4th: Opportunities, Where Do You
Go From Here
|
-
Quiz 2 open on Monday, December 1st; due Sunday,
December 7th at 11:59 PM PDT
|
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is there a textbook for this course?
A: No
Q: Are there teaching assistants (TAs) for this course?
A: No
Q: What is the workload of this course?
A: Here is a list of all the labs with expected length and
difficulty:
-
Lab 1: Working with the Command Line, Long (3+ hours) --you can
put in as much time as you want on this lab
- Lab 2: Packet Sleuth, Medium (1 - 3 hours)
-
Lab 3: Scanning and Reconnaissance, Your mileage may vary on
this lab, could be 30 minutes, could be 2 hours or more.
NOTE: This lab cannot be made publicly available because an
actual target is used.
-
Lab 4: Python and the Incident Alarm, Long (3+ hours) to
Impossible
-
Lab 5: The Password Cracking Contest, If you crack all the
password hashes (read: good luck with that), you will receive an
automatic "A" in the course
- Lab 6: The XSS Game, Medium to Long.
-
Lab 7: Gain Access to Website, Very short.
NOTE: This lab cannot be made publicly available because an
actual target is used.
-
Lab 8: The CTF Game, One week --team based.
NOTE: This lab cannot be made publicly available because an
actual target is used.
- Lab 9: Technical Risk Analysis, Short to Medium.
- Lab 10: Android Malware Analysis, Short to Medium.
Q: Does this course count towards the M.S. in Cybersecurity and
Public Policy?
A: Yes
Q: Does this course count towards the M.S. in Software Systems
Development?
A: Yes. In fact, this is one of the four required courses for the
M.S.
Q: Did you remove information on using Kali virtual machine for this
class? If so, why?
A: Yes. After all these years, it was more trouble than it was
worth. Further reasons:
-
Accessibility. For students who are visually impaired, using a
virtual machine can be very difficult.
-
Not all students have a capable laptop. Sometimes due to
financial reasons, some students use Chromebooks. The tools
required for this course can be installed natively on macOS,
Windows, and Linux.
-
Performance. Sometimes, using a VM can be very slow. A VM also
do not use native drivers (e.g., for networking).
- Hard disk space requirement: at least 10 GB necessary.
- Apple M1 Macs cannot run most Intel x86 virtual machines.
Q: Is Piazza used in this course?
Yes, quite a lot
Q: Why is there a course website and a course Canvas? If you say "it
is a nuisance for students to use multiple websites and services for
one course", what gives?
This course website serves a few critical purposes. Years ago, I
made a decision to make all the readings, slide decks, and most of
the labs publicly available. The reasons: (1) to show that Tufts is
serious and is working on Cyber Security matters, (2) to provide
learning material to the public on Cyber Security as the Cyber
Security education problem is very dire, (3) for recordkeeping on
what is taught and not taught in this Security class --this comes up
often when we speak to industry and organizations who want to work
with Tufts on Cyber Security-related matters. The Canvas site for
this course isn't made publicly available. Even if Canvas site was
made publicly available, content is behind a walled garden, and (4)
for redundancy if Canvas goes down.
Q: I have not taken a course on Networks (CS 112), Operating Systems
(CS 111), or Computer Architecture (CS 40) yet. Is that a problem?
No. Cyber Security is a very broad field and it is impossible for
anyone, even professionals, to know everything. What is important
for you is to start thinking about Security.
Q: Will videos be recorded in case I miss class?
If you miss the in-person Tuesday classes due to illness or personal
matters, you can always watch the recorded Wednesday sessions for
online Master's students (Wednesday sessions are always recorded).
Tuesday and Wednesday sessions are practically identical. Thursdays
are on Twitch which are recorded and also exported to YouTube.
Q: If I am taking this course for professional purpose, can I have a
tuition reimbursement letter or certificate?
A: Absolutely! It's a nice tuition reimbursement letter, hand
signed!
If you have read this far, send me an email (ming.chow AT tufts DOT
edu) with the subject "How's Kermit the Frog doing?" to earn a
reward.
Course Policies
Labs
-
With the exception of the password cracking lab and CTF writeup,
all labs for a given topic, are due on a Sunday at 11:59 PM PDT
(that is, Pacific Time).
-
With the exception of password cracking lab, the CTF game, and
quizzes, you are granted an automatic extension of 24 hours at
no cost (i.e., grace period). A lab or quiz submitted after the
grace period will not be accepted.
- No extension tokens.
Accessibility Statement
Tufts is committed to providing equal access and support to all
qualified students through the provision of reasonable
accommodations so that each student may fully participate in the
Tufts experience. If you have a disability that requires
accommodations, please contact the StAAR Center (formerly SAS)
staarcenter@tufts.edu or
617-627-4539 to make an appointment to determine appropriate
accommodations. Please be aware that accommodations cannot be
enacted retroactively, making timeliness a critical aspect for their
provision. You can learn more about the StAAR Center at
https://students.tufts.edu/student-accessibility-services.
NEW Starting Fall 2025: House Rules
-
You lose two full letter grade if you ask if there is a final
exam (during the final exam period) in this course.
-
For each lab, you have unlimited submissions --prior to marked
due date and time on Canvas. If I grade your lab before due
date and time, and you make mistakes, you can resubmit for
regrading. I call this "Advanced Grading."
-
There is a Tufts CS Discord. If you DM me on an academic issue
(anything pertaining to grades or coursework), I will block
you. This Discord is for anything other than academics.
-
There is no class on the week of Thanksgiving. In this case,
week of November 24th. Book your travel now.
-
If you want your resume reviewed, just email it me and be sure
to attach a PDF copy.
-
Don't call me "Professor", just address me by my first name.
Thank you.
Expectations and Structure of This Course
This course will be a fun one for sure. A few notes on the
expectations and structure of this course:
1. You are responsible for your own learning.
A very important point: if you want everything gone over in lecture
or in notes, then this is not the course for you. More importantly,
that's not how things work in real life.
2. You will learn by doing.
Each week, there will be at most three labs to hone your skills and
to aim at the crux of the matter for the week. Here's an analogy:
you don't learn how to cook simply by just reading cookbooks and
watching YouTube videos. You learn by making, using your hands, and
making mistakes.
3. You will learn by asking questions.
It is your responsibility to ask questions early and to ask for
help...
4. ...and I expect discussions online to be very active and civil.
Share thoughts and respond to other people's questions. I will be
online constantly. It is no secret that I respond very quickly
unless I need to be away.
5. This course has a venerable history. Expectations are to the
skies for each and every one of you. You all have the ability to do
great things.