CS6204: Advanced Topics in Systems:

Wireless Security

Computer Science Department
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Course Description

This course focuses on selected research topics of current interest in wireless security and is intended for Master or Doctoral students who are interested in wireless security research. At the end of this course, students will have a broad knowledge of the state-of-the-art and open problems in wireless security, thus enhancing their potential to do research or pursue a career in this rapidly developing area. This course is structured as a research seminar where research papers from leading conferences & journals will be presented by students or the instructor.

Topics that may be covered in this course (but not limited to):

• Review of basic security concepts, basic cryptographic techniques, and basic wireless networks concepts and attacks
• Overview of Wireless Networks and Security
• Security of IEEE 802.11 Wireless LANs
• Smart phone and cellular network security
• RFID security
• Privacy protection in wireless access networks
• Location privacy
• Anonymous communication in wireless networks
• Secure localization
• Anti-jamming techniques
• Security in cognitive radio networks
• Broadcast authentication in wireless sensor networks
• Vehicular ad hoc network security

Schedule

Grades

Your grades will be determined as follows:

Class Attendance

Class attendance is expected in every class. Failing to attend one class without the instructor's consent costs 1 point of the final grade in 100 scale.

Discussion Participation

Students are encouraged to actively participate in the class discussion of research papers.

• Very active participation (9-10)
• Active participation (6-8)
• Some participation (3-5)
• No participation (0-2)

Homework

Typically 2~3 research papers will be assigned for each class. Students are required to read the assigned paper before coming to the class and be able to competently discuss the material in class. In addition, each student should submit a one-page (letter-sized) summary for one of the assigned papers, which should contain a one-paragraph description of the paper and descriptions of three strong points plus three weak points you discovered in the paper. Paper summaries should be single-column, 1 inch margins, 11-point size, single-spaced, and written using text editors such as MS Word and Latex. Paper summaries are due one hour before the class starts and should be submitted to the instructor by email in PDF or DOC formats with [CS6204: HW#]  in the subject line.

Presentation

Students will form two-person teams. Each week a two-person team is required to present and lead the discussion of the two papers assigned for the week. The presentation of each paper takes 35 minutes of class time and is followed by 15 minutes for question and answer. To present a paper, the two students must thoroughly study the papers together, read the references if necessary, prepare the slides, coordinate the presentation, and practice the talk before the class if necessary. The students should spend about a week in preparing each presentation and must be able to lead an active discussion as well as answering the questions to the papers raised by the audience. The students should also email the instructor the presentation slides (MS PowerPoint) before 12:00pm of their presentation day. The presentation is evaluated based on the following criteria.

• The presentation slides are well prepared, with well organized text content and appropriate amount of illustration (0-8).
• The presentation is clear and easy to follow (0-10).
• The presenter demonstrated a good and thorough understanding of the topic presented (0-6).
• Overall, I learned a lot about the topic from the presentation (0-6).

Term Paper

• Research Paper
  • You can work on original research problems. The outcome should be a paper with original technical contribution. Your grade on this will be judged on originality, soundness of the approach, and the quality of presentation.
  • You are encouraged to choose this if you are a PhD student or a master student having to complete a thesis.
• Survey Paper
  • You can write a paper that surveys a particular field on network security. The outcome should be a paper that summarizes the trend in the field you have chosen. Your grade will be judged on the completeness of the survey, the quality of the trend analysis, and the quality of presentation.

• Proposal (20%*30 points) (due: midterm, Requirements for term paper proposal )
• Final term paper (80%*30 points) (due: last day of class, Requirements for final paper )
• Term paper demonstration/presentation (in class, last one or two days of class)
  • Will not be graded, but may HIGHLY impact the assessment of your final term paper

Bonus Project

Academic Honesty Policy

Virginia Tech has an established academic honor code, described in graduate honor systems. Please review the code and be aware that I expect students to abide fully by this code. 

Acknowledgement

The instructor would like to thank Professor Yanchao Zhang at ASU and Prof. Peng Ning at NCSU. Some of the content  and structure of this course has referred to their earlier offering of similar courses.