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CS161 Fall 2026
Instructors: David Wagner, Peyrin Kao / Lecture: MWF, 12:00–1:00 PM, Physics Building 1 [Zoom, Playlist]
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Course Calendar
| Wk. | Date | Lecture | Discussion | HW | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Wed Aug 26 | 1. Introduction and Security Principles | 0. 61C Review |
HW1
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Fri Aug 28 | 2. x86 | ||||
| 2 |
Mon Aug 31 | 3. Memory Safety Vulnerabilites | 1. Security Principles and x86 | Project 1 Checkpoint
(due Fri Sep 11) |
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Wed Sep 02 | 4. Mitigating Memory Safety Vulnerabilities | ||||
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Fri Sep 04 | 5. Isolation I: Benefits | HW2
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| 3 |
Mon Sep 07 | 6. Isolation II: Techniques, Access Control | 2. Memory Safety | ||
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Wed Sep 09 | 7. Buffer | ||||
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Fri Sep 11 | 8. Symmetric-Key Encryption | ||||
| 4 |
Mon Sep 14 | 9. Authentication, Cryptographic Hashes | 3. Memory Safety Mitigations and Injection Attacks | HW3
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Project 1
(due Fri Sep 18) |
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Wed Sep 16 | 10. MACs | ||||
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Fri Sep 18 | 11. Signatures | ||||
| 5 |
Mon Sep 21 | 12. Public-Key Infrastructure | 4. Cookies | Project 2 Spec Quiz
(due Fri Sep 25) |
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Wed Sep 23 | 13. Authenticated Encryption | HW4
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Fri Sep 25 | 14. Buffer | ||||
| 6 |
Mon Sep 28 | 15. Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange | 5. Hash, MACs, Sigs | Project 2 Design Checkpoint
(due Fri Oct 02) |
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Wed Sep 30 | 16. Public-Key Encryption | ||||
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Fri Oct 02 | 17. Low-Level Network Attacks | HW5
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| 7 |
Mon Oct 05 | 18. How the Internet Works | Project 2 Testing Checkpoint
(due Fri Oct 23) |
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Wed Oct 07 | 19. TLS | ||||
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Fri Oct 09 | 20. End-to-End Security | ||||
| 8 |
Mon Oct 12 | 21. What Crypto Doesn't Solve | 6. Symmetric Cryptography | HW6
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Wed Oct 14 | 22. Buffer | ||||
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Fri Oct 16 | 23. Network Defense | ||||
| 9 |
Mon Oct 19 | 24. Intro to Web Applications | 7. Public Key Encryption and Key Exchange | ||
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Wed Oct 21 | 25. SQL Injection | HW7
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Fri Oct 23 | 26. XSS | ||||
| 10 |
Mon Oct 26 | 27. Web Authentication, CSRF | 8. Networking | Project 2
(due Fri Oct 30) |
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Wed Oct 28 | 28. UI Security | ||||
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Fri Oct 30 | 29. Buffer | HW8
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| 11 |
Mon Nov 02 | 30. AI Security 1 | 9. DoS and Tor | Project 3
(due Fri Nov 13) |
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Wed Nov 04 | 31. AI Security 2 | ||||
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Fri Nov 06 | 32. AI Security 3 | ||||
| 12 |
Mon Nov 09 | 33. Buffer | 10. Isolation | HW9
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Wed Nov 11 | 34. Buffer | ||||
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Fri Nov 13 | 35. Case study: Signal | ||||
| 13 |
Mon Nov 16 | 36. Case Study: iPhone Security | 11. Access Control | ||
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Wed Nov 18 | HW10
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Fri Nov 20 | |||||
| 14 |
Mon Nov 23 | 12. Hardware Security | |||
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Wed Nov 25 | |||||
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Fri Nov 27 | HW11
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| 15 |
Mon Nov 30 | No Discussion | |||
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Wed Dec 02 | |||||
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Fri Dec 04 | |||||
| 16 |
Mon Dec 07 | HW12
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Wed Dec 09 | |||||
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Fri Dec 11 |