The knowledge which students acquire upon successful completion of the course relates to understanding the design of multilayer protection mechanisms for computing systems, with an emphasis on embedded systems security. Security primitives are examined in detail, including lightweight cryptographic software libraries and hardware security devices (programmable crypto engines, crypto ICs). In addition, security patterns/protocols for efficient access control, data privacy, anonymity, confidentiality, integrity, and availability are examined. Case studies range from device security (cryptos), to memory protection/isolation (ARM Trustzone), to operating system kernel and file system support, to application and system/network security, including high-level security event tracing, correlation, and visualization.

The skills, which students develop upon successful course completion, relate to:  

• Understanding the design and use of public key and symmetric cryptography (lightweight
• Understanding the design and use of digital certificates and signatures
• Designing and implementing protocols and techniques for security and data privacy at device, system/network, and application level

The abilities, which students develop upon successful course completion, enable problem-solving abilities that relate to 

• Integrating security/trust in system/platform design and implementation
• Implementing secure embedded systems using lightweight security primitives/protocols
• Validating security functions and evaluating overheads of at device-, system-, and network-level

• Search, analysis and synthesis of data and information, using the necessary technologies

• Adapt solutions to new situations (resource sharing, congestion, contention etc)

• Autonomous work

• Teamwork

• Decision making

• Work in an interdisciplinary environment

• Promoting liberal, creative and inductive/deductive thinking

Theoretical Lectures

• History – Classical Cryptography- Mathematical Preliminaries
• Authentication, Authorization
• SW Vulnerabilities - Memory Errors/Buffer Overflows, Viruses, Worms
• Side Channel, Energy Profiling, Covert Channel
• Buffer Overflows
• Operating System and Network Security (DDoS, Firewall, IPSec, OpenSSL/TLS, OpenVPN, syslog/IDPS)
• Symmetric Cryptography, NIST-approved Operating Modes
• Public Key Cryptography (RSA, Diffie Hellmann) & Elliptic Cryptography
• Security Primitives, Protocols, and Services 
• Digital Certificates & Signatures
• Message Authenticity - Merkle Trees
• Application Security – Web/Ηλεκτρονικό Ταχυδρομείο (HTTPS, SMTP) 
• Embedded Security, Cybersecurity & Safety, e.g. Smart Vehicles, e-Health platforms
• Special Topics (e.g. Blockchains, Steganography, Kerberos, Secret Sharing, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Oblivious Transfers, Commit Protocols, HW Security (Crypto ICs, ARM Trustzone, Secure Boot/File Systems), Homomorphic Security, Quantum Cryptography, Data Privacy, Anonymity, Onion Routing/Tor, Legal Framework, GDPR, HIPAA etc)

Lab

The student lab focuses on open source hardware/software and Linux system security. Students gain experience in cryptographic mechanisms (AES encryption/decryption, integrity), authentication (SHA3, one-way hash functions), domain isolation, data privacy and anonymity by applying well-established security patterns for device, system/network, and application security. The lab also examines practical use of software tools, cryptographic security libraries, programmable crypto engines, and crypto ICs in experimental platforms and real embedded systems, such as healthcare and automotive.