18-334 Network Security
12 units, Carnegie Mellon University
Some of today's most damaging attacks on computer systems involve exploitation of network infrastructure, either as the target of attack or as a vehicle to advance attacks on end systems. This course provides an in-depth study of network attack techniques and methods to defend against them. The course will cover topics spanning five broad themes: (1) infrastructure topics such as firewalls, network intrusion detection, secure routing protocols, and recent advances such as software-defined networking; (2)network attacks such as denial of service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, worm and virus propagation; (3)analysis and inference topics such as network forensics and attack economics; (4) user related topics such as authentication, anonymity and censorship resilience; and (5) new technologies related to next-generation networks, and cellular and wireless networks. Students in 18-334 will share lectures and homeworks with students in 18-731. However, 18-731 will have additional requirements not shared by 18-334, including the requirement to produce scribe notes and to practice and demonstrate the ability to read and summarize scientific papers on the topics covered by the course.
Prerequisites: 18-330 (min C) or 15-330 (min C)
Offered: Spring 2027, Spring 2026
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