Computer Science 690P - Secure Distributed Systems
Spring
2018
01AA
0.00
W 2:30PM 3:45PM
UMass Amherst
62578
This is a class devoted to the study of securing distributed systems, with blockchain-based cryptocurrencies serving as our real platform of interest. We'll start with the fundamentals of Lamport's, Fischer's, and Douceur's results that fence-in all consensus system, and discuss Byzantine fault tolerance. We'll also look at the efficiency of the network architectures for peer-to-peer/distributed system communication and attacks on their security, such as denial of service attacks. And we'll review relevant applied cryptography such as elliptical curves. We'll discuss in detail the mechanisms of Bitcoin and Ethereum and we'll program distributed applications for Ethereum. Other topics include economics and finance. The course is based on a "flipped classroom."
Open to Graduate CMPSCI and ECE students only. STUDENTS NEEDING SPECIAL PERMISSION MUST REQUEST OVERRIDES VIA THE ON-LINE FORM: https://www.cics.umass.edu/overrides
Multiple required components--lab and/or discussion section. To register, submit requests for all components simultaneously.