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edX

Unlocking Information Security I: From Cryptography to Buffer Overflows

Tel Aviv University via edX

Overview

Information Security is everywhere: as the world becomes more and more digitized, so it becomes more and more hackable. Cyber attacks, data breaches, and even cyber warfare are all very real - so it is infinitely important to understand how hackers think and act, and how you can fight back.

In this course, which is the first part of the Unlocking Information Security program, you will learn the basic terminology and concepts in the field of information security. You will explore different types of vulnerabilities through famous examples of design flaws, implementation bugs and social engineering.

You will then move on to discover the art of cryptography, from ancient times to the modern era, and learn about famous ciphers, how they can be cracked, and what can be done to thwart such attacks. Next, you will learn about an important aspect of cryptography that involves no secrets at all: hash functions. You will understand what they are, how they can be used, and how they can be attacked.

You will then combine everything you've learned and take a critical view of different authentication schemes: passwords, challenge-response systems and biometrics. Finally, you will learn about the most critical vulnerability of all times - Buffer Overflow.

This course was produced at Tel Aviv University by TAU Online - learning innovation center.

Taught by

Avishai Wool and Dan Gittik

Reviews

4.7 rating, based on 299 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Unlocking Information Security I: From Cryptography to Buffer Overflows

  • Anonymous
    A very good course. Who want to iniciate or understand what are already doing, it's so great!!

    The teachers are great, the subjects are presented with accuracy and transparency. I strongly recommend this wonderful course!
  • Profile image for Tomgi859
    Tomgi859
    One of the mose awesome, friendly, understandable, and definitely the one with the most efforts invested in I've even ran into in my life! Super-friendly course, which require familarity with Python, which I had not a all in the beginning, but with JAVA,...
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous is taking this course right now.

    This course is amazing! First of all - the content is great, clear and profound, making complicated issues accessible and understandable. Furthermore, the lecturers are great, they are real experts and yet they seem approachable. The effort and thought that were put into this course really make it stand out, the explanations, the animations, I took many online courses before and none of them was as good as this one.
  • Great mix of concepts, illustrations, and practices, including relevant and useful quizzes and programming assignments! The informal and humorous approach makes the course very engaging and motivating! I highly recommend it!
  • Anonymous
    Can I buffer overflow this review? This is a nice course. First, there's no such a complete course of hacking and defending on the internet, all I saw was just "go to CTF!, Do more quiz!" But this one told us step by step, with small tests that were a little harder than the class, motivating us to think and understand it. Second, the presenter, no matter the "young" and "old" one's humorous speech telling skills (and also gifs) are wonderful! Last but not least, the "Hackxercise", all I can say is just go and experience in person.

    Thanks to all of the Staff, from the planner to those who made awesome animation.
  • Anonymous
    Dears, students and docents .

    This course is more an introductory course than intermediate, if you have some prior undergraduate knowledge you might learn very few new things ...

    You can find almost all by searching on wikipedia, and trolling by your favorite space around the corner ...

    If you're a pentester or black hat, that tries to pwn things, this wont help ...

    Kind Regards,
    JP xor John Philippe
  • Profile image for Kayfiann Richards
    Kayfiann Richards
    It's pretty good but for the different stream and block Ciphers, it would be good to provide an option between watching a video or reading (not sure if that's in the supplementary material) but other than that everything was good.
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous is taking this course right now.

    The moment the thought of cyber security came to my mind it was Israel that occupied my mind.Consequently I decided to take this course by TAU at EdX.The lucid explanation and effective teaching style of both the educators are worth mentioning.I was deeply impressed by the manner of teaching.Hope the journey continues.
  • Anonymous
    started to take this course two weeks ago, and I'm really enjoying it. I usually sit 2 hours and listen to the great videos and read the well-written articles. Great job, keep it up!!!
  • Anonymous
    This is a great course. Especially those who know how to write code are going to enjoy it. The exercises helped me to have a deeper and better understanding of what really happens under the hood. Moreover, the course makes me realize how vulnerable our modern world is. Fortunately, this teaches me how to better protect my own thing!
  • Anonymous
    The best course I've ever do.
    The way that the teachers drive the course is easy to understand and the exercises are so important to learn the concepts by heart.
    Thanks, guys!
  • Anonymous
    This course is not on EDx nor is Part 2. Please remove this from your curriculum. I would have loved to take this based on the course description. Sadly, no one can.
  • Anonymous
    Detailed, easy-to-understand explanations. Many practices are provided, which helped me identify gaps in my understanding of different subjects.
  • Anonymous
    it teaches a lot and opens the mind for new algorithems and methods.

    but it is better to add more drills in order to control the material better.
  • Anonymous
    The course structure, presentation, and supplementary materials were excellent. The instructors presented it nicely. It is very good.
  • Anonymous
    good, clear course for IT and non technical people to understand and learn, highly recommended, useful knowledge in daily life as well
  • Anonymous
    I learned a lot from this course, and I hope that as many people as possible will learn from it and gain essential knowledge.
  • Anonymous
    very good course for begginers. i have learned a lot .
    i would reccomend to add a chapter that teaching about linnux
  • Anonymous
    Very very interesting and informative. The quizzes were helpful to practically implement what was taught
  • Anonymous
    Very practical and fresh to understand details regarding vulnerabilities and their actions to avoid them

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