COSC 89.26 Security and Privacy in the Lifecycle of IoT for Consumer Environments
We are entering an era of Smart Things, in which everyday objects become imbued with computational capabilities and the ability to communicate with each other and with services across the Internet. Indeed, the Internet of Things now involves the deployment of Smart Things in everyday residential environments – houses, apartments, hotels, senior-living facilities – resulting in Smart Homes. Although Smart Things offer many potential benefits, they can also create unsafe conditions and increase risk of harm to persons and property. This course explores the key security and privacy challenges required for the vision of Smart Homes to be safely realized, with an explicit focus on consumer-facing “things” where end-user privacy and usability are essential. It will take a holistic approach to the entire lifecycle of security, privacy, and usability challenges from the perspective of the everyday consumer who interacts with Smart Things (intentionally or unintentionally) in a residential setting. Students will read, present, and discuss papers from the research literature; write a survey paper about a subset of the research literature; and conduct a security analysis of a current commercial “smart thing”. Guest lecturers will join the class, weekly, to share expertise from both industry and research.
Prerequisite
Required:
COSC 50, and experience or willingness to read technical research literature. Useful: COSC 55, 58, 60, 62, 67, 91.