an information transfer in the network.

Eavesdropping can be prevented by encrypting

the information before communication and a scheme which achieves this is said to provide
confidentiality.

• Message modification: Even when an adversary cannot decode the contents of an infor-
mation transfer nothing prevents her from modifying the message resulting in a incorrect
message being delivered to the destination. A scheme which can detect message modifica-
tions is said to provide data integrity.

• Replay attack : A replay attack occurs when an adversary copies the information sent by
the source to the destination and resends it to produce harmful consequences. A scheme
which prevents replay attacks is said to provide originality.

• Delaying tactics: An adversary can also cause harm by intercepting an information transfer
from a source and sending it to the destination after a some delay. This does not violate
originality but can still have unintended consequences. A scheme which detects delaying
tactics is said to provide timeliness.

• Masquerading: An adversary can claim to be a particular authorized user and initiate

communication with other authorized users. A scheme which ensures that users are who
they claim to be is said to provide authentication. Authentication schemes are used to
provide access control which is the ability to limit access of network resources to authorized
users.

• Repudiation or bogus denial: Sometimes a source or a destination can deny that a commu-
nication which actually occurred never took place. A scheme which prevents such bogus
denials is said to provide nonrepudiation.

In this course, we will discuss (if time permits) the major security schemes used on the Internet
today.

1.3 Course Goals

• Understand the major issues in the design of communication networks.

• Understand the functioning of existing networks like the Internet, 802.11 WLAN and
Ethernet.

• Learn simple analytical tools used to do performance analysis of network protocols.

• Learn to do network simulation.

1.4 Reference Books

• Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Larry Peterson and Bruce Davie, 2007 (4th
Edition)

• Communication Networks: Fundamental Concepts and Key Architectures, Alberto Leon-

Garcia and Indra Widjaja, 2004 (2nd Edition)

• Computer Networks, Andrew Tanenbaum, 2002 (4th Edition)

13