In this course, we will study security and trust from the hardware perspective. Upon completing the course, students will understand the vulnerabilities in current digital system design flow and the physical attacks to these systems. They will learn that security starts from hardware design and be familiar with the tools and skills to build secure and trusted hardware.
Cybersecurity SpecializationUniversity of Maryland, College ParkAbout this Course
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Learner Career Outcomes
20%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
25%
got a pay increase or promotion
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Course 4 of 5 in the
Flexible deadlines
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Approx. 12 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: English
Skills you will gain
Montgomery Modular MultiplicationSide-Channel AttackHardware DesignCryptographic Hardware
Learner Career Outcomes
20%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
25%
got a pay increase or promotion
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Course 4 of 5 in the
Flexible deadlines
Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
Approx. 12 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: English
Offered by
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 37,000 students, 9,000 faculty and staff, and 250 academic programs. Its faculty includes three Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners, 47 members of the national academies and scores of Fulbright scholars. The institution has a $1.8 billion operating budget, secures $500 million annually in external research funding and recently completed a $1 billion fundraising campaign.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
2 hours to complete
Digital System Design: Basics and Vulnerabilities
To learn hardware security, we first need to learn how hardware is designed. This week's lectures give an overview of the basics on digital logic design, which is a semester-long course for freshmen and sophomores in most schools. By no means we can cover all the materials. What we provide here is the minimal set that you need to understand about digital design for you to move on to learn hardware security.
2 hours to complete
7 videos (Total 63 min), 2 readings, 1 quiz
7 videos
Introduction 5m
Digital System Specification10m
Digital System Implementation9m
Function Simplification and Don't Care Conditions10m
Sequential System Specification8m
Sequential System Implementation7m
Vulnerabilities in Digital Logic Design12m
2 readings
Syllabus10m
Week 1 Overview10m
1 practice exercise
Quiz14m
2 hours to complete
Design Intellectual Property Protection
As a hardware designer or a company, you want to protect your design intellectual property (IP) from being misused (by users, competitors, silicon foundry, etc). We will cover how you can build such protection during the design process which can be used as an evidence to support law enforcement protection. You are expected to understand the basic digital logic design knowledge covered in week 1. We will use several NP-hard problems as examples to illustrate the concepts of IP protection. These problems (graph vertex coloring problem and graph partitioning problem) will be introduced in the lecture and you do not need to know the concept of NP-complete.
2 hours to complete
6 videos (Total 78 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz
6 videos
Watermarking Basics8m
Watermarking Examples12m
Good Watermarks15m
Fingerprinting17m
Hardware Metering13m
1 reading
Week 2 Overview10m
1 practice exercise
Quiz22m
2 hours to complete
Physical Attacks and Modular Exponentiation
This week you will learn the fundamentals about physical attacks: what are physical attacks, who are the attackers, what are their motivations, how can they attack your system (from hardware), what kind of skills/tools/equipment they should need to break your system, etc. You will also see what are the available countermeasures. You will learn how system security level and tamper resistance level are defined and some general guidelines on how to make your system secure by design.
2 hours to complete
7 videos (Total 80 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz
7 videos
Physical Attacks and Countermeasures 13m
Building Secure Systems 10m
Modular Exponentiation (ME) Basics 6m
ME in Cryptography8m
ME Implementation and Vulnerability14m
Montgomery Reduction11m
1 reading
Week 3 Overview10m
1 practice exercise
Quiz20m
2 hours to complete
Side Channel Attacks and Countermeasures
This week, we focus on side channel attacks (SCA). We will study in-depth the following SCAs: cache attacks, power analysis, timing attacks, scan chain attacks. We will also learn the available countermeasures from software, hardware, and algorithm design.
2 hours to complete
5 videos (Total 86 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz
5 videos
Memory Vulnerabilities and Cache Attacks19m
Power Analysis16m
More Attacks and Countermeasures13m
Modified Modular Exponentiation22m
1 reading
Week 4 Overview10m
1 practice exercise
Quiz30m
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM HARDWARE SECURITY
by MRMay 21, 2017
This is not a class for a non-computer scientist or a non-electrical engineer. It's frustrating to learn the material this way, but the information is valuable.
by AJSep 10, 2017
Nice, instructive course. However, from time to time I felt I would need to have access to the copies of the slides, not currently available.
by FKAug 2, 2019
Great course, very helpful. The content is well organised and you need to have all the require knowledge, otherwise you won't get it.
by XZMar 30, 2020
Excellent course. I like it, and it is very straightforward and easy to understand. I hope to see more courses from this professor.
About the Cybersecurity Specialization
The Cybersecurity Specialization covers the fundamental concepts underlying the construction of secure systems, from the hardware to the software to the human-computer interface, with the use of cryptography to secure interactions. These concepts are illustrated with examples drawn from modern practice, and augmented with hands-on exercises involving relevant tools and techniques. Successful participants will develop a way of thinking that is security-oriented, better understanding how to think about adversaries and how to build systems that defend against them.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
- The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
- The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
What is the refund policy?
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Is financial aid available?
Yes, Coursera provides financial aid to learners who cannot afford the fee. Apply for it by clicking on the Financial Aid link beneath the "Enroll" button on the left. You'll be prompted to complete an application and will be notified if you are approved. You'll need to complete this step for each course in the Specialization, including the Capstone Project. Learn more.
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