# Course - Computer Security MT24

> Source: https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/ · Updated: 2025-08-17 · Tags: uni, course

> A course on computer security, with a heavy focus on information security.<br><br>
> A lot of the information security topics rely on some foundational assumptions in computational complexity, most strongly that one-way functions exist – i.e. there exist functions $f$ where $f(x)$ is easy to compute but $f^{-1}(x)$ is very difficult to compute. Whether one-way functions exist is actually still an open problem! The existence of one-way functions would imply $\mathbf P = \mathbf{NP}$, so a proof of this fact is expected to be very difficult. Some of [Course - Quantum Information HT24](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-a/ht24/quantum-information/) instead builds up protocols of secure communication founded in quantum theory, whose security is founded in laws of nature rather than hard computational problems.

- [Course Webpage](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=697)
- Lecture Notes
	- [Andrew Ker's lecture notes](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=3178) (from 2014, and doesn't cover all content)
	- [1, Introduction](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1476)
	- [2, Access control](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1479)
	- [3, Attacks](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=14800)
	- [4, Symmetric-key cryptography](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1225)
	- [5, Hashes](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1226)
	- [6, Asymmetric crypto](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1228)
	- [7, MAC](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1224)
	- [8, Protocols](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1227)
	- [9, Frameworks](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1221)
	- [10, Non-standard authentication](https://courses.cs.ox.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=1222)
- Other courses this term: [Courses MT24](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/)

### Notes
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Basic definitions](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/basic-definitions/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Access control](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/access-control/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Bell-LaPadula model](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/bell-lapadula-model/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Clark-Wilson model](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/clark-wilson-model/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Access control in UNIX](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/access-control-in-unix/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Reference monitors](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/reference-monitors/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Attacks](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/attacks/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Symmetric key ciphers](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/symmetric-key-ciphers/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Block modes](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/block-modes/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Cryptographic attack models](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/cryptographic-attack-models/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Stream ciphers](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/stream-ciphers/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, RC4](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/rc4/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Feistel structures](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/feistel-structures/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, DES](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/des/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, AES cryptosystem](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/aes-cryptosystem/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Cryptographic hashes](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/cryptographic-hashes/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, LM hash](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/lm-hash/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Key generation](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/key-generation/)
- [Notes - Computer Secuirty MT24,  Asymmetric key ciphers](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/asymmetric-key-ciphers/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Number theory](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/number-theory/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, RSA](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/rsa/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Rabin cryptosystem](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/rabin-cryptosystem/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Elliptic curve cryptography](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/elliptic-curve-cryptography/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Diffie-Hellman key exchange](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/diffie-hellman-key-exchange/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Dolev-Yao model](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/dolev-yao-model/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, MACs](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/macs/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Digital signatures](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/digital-signatures/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Protocols](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/protocols/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Needham-Schroeder protocol](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/needham-schroeder-protocol/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Key distribution](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/key-distribution/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, SSL and TLS](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/ssl-and-tls/)
- [Notes - Computer Security MT24, Frameworks](https://ollybritton.com/notes/uni/part-b/mt24/computer-security/notes/frameworks/)

### Problem Sheets
- [redacted](https://ollybritton.com/404)
- [redacted](https://ollybritton.com/404)
- [redacted](https://ollybritton.com/404)
- [redacted](https://ollybritton.com/404)
- [redacted](https://ollybritton.com/404)

### To-do List

---
Olly Britton — https://ollybritton.com. Machine-readable index: https://ollybritton.com/llms.txt