CSE 410 Spring 2025: Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

General Information

Class Schedule

Instructor

Textbooks

No required textbook.

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course consist of developing thorough understanding of privacy concerns in the digital age and technical mechanisms for privacy protection. Course assignments are designed to demonstrate understanding of the security and cryptography concerns and solutions and show the ability to correctly use the concepts and their implementations to meet security and privacy objectives of various systems.

Course Description

The course focuses on technical mechanisms for protecting data and meta-data about individuals when interacting on the internet. This includes the following topics:

Grading

Grading for this course will be based on homework and programming assignments (HW), a midterm exam (ME), and a project (CP). Tentatively, the grade will consist of 40% HW, 40% ME, and 20% CP. The exam will tentatively take place on April 10.

You can expect that performance at 90% or higher earns an A, 80% or higher earns a B, etc. The scale might be adjusted by the instructor. if deemed necessary.

Course Policies

Lectures. Lecture attentance is required. The instructor will not repeat material presented in class. Electronic devices (laptops, tablets, phones) can be only used during class time for class-related activities.

Assignments. All assignments are be done individually unless announced otherwise. The use of external resources used for assignments should be properly documented and the extent to which it provided help. Written homeworks should be typed (diagrams can be hand-drawn).

Late submissions. Late homework or programming submissions are accepted within one day (24 hours) of the original deadline at 20% penalty. In extenuating circumstances the student needs to contact the instructor as early as feasible.

Grading. Homework or exam regrade requests need to be submitted within two weeks of releasing the graded material to the class. The request needs to be in writing clearly describing the error in grading.

Course materials. Sharing of the course materials provided by the instructor with someone who is not currently enrolled in this course or in a forum accessible to someone not currently enrolled in this course requires instructor's permission.

Academic Integrity

Computer science, as a profession, requires us to seek truth not only in scientific discoveries, but also in dealing with the public, as the public depends on our expertise and honesty to construct their computing infrastructure. Thus, competence and trust are essential to being a scholar and a computing professional in particular.

Your instructor will treat you as a professional, and you should plan on conducting yourself in an appropriate way. No behavior that compromises academic honesty (such as use of someone else's work or code, using prohibited materials during tests, or making your work available to others) will be tolerated in this course. If you need assistance with anything, do not hesitate to contact the instructor.

It is expected that your work represents your own understanding of the problem. If work of others is used, it must be properly cited. Use of properly cited material is acceptable, but no referencing is treated as claiming the work as your own.

Academic integrity is a fundamental university value. Through the honest completion of academic work, students sustain the integrity of the university and of themselves while facilitating the university's imperative for the transmission of knowledge and culture based upon the generation of new and innovative ideas.

Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in this course. It is the CSE policy that each case of academic integrity violation is recorded. The standing policy of the department is that all students involved in an academic integrity violation will receive an F grade for the course. Repeated violations always result in a failure in the course with possibly more severe actions imposed by the university.

For more information, please refer to the CSE academic integrity policy and UB academic integrity policy.

Accessility Resources

If you have any disability which requires reasonable accommodations to enable you to participate in this course, please contact the Office of Accessibility Resources in 60 Capen Hall, 716-645-2608 and also the instructor of this course during the first week of class. The office will provide you with information and review appropriate arrangements for reasonable accommodations, which can be found on the web at: http://www.buffalo.edu/studentlife/who-we-are/departments/accessibility.html.

Detailed Course Schedule

Homework assignments and other course-related materials not posted on this web page are available through UBlearns.

  Tuesday Thursday
Week 1 (Jan 20 - 25)  
Week 2 (Jan 27 - 31)
Week 3 (Feb 3 - 7)
  • Presentations
Week 4 (Feb 10 - 14)
  • Presentations
Week 5 (Feb 17 - 21)
Week 6 (Feb 24 - 28)
Week 7 (Mar 3 - 7)
Week 8 (Mar 10 - 14)