Subversive Technologies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Subversive Technologies Academic Year: 2014-15, Hilary Term Date and Time: Weeks 1-9, Day and time to be determined Location: TBD Course Convener: Dr Joss Wright, Research Fellow, [email protected] Background The internet has created a new landscape for the communication and collaborative creation of information, and has caused a broad centralization of the global communications infrastructure. As a result, the technologies comprising the network have come to represent a significant means for control over the creation, access, and dissemination of large volumes of information. Information and the means by which it is communicated and controlled, are now key concerns. Computer networks and the technologies on which they are built have evolved beyond their original scope and purpose. Issues such as privacy and information security have arisen that were often not considered in the original design of core protocols, resulting in an ongoing struggle to ensure that the fundamentally flawed infrastructure can meet the requirements placed on it in its role as a global information network. Through both its flaws and its intended functionality the internet has produced an ecosystem of cultures, institutions, and technologies that aim to exert, resist, and circumvent control over information. This course aims to provide students with an understanding of technologies that provide control over information flows and action on the internet, and those that resist or subvert that control. To fully understand these technologies the course considers the cultures that created and surround them, how various new technologies interact with traditional institutions and structures, and how these are exploited by both states and individuals. Learning Outcomes On completion of this course students will have an understanding of the technologies that underpin secured communications on the internet, and the development, aims, applications, and limitations of these technologies. Students will learn the advantages of new forms of communication technologies and the ongoing threats that they raise with respect to existing structures and institutions. Crucially, students will gain insight into the feasibility of technologies for controlling information and online action, and the effectiveness and consequences of social, technical, legal, and political means to influence their use. Teaching Arrangements The course will consist of 8 weekly two-hour sessions, each being divided into an hour’s lecture with the remainder discussion and presentations of student work. The classes will meet in weeks 1-4 and 6-9 of Hilary term. 1 Note Students should note that over the course of the year, small changes may be made to the content, dates or teaching arrangements set out in this reading list, at the course provider's discretion. These changes will be communicated to students directly and will be noted on the internal course information website. Summative Assessment Students will be assessed through a final essay of up to 5000 words which must be submitted to the Examinations School by 12 noon of Monday of Week 1 of Trinity term. The essay will cover one of the course topics, and students will choose a topic in consultation with the course tutors in advance. The essay should be clearly related to the topics of the course. Formative Assignment In addition, all students will undertake formative assessment in the form of one short essay, of advised length 1500-3000 words, on any of the 8 topics covered. This essay will provide a means for students to obtain feedback on the progress they have achieved. Submission of Summative Assignments All coursework should be submitted in person to the Examinations School by the stated deadline. All coursework should be put in an envelope and must be addressed to ‘The Chairman of Examiners for the MSc in Social Science of the Internet C/o The Clerk of Examination Schools, High Street. Students should also ensure they add the OII coversheet at the top of the coursework and that two copies of the coursework are submitted. Please note that all work must be single sided. An electronic copy will also need to be submitted to the department. Please note that all coursework will be marked anonymously and therefore only your candidate number is required on the coversheet. Please note that work submitted after the deadline will be processed in the standard manner and, in addition, the late submission will be reported to the Proctors' Office. If a student is concerned that they will not meet the deadline they must contact their college office or examinations school for advice. For further information on submission of assessments to the examinations school please refer to http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/schools/oxonly/submissions/index.shtml. For details on the regulations for late and non-submissions please refer to the Proctors website at http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/proctors/info/pam/section9.shtml. Any student failing this assessment will need to follow the rules set out in the OII Examining Conventions regarding re-submitting failed work. List of Topics and Weekly Key Readings Week 1: Fundamentals of Computer Security What do we mean by the concept of ‘security’ when applied to information, computers, and networks? What factors affect the security of computer systems, and how are these supported or hindered through technological and human means? This lecture provides an understanding of the goals of information security, charts its development from the early insecure days of computing and the internet to the modern day. We will examine some of the key events that drove security considerations to the fore, and the institutional and community-based reactions to the challenge of securing information resources. Key Question: What is security? Concepts: • Key concepts in network security. 2 • Fundamental insecurity of modern protocols such as email and the web. • History and development of malware from the Morris Worm to Stuxnet. • Distributed denial of service. • Security arguments for open source and closed source development. Readings: • Anderson – Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems. Second Edition (11 April 2008). Chapters 1–7. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/book.html • Seeley – A Tour of the Worm. http://www.thehackademy.net/madchat/vxdevl/avtech/A\%20Tour\%20of\%20the\%20Worm.p df • Whitten – Why Johnny can’t encrypt. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~tygar/papers/Why\_Johnny\_Cant\_Encrypt/OReilly.pdf • National Security Institute – 5200.28-STD Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria. http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/history/dod85.pdf • Anderson – “Security in Open versus Closed Systems – The Dance of Boltzmann, Coase and Moore”. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/toulouse.pdf Week 2: Hacking: A Practical Primer Computer hacking, understood as the practice of circumventing access controls and restrictions in computer systems, is strongly represented in the mythology of the internet. In this lecture we will attempt to dispel some of the hacker mythos by providing a detailed introduction to some of the archetypical security flaws in computer systems, and show practically how these are exploited by hackers. With this basis the lecture will examine the motivations, politics, and activities underlying computer hacking, and explore some of the more well-known hacker groups and their impact on the development of the internet. Key Question: Who are hackers, why do they hack, and how? Concepts: • Buffer overflows. • SQL Injection. • Cross site scripting. • Distributed denial of service and its applications. • Special engineering. • Hacktivism. • Hacking cultures – phreaking, hacking, CoDC, CCC, Telecomix. Readings: • Sterling – The Hacker Crackdown – Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier. http://www.mit.edu/hacker/hacker.html • Aleph One – Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit. http://phrack.org/issues/49/14.html • Hakim Bey – The Temporary Autonomous Zone. 3 • rain.forrest.puppy – NT Web Technology Vulnerabilities. http://phrack.org/issues/54/8.html • Computer Emergency Response Team. CERT Advisory CA96. 21: TCP SYN Flooding and IP Spoofing Attacks. https://www.cert.org/historical/advisories/CA-1996-21.cfm Week 3: Underground Information Markets Computer and internet security is largely concerned with the control of information. As certain forms of data increasingly become a store of value and power, markets have emerged to allow the results of security breaches and other forms of cybercrime to be traded. This lecture will examine the types of information and activity that are traded on these markets, what is known about their structure, and the key actors that drive them. We will consider criminal markets for data such as credit cards and identities, command-and-control infrastructures that allow on-demand attacks against websites and spam, and the increasing market for ‘zero day’ security holes that are supported by both private actors and nation-states. Key Question: What is traded on underground information markets, and by whom? Concepts: • Zero day markets. • Credit card forums. • Zombie command-and-control infrastructures. • Notable centres of hacking: Russia, China, and Brazil. • Jurisdiction and enforcement of internet crime. Readings: • Brown, I., Wright, J., et al. (2013) Comprehensive Study on Cybercrime. UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna. March 2013. http://www.unodc.org/documents/organized- crime/UNODC\_CCPCJ\_EG.4\_2013/CYBERCRIME\_STUDY\_210213.pdf • Ablon et al. Markets for Cybercrime