Wiiliam R. Helwett Teaching Center, Room 200 Free; No Registration is required Open to the Public

Computers and the Internet have changed business, education, entertainment, and recreation dramatically over the past two decades. But there are some problems. For example, why are computer systems vulnerable to worms and viruses? Can’t all those smart people who built these clever machines fix these problems? What about the Web? Is online banking secure? Should I stop using my credit card online? What is phishing? How does phishing work? Can it be prevented? Who is trying to steal my passwords and why? How can I tell if my computer has been broken into and turned into a “bot” or “zombie”? In this lecture and discussion, we will look at some of these questions and talk about the current and future state of computer security for ordinary everyday computer users.

JOHN MITCHELL - Mary and Gordon Crary Family Professor of Computer Science and (by courtesy) Electrical Engineering John Mitchell teaches programming languages and computer security. His computer security research is in the areas of access control, trust management, network protocol security, and Web security. With Dan Boneh and their team, Mitchell received a Horizons Award from Computerworld magazine for a Web browser phishing defense.