courses

CS 410/510: IoT Security

Location: FAB 10 (MW 11:00-12:40)

Instructor: D. Kevin McGrath

TA: Chris Lu

Code Party:

Course Description

Introduce the concepts of hardware security, including communication buses, protocol analysis, firmware extraction, communication eavesdropping, and reverse engineering. Case studies of reference platform security models from various providers.

Course Objectives

Upon the successful completion of this class, students will be able to:

Hardware Requirements

We are using a specific set of hardware for this class. This isn’t the fastest, the most powerful, or the most feature-rich hardware, but it is the hardware that we will be using. The hardware is as follows:

Why are we using this particular set? There are a few reasons:

Hardware can be obtained from one of the following sources:

A class set of various tools will be available, or the students can purchase them if they so desire:

There are other platforms we will look at, but more as a reference than as a primary platform. These include:

Major Topics

Ultimately, you should leave this course with a basic understanding of IoT hardware, software, and the security implications of both. Topics include:

This isn’t necessarily an exhaustive, or ordered, list – though it’s mostly in the order I want to go. As this is the first time I’ve (actually) offered this class, we may not get to everything in the level of detail I’d prefer. Online references will be curated and provided, as needed, for additional coverage of any particular topic.

Policies

Grading Attendance and participation Academic Misconduct
Attendance      5%
Lab notebooks   65%
Final           30%		 Attendance is required and will be taken each class. If you miss class, extra credit will be given back for outside communication that indicates you are keeping up with the material. You are expected to follow this code of conduct when communicating. * Includes allowing another student to copy your work unless specifically allowed by the instructor.
* Results in a grade of 0 for the assignment or exam.
* Results in the initiation of disciplinary action at the university level.

Pages

Content will be added to this section as the course progresses.

Required reading

Topic pages

The technical reference for each area of the course. The schedule says which week each one belongs to.

Other stuff

Each homework will build on the previous assignment. These aren’t your typical “write answers to questions” type assignments, but rather are intended to be more hands-on. We will be adding to, modifying, or otherwise doing something to the hardware to enable us to do something else. The first assignment will be to get the dev environment set up, assembled, and configured. Subsequent assignments will build on this.

Labs and notebook

Lab assignments will be given periodically covering the course material. You will perform each one, while maintaining a lab notebook in markdown that documents your progress via screenshots with your OdinID in them. The notebook should also include answers to any questions in the labs. Notebooks should be done in markdown in their respective folders. Submission will be done via adding, committing, and pushing the files to your private CECS GitLab repository. See lab0 for details.

Please add me (dmcgrath) as a collaborator to your private repo. You can do this by going to the settings page for your repo, clicking on the “Manage access” tab, and then clicking on the “Invite a collaborator” button.

Always turn in what you have done on-time. Late work throughout the quarter may be compiled into a single submission that will be graded at the end of the last week of class in a file named notebooks/LateLabs.pdf.

The notebook for each lab will be graded based upon the following factors:

Bring-up labs

These get the hardware assembled, flashed, and verified. Do them in order; everything else assumes working hardware.

Assignments

The graded assignment sequence, tied to the schedule. Each one covers roughly two weeks of material and builds on the previous.

# Covers Weeks Due (23:59:59)
HW #1 Bench bring-up, chip and pin identification, UART discovery 1–2 Fri 9 Oct 2026
HW #2 I2C and SPI bus analysis, JTAG/SWD discovery 3–4 Fri 23 Oct 2026
HW #3 Firmware extraction from flash and from the wire 5–6 Fri 6 Nov 2026
HW #4 RF capture, LoRa analysis, replay 7–8 Fri 20 Nov 2026
HW #5 Firmware reverse engineering and bootloader analysis 9–10 Fri 4 Dec 2026

Final project

The final project is 30% of the course grade and offers three options: a full device assessment (aimed at CS 410), a build-and-break exercise done in pairs, and a fault-injection research project (aimed at CS 510). Proposals are due Friday 30 October 2026 (end of Week 5), and the graduate option benefits from being chosen by Week 4. Deliverables are due Friday 11 December 2026, during finals week.

Academic or Student Support Services

Accommodations

Accommodations for students with disabilities are determined and approved by Disability Resource Center (DRC). If you, as a student, believe you are eligible for accommodations but have not obtained approval please contact DRC immediately at 503-725-4150, drc@pdx.edu, or https://www.pdx.edu/disability-resource-center. DRC notifies students and faculty members of approved academic accommodations and coordinates implementation of those accommodations. If you have accommodations through DRC and wish to take the Midterm or Final Exam in the testing center, I strongly recommend that you schedule it before the end of week 1. If you are not registered with the DRC, you cannot register to take an exam in the testing center.

I want to make this class an open and welcoming environment for all. Your success is my goal.

Religious Observance

Portland State University strives to respect all religious practices. If you have religious holidays that conflict with any of the requirements of this class, please see me immediately so that we can make alternative arrangements.

Reach Out for Success

The PSU Center for Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) is staffed with folks who care and can help with a wide range of personal challenges. Here at PSU, there is never a need to tough things out alone.

As a student you may experience a range of issues that can cause barriers to learning, such as strained relationships, increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, feeling down, difficulty concentrating and/or lack of motivation. These mental health concerns or stressful events may lead to diminished academic performance or reduce a student’s ability to participate in daily activities. PSU is committed to advancing the mental health and well-being of its students. If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed, depressed, and/or in need of support, services are available. You can learn more about the broad range of confidential mental health services available on campus via SHAC https://www.pdx.edu/health-counseling/.

SHAC also has resources for physical health, including flu shots. You can check out their COVID-19 resources page here: https://www.pdx.edu/health-counseling/covid-19-resources (including testing).

Get Food Now Here at PSU, there is never a need to tough things out alone. Those who can, give, so those who need, have.

Housing / financial crisis help. Here at PSU, there is never a need to tough things out alone. Emergency Housing, etc.

Title IX

As an instructor, students frequently come to me for assistance in matters that are not related to the course material. Please be aware that PSU’s policies require instructors to report any instance of sexual harassment, sexual and relationship violence and/or other forms of prohibited discrimination to University Officials, who keep the information private. If you would rather share information about these experiences with a PSU staff member who does not have these reporting responsibilities and can keep the information confidential, please contact one of the following campus resources.

PSU Sexual Misconduct Response website gives you comprehensive information about how to support and/or report an incident.

Please complete the required student module Understanding Sexual Misconduct and Resources in Canvas, which provides information about PSU policy and resources.

You may also report sexual and relationship violence to law enforcement on campus with Campus Public Safety Office (CPSO).

Or you may file an anonymous report with Campus Public Safety Office or a Bias Incident report with the Bias Review Team (BRT). PSU does not typically investigate the reports that are made through these two avenues. These reports help PSU understand what students and employees are experiencing on and around campus and provide support where needed.

Previous Offerings