Learning Blog

 This week we learned about security, particularly about encryption and how keys are used in networks to protect data. It's interesting to learn about encryption techniques that are now obsolete due to improvements in computing processors. I wonder how long it would take for currently recommended encryption methods to become obsolete. Also, I found the examples in the lectures helpful. Thinking of the data exchange across a network as a conversation between two people (and possibly three if we include an eavesdropper) helps me understand the flow of data and vulnerabilities that can arise.

 This week we continued to learn about HTTP, plus DNS and email protocols. I find the the material very interesting based on the lecture videos, but I still need to finish catching up on the reading. I think I need to review some of the earlier material on calculations and measuring response and request times, since quiz questions in later chapters seem to require this. I didn't have the technical issues I had last week. Although I do wish the labs could be turned in as assignments rather than quizzes (more flexibility for asking questions and dealing with technical vm issues).

 Journal Entry for Week 1: This week we had an introduction to networking. We also started setting up our environments for the tools we'll be using in future assignments. The lecture videos were pretty straightforward and easy to follow. However, the installation instructions for our tools didn't seem to be complete (particularly for Mac's). But I was able to set that up in my own environment with the help of our class TA and professor, and I enjoyed working with new tools like Wireshark and Ubuntu virtual machines.