MIT 6.858 Computer Systems Security: study plan and how long it takes
The MIT OpenCourseWare playlist is 22 videos and 29.7 hours long. Here's how long it takes at different paces, a week-by-week schedule built from the real videos, and a planner that turns it into your own daily plan.
22 videos · 29.7 hours · MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT 6.858 (Fall 2014) covers threat models, buffer overflows and defences, privilege separation and capabilities, the web security model, symbolic execution, network security, SSL and HTTPS, side-channel attacks, private browsing, mobile security and security economics.
Each lecture is around 80 minutes, and the papers and labs are on MIT OpenCourseWare.
Who it's for: Programmers who understand C and systems basics and want a serious grounding in computer security.
How long does it take?
The full playlist is 29.7 hours across 22 videos. Here's roughly how many days that is at different daily watch times and speeds, counting video time only:
| Daily time | At 1x | At 1.5x | At 2x |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 min a day | 60 days | 40 days | 30 days |
| 1 h a day | 30 days | 20 days | 15 days |
| 2 h a day | 15 days | 10 days | 8 days |
Make your own schedule
The playlist link is already filled in. Press Plan, set how much time you have each day and your speed, and you'll get a day-by-day schedule with a finish date and a calendar file. It reads the live playlist, so new videos are included.
Week-by-week schedule
A sample plan at 1 hour a day and normal speed, using whole videos so none is split across days. That's 4 weeks in total. For a different pace, start date or speed, use the planner above.
Week 1Videos 1–7 · 9h 38m
Day 1 · 1h 17m
- 11. Introduction, Threat Models1h 17m
Day 2 · 1h 28m
- 22. Control Hijacking Attacks1h 28m
Day 3 · 1h 22m
- 33. Buffer Overflow Exploits and Defenses1h 22m
Day 4 · 1h 23m
- 44. Privilege Separation1h 23m
Day 5 · 1h 22m
- 56. Capabilities1h 22m
Day 6 · 1h 23m
- 67. Sandboxing Native Code1h 23m
Day 7 · 1h 23m
- 78. Web Security Model1h 23m
Week 2Videos 8–14 · 9h 18m
Day 8 · 1h 22m
- 89. Securing Web Applications1h 22m
Day 9 · 1h 22m
- 910. Symbolic Execution1h 22m
Day 10 · 1h 20m
- 1011. Ur/Web1h 20m
Day 11 · 1h 18m
- 1112. Network Security1h 18m
Day 12 · 1h 21m
- 1213. Network Protocols1h 21m
Day 13 · 1h 18m
- 1314. SSL and HTTPS1h 18m
Day 14 · 1h 16m
- 1415. Medical Software1h 16m
Week 3Videos 15–21 · 9h 31m
Day 15 · 1h 22m
- 1516. Side-Channel Attacks1h 22m
Day 16 · 1h 20m
- 1617. User Authentication1h 20m
Day 17 · 1h 20m
- 1718. Private Browsing1h 20m
Day 18 · 1h 20m
- 1819. Anonymous Communication1h 20m
Day 19 · 1h 22m
- 1920. Mobile Phone Security1h 22m
Day 20 · 1h 20m
- 2021. Data Tracking1h 20m
Day 21 · 1h 27m
- 2122. Guest Lecture by MIT IS&T1h 27m
Week 4Video 22 · 1h 17m
Day 22 · 1h 17m
- 2223. Security Economics1h 17m
Tips for finishing
- Read the paper for each lecture first; the lectures assume you have.
- Plan two or three lectures a week if you're doing the labs.