> Hi.

> How necessary are the readings? Hypothetically, if a student could only do one, should they ensure that they understand the lecture and lab content, or should they ensure that they've read all of the readings?

I'd suggest working through (and reviewing) the lecture and lab content, first, and referring to the recommended readings if anything is unclear. There are a few topics which are often poorly understood, though, namely

• setuid programs, and
• integer overflow

so for those, my recommendation would be for everyone to read through the relevant chapters in Seacord, Secure Coding in C and C++.

If you are struggling to find enough time to understand the lecture or lab material, my suggestion would be to try reading through any relevant chapters of the Goodrich and Tamassia book Introduction to Computer Security – it's quite a good introduction to many computer security topics, and may make the lectures and labs easier to understand.

I hope that helps – let me know if anything is unclear.

Cheers

Arran