Course Description:
Cryptology is the study of the design and analysis of various encryption schemes, and related topics. The plan is to study the basics of the subject and then touch on several recent developments.
Grading: Homework 15%, Two midterms: 25% each, Final: 35%
The final exam will be on Thursday, May 13, 8:00am-10:00am.
Homework is due by 11:59:59pm on the due date. Late homework will be accepted; however, the score will be reduced by a factor of 50%.
Approximate syllabus: (subject to adjustment):
1. Construction and analysis of simple cryptosystems (affine, substitution, Vigenere, linear feedback shift registers)
2. Public key cryptography (RSA, finding large primes, factoring techniques, ElGamal systems)
3. The Data Encryption Standard and the Advanced Encryption Standard
4. Signature schemes (how to sign an electronic message)
5. Key distribution
6. Secret sharing schemes (design a system that can be activated by any 5 people in a group, but never by 4)
7. Hash functions
8. Zero-knowledge proofs (prove that you have some information without revealing the information)
9. Elliptic curves