ECE 4802/CS 4801: Introduction to
Cryptography and Communication Security

When:             Tuesday and Friday, 3:00 – 4:50 pm, starting October 24
Where:           AK219
Instructor:      Koksal Mus (kmus@wpi.edu), Office: AK212b

TA:                  Gizem Cetin (gscetin@wpi.edu), Office: AK212a

Tutor:                  Hongyu Pan (hpan@wpi.edu)

Office Hours: Friday between 11:00 – 12:00 am. For those who are not available on office hours may send an e-mail for an appointment.

 

Course Web Page

The latest announcements, handouts, assignments, source code, useful and interesting web links etc can be found on WPI Canvas course page .

Course Description
This course provides an introduction to modern cryptography and communication security. It focuses on how cryptographic algorithms and protocols work and how to use them.   The course covers the concepts of block ciphers and message authentication codes, public key encryption, digital signatures, and key establishment, as well as common examples and uses of such schemes, including the AES, RSA-OAEP, and the Digital Signature Algorithm.  Basic cryptanalytic techniques and examples of practical security solutions are explored to understand how to design and evaluate modern security solutions.

Target Audience

The course is suited for students interested in cryptography or other security related fields such as trusted computing, network and OS security, or general IT security.

Course Outcomes
After attending the course you will:

·         Understand basic principles of cryptography and general cryptanalysis

·         Be acquainted with the concepts of symmetric encryption and authentication

·         As well as public key encryption, digital signatures, and key establishment.

·         Know and understand common examples and uses of cryptographic schemes, including the AES, RSA-OAEP, the Digital Signature Algorithm, and the basic Diffie-Hellman key establishment protocol, and know how and when to apply them.

·         Be able to compose, build and analyze simple cryptographic solutions.

Course Outline

The following is a tentative course outline.

§  Week 1:       Historical encryption schemes and the one-time pad

§  Week 2:       Stream Ciphers and their usage in practice

§  Week 3:       Block Ciphers and their usage in practice

§  Week 4:       Hash functions and message authentication

§  Week 5:       Public key cryptography and key exchange

§  Week 6:       Public key encryption and their usage in practice

§  Week 7:       Usage of cryptography in practical protocols

Textbook
The course will loosely follow the text book by Paar and Pelzl [1], which is recommended as a reference.

[1] (recommended )Paar, Pelzl: Understanding Cryptography: A Textbook for Students and Practitioners. 1st edition, Springer, 2009
http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-642-04101-3

[2] (optional) Nigel Smart: Cryptography: An Introduction, Mcgraw-Hill College, 2004
The text was made available by the author for free download at: http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~nigel/Crypto_Book/

[3] (reference) Menezes, van Oorschot, Vanstone: Handbook of Applied Cryptography. CRC Press. 5th printing 2001. Downloads for academic purposes are available from: www.cacr.math.uwaterloo.ca/hac

[4] (further reading) David Kahn, The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet. Scribner, 1996

Grading
Grading is based on homeworks and final exam. The weights for the final grade are as follows:

Homeworks                                       60%
Final Exam                                          40%

This syllabus is subject to reasonable changes at the discretion of the instructor.