Introduction to Cryptography

 

Instructor: Benny Pinkas, benny (at) pinkas.net, benny (at) cs.haifa.ac.il.

 

Fall semester 2006.

Dept. of Computer Science, University of Haifa.

 

Description:

This course is an introduction to the basic theory and practice of cryptographic techniques. We will cover topics such as encryption (secret-key and public-key), digital signatures, secure authentication, secret sharing, and cryptographic protocols.

 

Prerequisites:

Probability theory, Linear Algebra, Number Theory, "Mathematical Maturity".

 

Administrativia:

1.      Office Hours: Wednesday, 12pm-1pm.

2.      Grading:

1.      Final exam: 75%. 

2.      Home work: 25%.

Reading:

  1. Textbook: Cryptography Theory and Practice, Second edition by D. Stinson.
  2. ‫מבוא לקריפטוגרפיה : מדריך למידה לספר  Cryptography: theory and practice / תמיר טסה
  3. Optional (Free!): Handbook of Applied Cryptography, by A. Menezes, P. Van Oorschot, S. Vanstone. 
  4. Optional (Free!): Introduction to Cryptography Applied to Secure Communication and Commerce, by Amir Herzberg.
  5. Optional: Applied Cryptography, by B. Schneier.

 

A sample exam:

   The exam given in fall semester, 2006.

 

Course Plan:

 

Lecture

Date

Subject

Files

1

1.11.06

Introduction, Kerckhoff's principle, classic ciphers, perfect ciphers.

slides, printer friendly slides.

2

 8.11.06 Pseudo-randomness. Block ciphers. Encryption modes. slides, printer friendly slides. Notes on pseudorandomness!

3

 15.11.06 Encryption modes. DES. AES. Meet in the middle attack.

slides, printer friendly slides.  AES animation.
 4 22.11.06  Differential cryptanalysis, authentication, CBC MAC. slides, printer friendly slides

5

 29.11.06  Authentication, hash functions, basic number theory.   slides, printer friendly slides
See also: a basic  number theory fact sheet, and  a primer on number theory for computer scientists.

6

 6.12.06 Basic number theory, Diffie-Hellman key exchange. slides, printer friendly slides
7 13.12.06 Diffie-Hellman, El Gama encryption, RSA encryption. slides, printer friendly slides
8 20.12.06 RSA encryption, Rabin encryption, digital signatures. slides, printer friendly slides
9 27.12.06 Digital signatures, PKI. slides, printer friendly slides
  3.1.07 lecture cancelled.  
10 10.1.07 PKI, certificate revocation, SSL. slides, printer friendly slides
11 17.1.07 Secret sharing, electronic cash. slides, printer friendly slides

 

Homeworks: TBD

 

A sample of other crypto courses on the web (with slides or lecture notes available online):

(in no particular order)

·         Eli Biham's course at the Technion.

·         Amos Fiat's course in Tel Aviv University.

·         Amir Herzberg's course in Bar Ilan University.

·         Yehuda Lindell's course in Bar Ilan University.

·         David Wagner's course in Berkeley.

·         Salil Vadhan's course in Harvard.

·         Mihir Bellare's course in UCSD.

Last updated: February 1, 2007.