Module 06-20008 (2017)

The module will present the fundamentals of cryptography, as well as its applications and issues of how cryptography is used in practice.

• introduce the basic terminology, concepts, and standards of cryptography
• familiarise students with the main approaches, algorithms, and protocols in modern cryptography
• explain the principles and underlying mathematical theory of today's cryptographic algorithms
• provide an understanding of potential weaknesses and problems with ciphers and cryptographic protocols
• raise awareness of some of the legal and socio-ethical issues surrounding cryptography

1. explain the fundamentals of cryptography, such as encryption, digital signatures and secure hashes
2. select appropriate techniques and apply them to solve a given problem
3. design and evaluate security protocols appropriate for a given situation
4. demonstrate an understanding of the mathematical underpinning of cryptography
5. demonstrate an understanding of some legal and socio-ethical issues surrounding cryptography

None

3 hours/week lectures/exercise classes

Contact Hours: 34

Sessional: 1.5 hr examination (80%), continuous assessment (20%).

Supplementary (where allowed): By examination only (100%).

1. Overview on Historical Ciphers
2. Symmetric Ciphers
   • Block Ciphers
   • Stream Ciphers
   • Key Management
3. Asymmetric Ciphers
   • Public Key Cryptography
   • Diffie-Hellman
   • RSA
4. Signatures, Certificates, Data Integrity
5. TLS, SSH
6. Random Oracle Model