Description
In this introductory lecture, we first give a general overview of the course and its structure. We then move to the first topic, that is a review of the basics concepts in cryptography, with particular focus on symmetric-key and public-key encryption algorithms.
Topics covered:
- Security models in cryptography
- Taxonomy of cryptosystems
- Unconditionally secure ciphers: the One-Time Pad
- Vernam-like stream ciphers and pseudorandom number generators
- One-way functions, the basis of modern cryptography
- Block ciphers and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
- Basics of public-key cryptography
- The Diffie-Hellman key agreement scheme
- The RSA public-key encryption algorithm
- Mentions of quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography
Reading Material
Nice textbooks on cryptography:
- J. Katz, Y. Lindell. Introduction to Modern Cryptography. 3rd ed. CRC Press, 2021
- N. P. Smart. Cryptography: An Introduction. 1st ed. McGraw-Hill, 2004 (freely available on the author’s website)
- D. R. Stinson. Cryptography: Theory and Practice. 3rd ed. CRC Press, 2006