Course syllabus

Introduces the building blocks of cryptography and the use and deployment of cryptographic systems used in securing communications and data storage. Provides an overview of encryption algorithms and the technologies and systems that support them including symmetric key cryptography, public key infrastructure, digital signatures and certificate technologies. As a part of this overview, this course will concentrate on the management issues of algorithm selection; encryption key generation, distribution, and revocation; and strategies for overcoming encryption security vulnerabilities and their associated breaches. The course also discusses best-practices and compliance with national and international standards and explores the current research and developments in this area.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Explain the concepts of symmetric cryptography, public key cryptography, hash functions and digital signatures
• State formal security notions and understand their relation with actual attacks on real-world systems
• Specify several encryption and signature algorithms, and know when to use them
• Deploy and manage cryptographic systems used in securing communications and data storage
• Master management issues of the lifecycle of the crypto material (encryption key generation, distribution, and revocation)
• Present technical ideas in both verbal and written form

Lecturers

• Professor Steven Galbraith
  Mathematics Department
  Office: 303e.244
  Phone: ext 8778 / 923 8778
  Office hours: Mon 2-3, Wed 10-11, Fri 10-11 (good idea to call to check I am in)
  Email:   s.galbraith@auckland.ac.nz
  Webpage:  https://www.math.auckland.ac.nz/~sgal018/
  
  
• Associate Professor Giovanni Russello
  Computer Science department
  Office: 303s.583 
  Email:  g.russello@auckland.ac.nz
  Webpage:  https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~russello/

Course contact hours/timetable

Assessment
During the course you will do an independent research project, write a report on it, and give a presentation on it to the whole class. Your classmates will ask questions about your project. There are marks allocated to the written report, the presentation, and the questions you ask of other speakers. A full list of possible research projects will be given to students in week 3 of the course. The presentations will take place in the second half of the course. The topics covered in the presentations become part of the content of the course, and are therefore examinable.

• 50% Examination
• 24% Assignments
• 16% Research report
• 10% Oral presentations & questions

Required Background
This is a self-contained course in Applied Cryptography and all important technical ideas are explained in the lecture notes and during lectures. In particular, the lectures in the first weeks contain a quick overview of some basic mathematical concepts such as modular arithmetic and simple probability. However the following general knowledge is assumed (typically covered in the first and second year of a computer science degree):

• bits,bytes,words,basic logic operations (and, or, not)
• basic algebra,laws of exponents,primes,functions
• algorithms,complexity
• computer programs,compilation,executables
• data structures,arrays,computer memory,cache
• operating systems
• networks

Suggested books
See the reading list for links and full information, here are some particular books:

• A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography, Dan Boneh and Victor ShoupLinks to an external site.
• Cryptography, An Introduction : Third Edition, Nigel P. Smart. Links to an external site.
• Everyday Cryptography, Keith M. Martin
• Cryptography engineering : design principles and practical applications, Niels Ferguson, Bruce Schneier, Tadayoshi Kohno

Piazza

You may use Piazza for class discussion. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza. If you have any problems or feedback for the developers, email team@piazza.com.

Sign up here: piazza.com/aucklanduni.ac.nz/semester12019/compsci727