Ongoing approximate Syllabus -- CSC 290A Intro. to Crypto.


Thus, a short introductory course in cryptography could simply proceed straight through the text and stop when time ran out. In some sense this is the most natural use of this material.

-- Paul Garrett

Although we don't recommend doing so, a daring reader could possibly read Chapters 4 through 19 in reverse order...

-- Trappe and Washington

Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

--- Dennis Kimbro.

Any fool can drown; that's the easy bit.

--- Pete Goss, Single-hand sailor

The syllabus may well be updated as reality intrudes, so be prepared for some minor variations.

Legend and Links

T = Trappe and Washington, S = Singh; T2.2 is Chapter 2.2 of Trappe, S pp. 101-200 is 100 pages of Singh, etc. CB3 is CB's lecture notes number 3, RN2 is Randal Nelson's lecture notes number 2. CB's notes are very spotty, Nelson's are beautiful.

The Reading listed for a day should be done BEFORE that day. Here are some of the overheads used in lectures.

Assignment Details , including the detailed assignments corresponding to textbook exercises T1, T2, etc... and programming and cryptanalysis exercises E1, E2, etc... Also ideas for term projects and style guidelines for assignments.

DUE DATES AND TIMES

The Ex exercises are due when webCT says they are, which should be 11:55 pm the Friday following the day (should be Thursday) shown on the syllabus below. They are due at 11:55 pm, NOT MIDNITE! After 11:55 your work will be marked "late" by WebCT but will continue to be accepted for another 48 hours (If I got it set up right).

The Tx exercises are due overnight on the date they're due (Tue. or Thur.) Deposit in the box outside Bin Wei's office, 626 for pickup the next morning.

Syllabus

Links "Grille" and "Combin" were done early in my career as a scanner, so they're just directories of JPEG files, each a page of the reading, numbered in order. Also "Subst" may give you crick in the neck or two...apologies. CB

Lec Date Subject Reading Ass't Ex. Ass't Ex. Due
1 T 9.5 Terminology, Overview S1, S pp 351-394; T1, T App. A,B,C; CB2; RN1,2 Subst. . T1, E1 None
2 R 9.7 Classical Crypto T2.1-.2, T2.4-.6;. CB4,6; RN2,3; Grille . E2 E1
3 T 9.12 Probs, Perms T15.1-.2, S2, Combin ; CB5,6; RN2,3,5; E3 --
4 R 9.14 Vigenere, IOC S3, T2.3; RN4. T2 T1,E2
5 T 9.19 Playfair, Hill T2.6-.7; RN5 -- --
6 R 9.21 Break! Barcodes For fun: Short Substs . -- --
7 T 9.26 Random Nos, LFSR T2.10-.11 T3 T2
8 R 9.28 Rotors, DES S4, T2.12; T4; CB7; RN6,9; BabyDES , AttackDES , E4 E3
9 T 10.3 DES, AES T4, T5 T4 T3
10 R 10.5 Number Th. I T3.1-.5; CB8, RN7. E5 E4
11 T 10.10 Break! Stego RN8 -- --
12 R 10.12 Number Th. II T3.6-.9, RN10 T5 T4
13 T 10.17 Number Th. III T3.10-.12 -- --
14 R 10.19 Public Key, RSA I S6, T6.1-.3; RN11; Gardner E6 E5
15 T 10.24 Public Key, RSA and Attacks T6.4-.6 Timeline , Conflicts , UK Crypto . T6 T5
16 R 10.26 Primes, Factoring T6.4 - .6 still, S5 Term Project Proposal --
17 T 10.31 Disc. Logs. T7.1-7.3 T7 T6
18 R 11.2 Disc. Logs and Information Theory T7.4-7.5, S7, T15 -- --
19 T 11.7 Hash Functions, Random numbers T8 T8 T7
20 R 11.9 Random Numbers, Protocols T9, T10 Protocols 1 E7 E6
21 T 11.14 More Protocols Protocols 2 Term Project Progress Report Term Project Proposal
22 R 11.16 Secure elections, secret splitting, sharing, more... Prot3 , Prot4 , Schneier Handout T9 T8
23 T 11.21 Cancelled for lack of interest -- -- --
24 R 11.23 Thanksgiving -- -- Progress Report
25 T 11.28 Blom, Digital Cash, Schnorr Auth., T 10.2, 11, Brands Handout -- E7
26 R 11.30 More Secret Sharing T 12 -- T9
27 T 12.5 Games and Zero-Knowledge Proofs T 13, 14 -- --
28 R 12.7 Quantum Crypto T 19 -- --
29 T 12.12 Turbo Codes T 15 (as much as practical) Turbo.pdf -- --
30 T 12.19 Project Writeup -- -- WebCT Project Writeup

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Last update: 08.22.043.