COMP 7120/8120 Cryptography and Data Security - sp2018

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the basic concepts and mechanisms of applied cryptography and data security. It will cover both cryptographic primitives (secret key encryption, public key encryption, digital signatures) and security protocols (user authentication). It also emphasizes on discussing the challenges when applying cryptographic building blocks to solve practical security problems, including cloud computing, mobile crowdsourcing networks, and distributed systems. (The content and syllabus are subject to adjustment during the semester.)

Prerequisites: The course is self-contained, however a basic understanding of probability theory and modular arithmetic will be helpful.

Lecture

Monday/Wednesday, 2:20 pm - 3:45 pm, Dunn Hall 109

Office Hours

By appointment only (Please arrange by email 2-3 days in advance)

Recommended Textbook

• A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography by D. Boneh and V. Shoup. Free! (recommend for Ph.D. students)
• Handbook of Applied Cryptography by A. Menezes, P. Van Oorschot, S. Vanstone. Free!
• Introduction to Modern Cryptography by J. Katz and Y. Lindell. (UofM library available)

Evaluation

Grading: Your final grade will come from the following sources: class attendance (CA), homework assignments (HA), in-class presentations (IP), and one in-class exam (IE). Here is the grading formula:

Grade = 0.1*CA + 0.2*HA + 0.3*IP + 0.4*IE

Grading Scale: A: 85 – 100, B: 70 – 84, C: 60 – 69, D: 50 – 59, F: 49 and below. (Plus/minus grading will be used).

Course Policy

• Late Policy: Without prior request, no late work will be accepted. All late submission maybe accepted at a penalty of 15% per day for no more than THREE days.
• Testing Policy: The exam given is closed book/note/laptop/neighbor. But students are allowed to bring one cheat sheet (letter-sized 8.5-by-11) for quick reference. There will NOT be any makeup exams unless there is a documented emergency.
• Homework Assignment and Project Report Policy: It is recommended that students use a word processing software (e.g., Word or LaTeX) to type their homework solutions or project report, then submit well-formatted PDF files.

Homework

• Homework 1 (Due 11:59 pm March 18th 2018)
• Homework 2: (Due 11:59 pm April 22nd 2018)

Presentation Schedule

• Presentation Schedule (anonymous)
• Peer Evaluation Form

Course Schedule

• Week 1:
  • JAN 17 - Class Canceled
• Week 2:
  • JAN 22 - Lecture 1: Introduction to Cryptography and Data Security
  • JAN 24 - Lecture 2: One Time Pad and Perfect Secrecy
• Week 3:
  • JAN 29 - Lecture 3: Stream Cipher
  • JAN 31 - Lecture 4: Semantic Security
• Week 4:
  • Feb 05 - Lecture 5: Block Cipher – The Data Encryption Standard (DES)
  • Feb 07 - Lecture 6: Block Cipher – The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
• Week 5:
  • Feb 12 - Lecture 7: How to use Block Cipher (one-time key)
  • Feb 14 - Lecture 8: How to use Block Cipher (many-time key)
• Week 6:
  • Feb 19 - Lecture 9: Basic Key Exchange
  • Feb 21 - Lecture 10: Some Number Theory(Basic Number Theory)
• Week 7:
  • Feb 26 - No Class (due to the conference)
  • Feb 28 - Lecture 11: Hard problems and Public Key Encryption
• Week 8:
  • Spring Break
• Week 9:
  • Mar 12 - Lecture 12: Public Key Encryption - RSA
  • Mar 14 - Lecture 13: Public Key Encryption - ElGamal
• Week 10:
  • Mar 19 - Lecture 14: Message Integrity - Message Authentication Codes
  • Mar 21 - Lecture 15: Collision Resistance and HMAC
• Week 11:
  • Mar 26 - Lecture 16: Digital Signature
  • Mar 28 - Lecture 17: Authenticated Encryption I
• Week 12:
  • April 02 - Lecture 18: Authenticated Encryption II
  • April 04 - Lecture 19: Cloud Security and Attribute-based Encryption
• Week 13:
  • April 09 - Presentation 1
  • April 11 - Presentation 2
• Week 14:
  • April 16 - Presentation 3
  • April 18 - Presentation 4
• Week 15:
  • April 23 - Review
  • April 25 - In-class Exam