EE 480F -- Cryptography and Information Security -- Tues/Thurs 4:25-5:50PM

Prerequisites:  EE301 and ISE361 or equivalent, and basic familiarity with a computer programming language.

Textbook:  Modern Cryptography, Theory & Practice by Wenbo Mao.

Other books:  here are some books I recommend for further reading.

• Security Engineering, by Ross Anderson (Wiley, 2001.)  This is a very informative book about security in practice, from community swimming pool passes to nuclear command and control. 
• The Handbook of Applied Cryptography, by Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. Van Oorschot, and Scott A. Vanstone.  All chapters of this book are available for free online.
• Applied Cryptography:  Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, by Bruce Schneier (Wiley, 1995.)  This is a standard reference book for people who want to implement security systems.  Its several chapters on cryptographic protocols are very useful.
• Public-Key Cryptography, by Arto Salomaa (Springer-Verlag Text in Theoretical Computer Science, 1996.)  Salomaa's book is a great reference for public-key systems.  I would have used it as a textbook if only it was more diverse mathematically.  Also, for some strange reason, all of his plaintext examples are essays about saunas; what a sauna is, where to find a sauna, etc.
• A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography, by Neal Koblitz (Springer-Verlag Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 1994.)  Koblitz focusses on public-key cryptosystems based on number theory (yes, there are systems that aren't based on number theory.)

Grading:

• Quizzes/Attendance 5%
• Assignments 30%
• Midterm 30%
• Final  35%

Assignments:  Assignments will be written homework, and will include short programming assignments which demonstrate various techniques in encryption and code-breaking.  Any programming language can be used for these assignments (I would discourage the use of COBOL or APL, but it's your call.)

Course overview: 

From catalog:  Introduction to codes and ciphers, and information security. Cryptanalysis (code-breaking), modern block and stream ciphers, public-key cryptography, protocols, security engineering and threat management. Key exchange, digital cash, digital voting, anonymity protocols.

This class will cover the underlying theory of the subject, as well as how cryptography is used and broken in practice. 

Lectures: 

The schedule is not set in stone, and you will see that I have two columns worth of subject matter:  the cryptologic subject matter, and the underlying mathematics you will really be learning.

When	Subject Matter	Relevant Mathematics	Book matter	Notes
Week 1 Jan 25, 27	Introduction to Cryptology		Mao 205-217
Week 2 Feb 1, 3	Classical codebreaking	Detection Theory	Handout, Mao pp 61-75
Week 3 Feb 8, 10	Breaking polyalphabetic Ciphers	Detection Theory
Week 4 Feb 15, 17	The Enigma Machine
Week 5 Feb 22, 24	DES and AES	A Brief Detour into Finite Fields	Mao, pp 218-239
Week 6 Mar 1, 3	Theoretical limits of cryptography	Information Theory	Handout
Week 7 Mar 8, 10
Week 8 Mar 15, 17	Midterm
Spring Recess Mar 22, 24
Week 9 Mar 29, 31	Communication over noisy and wire-tapped channels	Information Theory, Coding Theory	Handout
Week 10 Apr 5, 7
Week 11 Apr 12, 14	Public-key cryptography	Number Theory	Mao Ch 6
Week 12 Apr 19, 21		Number Theory, Computational Complexity
Week 13 Apr 26, 28	Cryptographic Protocols	More Number Theory
Week 14 May 3, 5	Zero-Knowledge proofs		Mao Ch 18
Exam Week May 10, 12