Instructor:
Nadia Heninger
(nadiah at cs dot ucsd dot edu)
Office hours: Thursday 3:30-4:30pm, EBU3B 3138
TAs:
Laura Shea Office Hours: Friday 3-4pm, CSE 4242
Adam Suhl Office Hours: Monday 4-5pm, CSE 4242
Lectures:
Tuesday/Thursday 2pm-3:20pm Center 212
Discussion:
Wednesday 2pm-3pm Center 216
Class Resources:
Gradebook and links on Canvas
Assignment submission on Gradescope
Asynchronous Q&A on Piazza, Synchronous Q&A on Discord, links on Canvas
Grading:
40%: Homework assignments
20%: Midterm
40%: Final
This course is an introduction to modern cryptography. Cryptography, broadly speaking, is about communicating in the presence of an adversary, with goals like preservation of privacy and integrity of communicated data. We will cover symmetric (private key) and asymmetric (public key) cryptography, including block ciphers, symmetric encryption, hash functions, message authentication, authenticated encryption, asymmetric encryption, digital signatures, RSA and discrete-logarithm-based systems, certificates, public-key infrastructure, key distribution, and various applications and protocols including commitment and secure computation.
This is not a general computer security course. If you are interested in web security, network security, OS security, application exploitation, or other topics like these please take CSE 127.
| Topic | References | Assignments | |
| 1/9 | Introduction Lecture Slides | Homework 0 available, with starter code | |
| 1/10 | Discussion | ||
| 1/11 | Classical Encryption Lecture Slides | ||
| 1/16 | Block Ciphers Lecture Slides | Homework 0 due at 2pm; Homework 1 available, with starter code | |
| 1/17 | Discussion | ||
| 1/18 | Block Ciphers continued Lecture Slides | ||
| 1/23 | Pseudorandom Functions Lecture Slides | ||
| 1/24 | Discussion | ||
| 1/25 | Symmetric Encryption Lecture Slides | Homework 1 due at 2pm; Homework 2 available, with starter code | |
| 1/30 | Hash Functions Lecture Slides | ||
| 1/31 | Discussion | ||
| 2/1 | Message Authentication Codes Lecture Slides | Homework 2 due at 2pm; Homework 3 available, with starter code | |
| 2/6 | Message Authentication Codes and Authenticated Encryption Lecture Slides | ||
| 2/7 | Discussion | ||
| 2/8 | Authenticated Encryption Continued | Homework 3 due at 2pm; Homework 4 available, with starter code | |
| 2/13 | Computational Number Theory
Lecture Slides | ||
| 2/14 | Discussion: Midterm review | ||
| 2/15 | Midterm One 8.5"x11" cheat sheet allowed | ||
| 2/20 | Computational Number Theory Continued | Homework 4 due at 2pm; Homework 5 available, with starter code | |
| 2/21 | Discussion | ||
| 2/22 | RSA Lecture Slides | ||
| 2/27 | Public-Key Cryptography and Hybrid Encryption Lecture Slides | Homework 5 due at 2pm; Homework 6 available, with starter code | |
| 2/28 | Discussion | ||
| 2/29 | Digital Signatures, PKI | ||
| 3/5 | Crypto for the People | Homework 6 due at 2pm; Homework 7 available, with starter code | |
| 3/6 | Discussion | ||
| 3/7 | Cryptography Careers Guest lecture by Keegan Ryan, Laura Shea, Adam Suhl | ||
| 3/12 | Key Distribution Lecture Slides | ||
| 3/13 | Discussion: Final Exam Review | ||
| 3/14 | Cryptanalysis Lecture Slides | Homework 7 due at 2pm | |
| 3/21 3-6pm | Final Exam One 8.5"x11" cheat sheet allowed |
You will have several problem sets over the quarter. They will be a combination of written proof-based exercises and programming exercises using the Python-based Playcrypt library.
You are expected to write up your homework solutions yourself. You may discuss the problems with small groups of your fellow classmates. Please credit your collaborators on your homework submission.
Late work policy: You have four late days that you can use for any reason. You can use at most one late day per assignment to turn it in late and receive credit. A late day is a full 24 hour period. These should cover all of your normal extension needs. If you have an unforeseen and truly extenuating circumstance that will impact all of your courses for an extended period, please reach out to us and contact the Office of Student Affairs for help with coordination.
Academic Integrity: Failure to follow the collaboration policy on assignments or exams, turning in other people's work as your own, or dishonesty is an academic integrity violation.
