COURSE INFO (Winter 2007) Not offered 2008-09

This course is an introduction to modern cryptographic techniques and their mathematical foundations.  Review of elementary number theory and algebra; classical cryptosystems; encryption standards; public key cryptosystems; e-Business applications; digital signatures.  Elliptic curve cryptography and quantum cryptography may be included.

TEXTBOOKS

Trappe, W., & Washington, L. (2006).  Introduction to Cryptography.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Mao: Modern Cryptography: Theory and Practice
Garrett: Making, Breaking Codes
Goldreich: Foundations of Cryptography: Basic Tools
Mollin: An Introduction to Cryptography
Menezes et al: Handbook of Applied Cryptography

                    - (available online at http://www.cacr.math.uwaterloo.ca/hac/)


 

Software: We will make use of the computer from time to time during this course. Maple, Release 9.5 is available over the Network only. Maple has a variety of built-in functions for doing number theory. A better option is the program PARI, which is a fast number theory program and is free over the web (GPL). PARI has very recently been subsumed into a larger (yet still free) system called SAGE. This is the clear current favourite among researchers in number theory, computational algebra, and cryptography.

Course Web Page:

Assignments: There will be assignments approximately every week.

Midterm: There will be a single midterm test, likely during the week of March 5th.

Project/Presentation: During the last half of the term you will be required to complete a project, in which you explore an additional topic in cryptography. This project will be written up for submission, and a presentation will be given to the class.

Final Project: There will be a final project due at the end of classes.

Course Mark:

PREREQUISITES

Math 3303 or 3513

Page last updated September 2008.