Cryptography is an indispensable tool for protecting information in computer systems. In this course you will learn the inner workings of cryptographic systems and how to correctly use them in real-world applications. The course begins with a detailed discussion of how two parties who have a shared secret key can communicate securely when a powerful adversary eavesdrops and tampers with traffic. We will examine many deployed protocols and analyze mistakes in existing systems. The second half of the course discusses public-key techniques that let two parties generate a shared secret key. Throughout the course participants will be exposed to many exciting open problems in the field and work on fun (optional) programming projects. In a second course (Crypto II) we will cover more advanced cryptographic tasks such as zero-knowledge, privacy mechanisms, and other forms of encryption.
Modular e'th Roots
Skills You'll Learn
Cryptography, Cryptographic Attacks, Public-Key Cryptography, Symmetric-Key Algorithm
Reviews
Cutting edge cryptography topics. Good explanations and slides, but pause button is highly recommended. Can be a bit too mathematical for the general public, and not very formal for mathematicians.
A really interesting and in-depth course. It is pretty challenging and requires good math/proof skills, but still quite fun. The course could use more study materials, for example lecture notes.
Week 5. This week's topic is basic key exchange: how to setup a secret key between two parties. For now we only consider protocols secure against eavesdropping. This question motivates the main concepts of public key cryptography, but before we build public-key systems we need to take a brief detour and cover a few basic concepts from computational number theory. We will start with algorithms dating back to antiquity (Euclid) and work our way up to Fermat, Euler, and Legendre. We will also mention in passing a few useful concepts from 20th century math. Next week we will put our hard work from this week to good use and construct several public key encryption systems.
Taught By
Dan Boneh
Professor
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