A prominent expert in the number theory Godfrey Hardy described it in the beginning of 20th century as one of the most obviously useless branches of Pure Mathematics”. Just 30 years after his death, an algorithm for encryption of secret messages was developed using achievements of number theory. It was called RSA after the names of its authors, and its implementation is probably the most frequently used computer program in the world nowadays. Without it, nobody would be able to make secure payments over the internet, or even log in securely to e-mail and other personal services. In this course we will start with the basics of the number theory and get to cryptographic protocols based on it. By the end, you will be able to apply the basics of the number theory to encrypt and decrypt messages, and to break the code if one applies RSA carelessly. You will even pass a cryptographic quest! As prerequisites we assume only basic math (e.g., we expect you to know what is a square or how to add fractions), basic programming in python (functions, loops, recursion), common sense and curiosity. Our intended audience are all people that work or plan to work in IT, starting from motivated high school students.
TK
I cant think of any other best way of presenting cryptography to beginners. Everything presented in the course has some connection to cryptography, really enjoyed RSA quest.
AC
Excellent course to learn number theory principles and relate them to asymmetric cryptosystems. The course is highly rigorous and challenging.
TV
Thank you! enjoyed learning number theory, understood new concepts of modular programming, how public key -private key works and the basis of rsa algorithm.
GN
Amazing course, learnt a lot. The assignments were a bit difficult [ and time consuming ] but they helped me gain a better understanding of the concepts.
RD
Excellent material and teachers.Specifically, the course contents of week 4 : the RSA quiz and the RSA quest quiz material is outstanding! Kudos!
DP
This course was amazing! Got a good, but brief insight into the basics of cryptography. The examples at the end of the course were great!
AT
Final week is a bit rushed, think it would have benefited from being one week longer.Nevertheless, an excellent introduction to an extremely difficult and complex subject.
PS
Its a good course to the beginers of cryptography.If you want to join you should know basic number theory and computer language python.
SS
Great introduction to number theory, with little to no assumed knowledge. Proceeds quite quickly, but remains relatively simple and introduces concepts well.
WH
My first experience with cryptography. The coding assignments are enough to make me think and ensure that I understood the concepts.
PW
I was really impressed especially with the RSA portion of the course. It was really well explained, and the programming exercise was cleverly designed and implemented. Well done.
AS
It was a great course which helped me learn number theory and introduced me to Cryptography.The teaching assistants could have been more active.
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Formulas, formulas... lack of examples - lack of understandings. Though topics of the course are very useful and interesting.
Last quest was fascinating. But in my case notebook stopped giving me any results and I managed to get only 1/4 of tasks.
It serves as a table of contents of the material which makes it useful to seek out other lecturers on YouTube. I wouldn't recommend someone uses this course by itself.
This is a really is a special course. It doesn't have any puzzles like the first few but, you get to go on a RSA quest, ala cicada 3301, and practice your new cryptography skills. At the end of your quest you gain ultimate knowledge.
A good course for people who have no basic background in number theory , explicit clear explanation in RSA algorithm. Overall,a good introduction course.
Concepts are poorly explained. It is very hard to follow the instructors. Need better quality courses.
Really nice introduction to discrete math and basic algorithms. The content is quite basic, but as mentioned in the syllabus is for beginners. Still, for those of you who are at that level is worth taking this specialization.
I was really impressed especially with the RSA portion of the course. It was really well explained, and the programming exercise was cleverly designed and implemented. Well done.
I cant think of any other best way of presenting cryptography to beginners. Everything presented in the course has some connection to cryptography, really enjoyed RSA quest.
This course is not deep and rigorous enough to familiarize you with fundamentals of Number Theory. It just covers some theorems! No reference book is suggested, and worst of all accent of teachers makes it really hard to understand the material.
My first experience with cryptography. The coding assignments are enough to make me think and ensure that I understood the concepts.
Excellent course, this course is more about numerical theory behind cryptography.
It has excellent assignments using Python.
in a short 4 weeks, it explains the theory of RSA well and also the RSA itself.
The final project is absolutely awesome!
This is worse course I’ve taken as far as getting certified as far as exams, quizzes. Bad external tools that don’t work. Bizarre instructions to complete exams. And graders who have no clue as to what the issues, looking at questions in forums. The Notebook function is sometimes cumbersome. And use of it as educational material was confusing.However if just auditing, this course is great. And material is covered with seriousness, and goes beyond summary treatments in other crypto classes on schemes based on number theoretic concepts.
Many errors, dificult to understand
Professional instructors explain all the number theory necessary for the implementation of the RSA cryptosystem. The course ends with a nice labwork where you implement RSA and conduct several attacks on incorrect implementations. Michael Levin is one of my favorite instructors. I have a feeling that this course was somewhat short, but maybe it is caused by the fact that it is a part of the five-course specialization.
This course was fantastic. It was easy to follow for someone with no previous number theory or cryptography background. Writing RSA encryption and implementing attacks at the end was very rewarding, and I loved the course's Final Quest solving a series of puzzles to find the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything!
It was indeed a great course. I already had the fundamentals of Cryptography and No. Theory but this course helped me brush up my fundamentals and the instructors kept things simple and concise and most importantly to the point at the same time. The puzzles, quizzes, and the quizzes in between the videos were awesome too.Thank You.
Excellent course by Vladimir Podolskii Associate Professor Computer Science,Michael Levin Lecturer Computer Science , and Alexander S. Kulikov Visiting Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering by Univ. of Sand Diego California and National Research University for teaching learners about cryptography.
I loved this course! It is unlike any I have taken before. All courses in this specialization have always included fun activities to make the taught content fun and understandable.