Goals of the Course

Cryptography is a core security technology with many applications in communication and information systems, electronic commerce and, more generally, in the emerging global information society. Today, every IT-professional needs basic knowledge in cryptography.

This course provides an in-depth coverage of cryptography from a conceptual and application-oriented point of view. At the same time, the mathematical, algorithmic, and protocol aspects are explained without necessarily requiring a deep background in mathematics. A partial list of topics covered can be found in the course syllabus.

The material is treated at three different levels:

• At the highest level, the concepts are discussed as black boxes, in detail but without mathematics. No background is required to follow at this level which is suitable for everyone.



• At the medium level, the most important concrete schemes and algorithms are discussed with the minimal necessary mathematical formality. This level will be of value to students with some graduate level mathematics.



• At the deepest level, which is not required to understand the higher levels, several special topics requiring some previous exposure to cryptographic mathematics are discussed.

After taking this course, the student will be able to read the cryptographic literature, to think about cryptography critically and constructively, and apply cryptography in practical and theoretic settings.

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