Cryptography
This MSc course introduces the foundations of modern cryptography: how security is defined, how constructions are proved secure, and how cryptographic tools are used in practice. It is the entry point to the cryptography track at ITU and prepares students for the more advanced Cryptographic Computation and Blockchain and Language-Based Security courses.
About the course
The course is part of the Security specialisation of the MSc in Computer Science at the IT University of Copenhagen (7.5 ECTS, taught in spring).
Learning objectives
After taking this course, students will be able to:
- explain what it means for a cryptographic scheme to be secure, using formal security definitions
- reason about the security of constructions by reduction to well-studied assumptions
- choose and apply standard primitives (encryption, hashing, message authentication, signatures) appropriately
- recognise common weaknesses and attacks on cryptographic schemes
Topics
- Adversary models and security definitions
- Symmetric encryption and message authentication
- Hash functions and pseudorandomness
- Public-key encryption and digital signatures
- Proofs by reduction
- Applications and pitfalls in real systems