Modern Cryptography (Autumn 2023)
Basic Information
Instructor: Yu Chen, Email: yuchen.prc@gmail.com
Teaching Assistant: Xiangyu Kong, Email: SDU_Crypto_TA@163.com
Time: 周四9-11 (Week 2-17) 淦昌苑D118 19:00-21:50
Course Description
Modern cryptography have been playing an important role in information security,
ranging from purely theoretical studies (e.g. complexity theory) to highly practical applications
(e.g. secure communication, Bitcoins, etc.) Research in the related fields has been extremely active since 1949.
This course is a graduate-level, theory-oriented introduction to the foundations of modern cryptography.
The emphasis is on essential concepts, precise models and definitions, and proof techniques.
We will introduce a variety of basic primitives/tools.
With each primitive, we will demonstrate its applications to see how it can be used
(either in practical protocols and or in higher-level schemes).
Here is a list of topics that we would like to cover.
(The syllabus can be found here as well.)
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about the course.
- Introduction
- One-way functions: definition and construction
- Hardcore Bits: Goldreich-Levin theorem
- Indistinguishability and Pseudorandomness
- Pseudorandom generator (expansion theorem and 1-bit PRG from OWP)
- Pseudorandom functions/permutations (GGM construction and NR construction)
- Private-key encryption (perfect secrecy and CPA security)
- Message authentication code
- Authenticated encryption
- Hash functions
- Digital signatures (depend on time)
- Public-key encryption
- Random oracle methodology (depend on time)
- Zero-knowledge protocols (depend on time)
Prerequisites
We will assume familiarity with basic (discrete) probability and modular arithmetic.
Students enrolled are expected to have had some exposure to algorithms,
mainly to be comfortable reading pseudocode and to be familiar with big-O notation.
Textbook and Readings
There is no required textbook. The lectures will follow the following materials:
- Lecture notes: Theoretical Foundations of Cryptography. By Chris Peikert, Jonathan Katz
- Textbook: Introduction to Modern Cryptography (2nd Edition). By Jonathan Katz and Yehuda Lindell
Supplementary/Recommended Readings
- Foundations of Cryptography. By Oded Goldreich
- Computational Complexity: A Modern Approach. By Sanjeev Arora and Boaz Barak
- A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography. By Dan Boneh and Victor Shoup
Grading and Policies
- Homework: 25%
- Reading Report + Presentation: 75%
The detailed requirement is
here. Any late submission of the homework or report will NOT be accepted.