Cryptology

Aim

After completing this course, the student should be able to:

• Explain and describe core cryptographic principles, their historical development, and the role of probability in secure design.
• Explain and apply symmetric cryptography concepts, including basic cryptanalysis of simplified or historical ciphers.
• Describe and evaluate techniques in asymmetric cryptography and the principles behind advanced cryptographic protocols.
• Demonstrate implementation, testing, and analysis of cryptographic methods or attacks in a lab setting.

Content

• Foundations of Cryptography: Cryptography as a tool for information security; historical context; theoretical underpinnings, including perfect secrecy and randomness; basic probability theory relevant to cryptography.
• Symmetric Cryptography and Cryptanalysis: Stream ciphers (linear and non-linear feedback shift registers), block ciphers (Feistel networks and other designs), cryptographic modes of operation, and introductory cryptanalysis methods for breaking or assessing historical/simplified ciphers.
• Asymmetric Cryptography and Advanced Protocols: Public-key encryption (e.g., RSA), key distribution concepts, digital signatures, cryptographic hash functions, quantum cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs, and examples of modern protocols, including post-quantum cryptographic methods.