TELCOM 2820/INFSCI 2170: Cryptography

Spring 2014


Instructor:
Prashant Krishnamurthy

718, IS Bldg.
Tel: 412-624-5144
prashk AT pitt DOT edu

Course Material

Course Overview

The objective of this course is to provide a foundation of cryptography in an applied manner so that students can grasp its importance in relation to the rest of information security. It is a required course for the SAIS track in MSIS. The course covers principles of number theory and cryptographic algorithms and cryptanalysis. Topics include: steganography, block and stream ciphers, secret key encryption (DES, AES, RC-n), primes, random numbers, factoring, and discrete logarithms; Public key encryption (RSA, Diffie-Hellman, Elliptic curve cryptography); Key management, hash functions, digital signatures, certificates and authentication protocols. Cryptanalytic methods (known, chosen plaintext etc.) for secret and public key schemes (linear and differential cryptanalysis, Pollard's rho method, number field sieve, etc.). This class is required as part of the security certification (see here).

Pre-requisites

TELCOM 2300, Digital logic, C and/or Java Programming

Textbook (Required)

D. Stinson, Cryptography: Theory and Practice, 3 Ed, Chapman & Hall/CRC (November 1, 2005)

Textbook (Recommended)

C. Paar and J. Pelzl, Understanding Cryptography: A Textbook for Students and Practitioners, Springer, 2009



If you are having a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and the Office of Disability Resources and Services (DRS), 216 William Pitt Union (412-648-7890/412-383-7355) as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.