About CPSC/PMAT 418, Fall 2013

Course Objectives

What would you want to see in a secure e-mail system? File transfer program? Social networking site? How do you guarantee that an e-mail originates from a legitimate sender and isn't a spoofing attempt? How can you ensure that your private files have not been accessed by unauthorized users? Or prevent hackers from tampering with your Facebook page? Cryptography works toward providing solutions to these types of questions.

The main objective of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of and current best practices in cryptography. Students will have a solid understanding, including practical experience, of the basic cryptographic primitives and their proper usage.

Required Knowledge and Skills

• Binary arithmetic
• Basic knowledge of modular arithmetic
• Elementary probability theory
• Basic mathematical proof techniques

In addition, for CPSC 418:

• Java programming
• Programming with sockets (not required, but highly recommended)

Body of Knowledge

• Security services provided by cryptography, limitations of cryptography.
• Symmetric key cryptography, including theoretical and classical background, perfect security (one-time pad), block ciphers (AES), proper usage of block ciphers, stream ciphers, mechanisms for data integrity.
• Public key cryptography, including Diffie-Hellman key exchange, RSA, probabilistic encryption (ElGamal), semantic security (Goldwasser-Micali), IND-CCA2 (RSA-OAEP), digital signatures from public-key cryptosystems (RSA signatures), ElGamal signatures, entity authentication and authenticated key exchange (station-to-station protocol).
• Key management, including cryptographically secure pseudorandom bit generation, symmetric key hierarchies, public key infrastructures and certification authorities.
• Examples of real world cryptographic applications, including secure email (PGP) and secure access control (SSH).

Development and Enhancement of Skills

The main primitives required for cryptographic applications will be presented during the lectures. Written problem-based assignment questions will lead to further exploration of the underlying theory and of the practical and security issues. Programming questions (for CPSC 418 students) will provide hands-on experience in writing cryptographic software. Mathematical questions (for PMAT 418) will enhance students' in-depth understanding of the mathematical foundations. Writing assignments (for both courses) will hone students' technical and scientific writing skills as well as provide experience reading and assessing cryptographic literature.

Tools

For the written problems, the typesetting software LaTeX will be used. All the programming work required for this course will be done using Java.

Learning Methods

This course is predominantly lecture-based. CPSC 418 will also have a tutorial; attendance of this tutorial by PMAT 418 students is optional. Students' skills will be developed the following methods:

• Lecture attendance, during which the bulk of the course material will be presented
• For CPSC 418: tutorial attendance, during which certain concepts and problems will be explored in more detail, and in a more interactive, student-driven format. Attendance for PMAT 418 students is optional.
• Written problem-based assignments, to exercise students' understanding of the theoretical concepts presented and their ability to apply these concepts.
• Further written assignments to exercise writing skills. Students apply their knowledge and conduct further study to write reports on certain topics. For example, students may analyze an attack on a "textbook" cryptographic system or explore a real-world cryptographic tool not covered in the course.
• Reading assignments, to explore and learn additional material that will not be covered in as much depth during lectures.
• For CPSC 418: additional programming assignments, to give students hands-on experience in implementing and working with the protocols and primitives presented in the course; PMAT 418s student are welcome to do these problems for extra credit.
• For PMAT 418: additional mathematical problem solving assignments, to enhance students' in-depth understanding of the mathematical foundations; CPSC 418 students are welcome to do these problems for extra credit.

Beyond this Course

PMAT/CPSC 418 is part of two concentrations at the undergraduate level. The Concentration in Information Security is part of the BSc in Computer Science. The Concentration in Cryptography is offered within the BSc in Pure Mathematics. The exact requirements for these concentrations are listed in the University calendar. Brief descriptions (in PDF format) can be found at the links below.

• Concentration in Information Security
• Concentration in Cryptography
• Course offerings in cryptography, information security and related areas
• ISPIA - Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance

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Last updated: http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~jacobs/Courses/cpsc418/F13/about.html