Misc. course information
First lecture: Wednesday 11:15-14:00, August 25, in Smalltalk, Ole-Johan Dahls hus.
All other lectures: Wednesdays 12:15-14:00. Note that only the first lecture starts at 11:15!
Video recordings of the lectures (voice + screen capture) will be available on Canvas after the lectures (registered students only).
Recitation: Wednesdays 11:15-12:00 in Smalltalk, Ole-Johan Dahls hus. Covers last weeks problem sets and any questions regarding last week's material.
Grading: Final exam counts for 100% of the grade. However, in order to be eligible to take the exam, you have to pass the midterm assignment (mandatory) as well as get (at least) two of the weekly problem set assignments accepted.
Course literature: the main source for the course will be the freely available lecture notes Introduction to Modern Cryptography [BR], by Mihir Bellare and Phil Rogaway. Previous years used the textbook Understanding Cryptography [PP], by Christof Parr and Jan Pelz, and you are welcome to consult this text as well; however, you are not required to buy it! These two sources cover much of the same material, although with somewhat different emphasis. There are also many other excellent resources for learning cryptography available, and I encourage you to use whatever source you are happy with. Here are some suggestions for alternative sources:
- Introduction to Modern Cryptography (link), by Jon Katz and Yehuda Lindell. This book is quite similar to [BR], but is more up-to-date and complete. This is an excellent book and highly recommended if you want to invest in a physical book.
- The Joy of Cryptograpy (link), by Mike Rosulek. This beautifully typeset book is a joy to read, and is also freely available as an electronic version.
- Serious Cryptography (link), by Jean-Phillipe Aumasson. This book is more application-oriented and covers more implementation aspects of cryptography.
- A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography (link), by Dan Boneh and Victor Shoup. This still-unfinished book is already massive and covers a lot of material. Don't let the "Applied" in the title fool you into believing that this book is light on mathematical details and rigor! It takes the same definitional approach as we do in the course, but since it's a graduate textbook it is also more advanced. Freely available online.
Throughout the semester, I will also link to various other sources, such as research papers, blog posts, and web articles. I also recommend to check out the QA site crypto.stackexchange.com which has a lot of interesting and useful information.