Webster dictionary defines cryptography as: ``The enciphering and deciphering of messages in secret code or cipher.'' However, modern cryptography is a much broader field; it provides algorithms and protocols which protect honest parties from malicious parties. Malicious parties can, for example, eavesdrop to the communication on the Internet and try to read messages sent by other parties; they can try to impersonate other parties, or login to computers without permission. Basic topics in cryptography include secure encryption, digital signatures, and authentication.
In this course I will discuss these topics, their realizations, and applications. The material covers cryptosystems that are both practical and theoretically interesting. To achieve this goal, I'll also teach some background in number theory that is necessary to understand modern cryptosystems such as RSA. This is a 4-credit course, consisting of two weekly 2-hour meetings. It is intended for graduate students as well as third year undergraduate students. Pre-required course is the algorithms course.
Lectures hours: | Monday 18-20 and Tuesday 18-20. |
E-mail: | beimel at cs.bgu.ac.il |
Phone: | 647 7858 |
Course home page: | http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/~beimel/Courses/crypto2001 |