CS 463 - Cryptography and Data Security

Course Goals and Requirements

This is an application-oriented tour of modern cryptography, and will range from mathematical proofs, to network protocol design, to binary disk sector manipulation, to applied statistical cryptanalysis.  As such, you'll need a range of skills to succeed in this course.  First, you'll need a solid mathematical background, including induction proofs and familiarity with primes and factoring.  Second, you need good applied low and high-level programming skills, including bitwise arithmetic, performance analysis, and the ability to read and write large programs.  We will *briefly* review each of these skills before use, but we will move quickly.

Students finishing this course will be able to follow modern cryptographic and data security practice, such as:

• Explain what's at stake beyond the hardware with a lost laptop.

• Explain how adding a nonce helps harden a network protocol against replay attacks.

• Explain how an S-box helps harden a secret-key cipher against chosen plaintext attacks.

• Understand the distinction between a hash, a symmetric cipher, and a public-key cipher.

Calendar

Last day to drop: Friday, Feb 1. Midterm exam: Wednesday, March 6.  Spring break: March 9-17.  Last day to withdraw: Friday, March 22. Springfest: Friday, April 26.  Last class: Monday, May 6. Final exam: 3:15 - 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 8.

Student Resources

Academic Help: Rasmuson Library, Academic Advising Center (509 Gruening, 474-6396), Math Lab (Chapman Room 305), English Writing Center (801 Gruening Bldg).

Grading

Your work will be evaluated on correctness, rationale, and insight. Grades for each assignment and test may be curved up or down if needed. Your grade is then computed based on four categories of work:

1. HW: Homeworks and machine problems, to be distributed through the semester.

2. PROJ1: a paper and in-class presentation on a crypto topic, due in March.

3. PROJ2: a software development or cryptographic performance analysis project, due in May.

4. MT: Midterm Exam, Wednesday, March 6.

5. FINAL: Final Exam (comprehensive), 3:15 - 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 8.

Your overall score is then calculated as:
GRADE = 20% HW + 15% PROJ1 + 15% PROJ2 + 25% MT + 25% FINAL
This percentage score is transformed into a plus-minus letter grade via these cutoffs: A >= 93%; A- 90%; B+ 87%; B 83%; B- 80%; C+ 77%; C 70%; D+ 67%; D 63%; D- 60%; F. The grades “C-”, “F+”, and “F-” will not be given. “A+” is reserved for truly extraordinary work.

Course Rules

At my discretion, I may round your grade up if it is near a grading boundary. Homeworks are due at midnight on the day they are due. Late homeworks will receive no grade credit, but you'll sleep better knowing you did them anyway. At my discretion, I may allow late work without penalty when due to circumstances beyond your control. Everything you turn in must be your own work--violations of the UAF Student Code of Conduct will result in a minimum penalty equal to THAT ENTIRE SECTION OF YOUR GRADE (e.g., one plagiarized homework question will negate an otherwise perfect grade on all homeworks). However, even substantial reuse of other people's work is fine (and not plagiarism) iff it is clearly cited; you'll be graded on what you've added to others' work. Group projects (NOT homeworks) are acceptable iff you clearly label who did what work; but I do expect a two-person group project to represent twice as much work as a one-person project. Department policy does not allow tests to be taken early; but when necessary I may allow them to be taken late. In extraordinary circumstances, such as an ice storm or zombie outbreak, classes may be held electronically via Blackboard/Elluminate Live.

Course Outline (Tentative)