Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of algebra (including knowledge of groups, rings, fields) and discrete probability theory.

Aim of the course
This Master's level course provides an introduction to modern cryptography, the science of securing communication and computation against different forms of adversarial behaviors. A preliminary outline of the course is as follows. We will start with basic concepts of cryptographic theory such as one-way functions. We will see how to leverage one-wayness to generate pseudorandomness and discuss implications to complexity theory. Subsequently, we will look at different notions of symmetric-key primitives including symmetric-key encryption, message authentication codes and collision-resistant hash functions. To construct public-key encryption schemes we will build on number-theoretic and algebraic hardness assumptions. We will then move on to authentication (and beyond) and discuss digital signature schemes, sigma protocols and zero-knowledge proofs. The final block of the course will be dedicated to the basics of secure multi-party computation.

Lecturers
Lisa Kohl (Cryptology Group, CWI Amsterdam), E-mail: Lisa.Kohl(at)
cwi.nl