Course Description:

Cryptology is the study of the design and analysis of various encryption schemes, and related topics. The plan is to study the basics of the subject and then touch on several recent developments.

Grading: Homework 15%, Two midterms: 25% each, Final: 35%. Homework should be stapled and submitted on time; late homework will not be accepted. Your lowest homework score will be dropped. Graduate students will be given additional problems in the homeworks and exams.

Approximate syllabus: (subject to adjustment):  We will cover some (not all) material from Chapters 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14 and 16 from the textbook. We will also touch upon the Advanced Encryption Standard, protocols such as SSL, and other topics briefly. The required mathematics will be developed as we go along.

Important Information Regarding the Final Exam

The final exam for CMSC 456 is scheduled by the University to be on Saturday, December 17th from 8AM to 10AM, in the classroom. The instructor had originally discussed, in class, advancing the exam date; however, he has now decided to keep the exam at its officially scheduled date (Saturday, December 17th from 8AM to 10AM, in the classroom).

The final exam will be closed-book and closed-notes; calculators and other computing equipment will not be permitted.

Mid-Terms and Final Exam

The following sections from the textbook are included for the first mid-term: Section 1.1 (up to the end of Section 1.1.1), Chapter 2 (the initial part up to the end of Section 2.3), Section 2.9, Chapter 3 (the initial part up to the end of Section 3.6), Section 4.2, Section 4.5 (only the ECB and CBC modes), Section 4.7, Section 4.8 (just the basic idea -- you don't need to know about "salt"), and Section 6.1.

The following sections from the textbook are included for the second mid-term: Section 3.7, Section 6.2.2 (just the initial part, where we see an efficient attack -- you don't need to know how to prevent this attack), Section 6.3 (all the material up to the beginning of the Solvay-Strassen Test -- you don't need to know the Solvay-Strassen Test), Section 6.4 (only the initial part -- Fermat Factorization and the p - 1 Factoring Algorithm), Section 6.6, Section 6.7, All of Chapter 7 -- EXCEPT FOR Section 7.2.3, Definition and properties of cryptographic hash functions from Section 8.1 (you don't need to know the properties of the discrete log hash function).

The final exam will be closed-book, closed notes; computers and calculators will not be allowed. The following sections from the textbook are included for the final exam:

• Section 1.1 (up to the end of Section 1.1.1),
• Chapter 2 (the initial part up to the end of Section 2.3),
• Section 2.9,
• Chapter 3 (the initial part up to the end of Section 3.7),
• Section 3.9,
• Section 4.2,
• Section 4.5 (only the ECB and CBC modes),
• Section 4.7,
• Section 4.8 (just the basic idea -- you don't need to know about "salt"),
• Section 6.1,
• Section 6.2.2 (just the initial part, where we see an efficient attack -- you don't need to know how to prevent this attack),
• Section 6.3 (all the material up to the beginning of the Solvay-Strassen Test -- you don't need to know the Solvay-Strassen Test),
• Section 6.4 (only the initial part -- Fermat Factorization and the p - 1 Factoring Algorithm),
• Section 6.6 and Section 6.7,
• All of Chapter 7, EXCEPT FOR Section 7.2.3,
• Section 8.1, Section 8.2, and Section 8.4,
• Section 8.6 (you DO NOT need to know the PROOF of the main theorem of this section, which shows that one-way functions and the random oracle model yield ciphertext-indistinguishability; all else in this section is included),
• Chapter 9,
• Section 10.1,
• Chapter 12,
• Chapter 14,
• Chapter 16 (the initial part up to the end of Section 16.2), and
• Section 16.5.

Homework Assignments

The username for accessing the solutions is: cmsc456

Excused Absences

Academic Accommodations for Disabilities

Some Cryptology Links