CS 608 - Fall 2017 - Cryptography and Security

• Course website is up!

Class schedule: Monday 6:00 - 9:05pm, Sep 5, 2017 - Dec 13, 2017; Room: Faculty Memorial Hall 213

Instructor: Qiang Tang; Email: qiang at njit.edu; Office: GITC 4204; Office hours: 4:30-6:00pm Mondays, 1:10-2:10pm Tuesdays

TA: Hridam Basu; Email: hb254 at njit.edu; Office: TBD; Office hours: by appointment.

Class Overview: We will cover materials of modern cryptography, and some applications to security. In particular, students will be exposed to how to formally define security property, how to construct a cryptographic scheme whose security can be rigoriously argued, how to use a cryptographic building block to realize a more complex functionality, and some real world applications, including the recently emerged disruptive technology -- blockchain and cryptocurrency.

A tentative list of topics includes:

• Mathematical background: Probability, number theory, abstract algebra, reduction
• Symmetric key primitives: OWF, PRG, PRF, symmetric key encryption, MAC
• Asymmetric key primitives: Public key encryption, digital signatures
• Cryptographic protocols: Key exchange, OT, ZK proofs, secure computation
• Applications: Disk encryption, Bitcoin, secure messaging
• Advanced topics (optional): Broadcast encryption, traitor tracing, honey encryption, steganography

Textbook: No textbook is required, but the followings can be useful reference:

• Introduction to Cryptography -- By Jonathan Katz and Yehuda Lindell
• Lecture Notes on Cryptography -- By Mihir Bellare and Shafi Goldwasser

Prerequisites: Math 226 or CS 241

Grading policy

Participation and scribe	10%
Homeworks	40%
Exams	50%
Bonus (in HWs and Exams)	5%-20%

Academic integrity: The NJIT Honor Code will be upheld, and any violations will be brought to the immediate attention of the Dean of Students.

Syllabus

Date	Topic	Application/Story
09/11/17	Overview + Historic Cipher	Enigma Machine
9/18/17	Perfect Secrecy	Secret Sharing, Coin Flipping
9/25/17	Computational Notions + OWF	Password Log in
10/02/17	Indistinguishability + PRG	Dual EC Backdoor
10/09/17	Pseudorandom Function	Key derivation, identification
10/16/17	Symmetric key encryption	OpenPGP & TextSecure
10/23/17	Modes of Operation + Message authentication	WEP, SSH
10/30/17	Mid Term
11/06/17	Key exchange, TDOWF, Public key encryption	TLS
11/13/17	Public key encryption	E-voting
11/20/17	Digital signature + Zero knowledge proof	PKI, Ecash
11/27/17	Oblivious transfer + Secure computation	Secure dating
12/04/17	BFT consensus + blockchain	Bitcoin, "Proof-of-life"
12/11/17	Advanced topics	TBA
TBD	Final Exam

Resource

• Standford online cryptography course -- by Prof. Dan Boneh
• Sigma protocols