CSC 492/592 Fall 2007 Syllabus

Introduction to Cryptography

By Prof. Jonathan Z. Sun

General Information

Coursework.

• Undergraduate students. Coursework will consist of biweekly homework assignments, one midterm exam, and a term project. The course letter grade will be determined 10% from in class participation, 30% from homework, 20% from midterm exam, and 40% from final project.
• Graduate students. Coursework will consist of biweekly homework assignments, a midterm exam, a reading assignment, and a term project. The course letter grade will be determined 10% from in class participation, 20% from homework, 20% from midterm exam, 10% from reading assignment, and 40% from term project.

Attendance. Class attendance is strongly suggested. In class participation counts 10% towards the final letter graph. Furthermore, there might be in class exercises, discussions and quizzes that count for bonus points towards your final grade. Contents lectured in classes will not be replayed for any individual.

Homework. Homework can be submitted in classroom, via email, or at the front desk in the school of computing main office (TEC 214). No late submission is permitted. Your graded homework will be returned on Wednesday in class. Homework returns that are unclaimed in class will be left at the front desk in the main office for pick up with a photo ID.

Text. Douglas R. Stinson, Cryptography: Theory and Practice, 3^rd Edition, Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2006.

Time/Place. The course meets Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00 - 3:15. Classroom in Hattiesburg is JGH 203. Remote access is also available from Gulf Coast and Stennis. I will be available for office hours Mondays and Wednesdays 12:30 - 2:00 and Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00 - 11:00, in my office TEC 211.

Plagiarism. The university policy about academic honesty is in page 31-32 of the Student Handbook. A failure with dignity is much better than an abject success. Nevertheless, I seldom fail anyone who has seriously tried with his/her talents.

Tentative Schedule

	Monday	Wednesday
Week 1 (08/22)		Introduction
Week 2 (08/27-29)	Simple Ciphers	Simple Ciphers Homework 1(pdf)
Week 3 (09/03-05)	Labor Day. No class.	Theory Homework 1 Due
Week 4 (09/10-12)	Product cipher - Enigma Homework 2	Block ciphers: SPN, Feistel, DES
Week 5 (09/17-19)	More block ciphers Homework 2 Due	Hash and MAC Homework 3 (pdf)
Week 6 (09/24/26)	Hash and MAC	RSA
Week 7 (10/01-03)	RSA Homework 3 Due	Football Day. Class rescheduled. Reading Assignment
Week 8 (10/08-10)	More RSA	More public-key cryptography
Week 9 (10/15-17)	More public-key cryptography	Midterm Exam
Week 10 (10/22-24)	Reading Assignment Presentation	Reading Assignment Presentation
Week 11 (10/29-10/31)	Digital signatures	Digital signatures
Week 12 (11/05-07)	Pseudo-random generators	Pseudo-random generators
Week 13 (11/12-14)	Identification and Authentication	Identification and Authentication
Week 14 (11/19-21)	Review	Thanksgiving. No class.
Week 15 (11/26-28)	Selected topics: X.509 certificates	Selected topics: PKI
Week 16 (12/03-05)	Project Presentation	Project Presentation

*: Project reports are due by the end of the final exam week. Late submission may result in failing the course.

**: A subsequent course, CSC 492/592 Selected Topics in Information Security, will be offered in Spring 2008.