Introduction to Cryptography - CS687 Fall 06


Overview

This course is a graduate introduction to cryptography. Topics include encryption, digital signatures, pseudo-random number generation, zero-knowledge and basic protocols. The emphasis will be on fundamental concepts and proof techniques.


Staff

Instructor

Rafael Pass
first name at cs.cornell.edu
Upson Hall
255-5578 office

Teaching Assistant

Muthu Venkitasubramaniam
vmuthu@cs.cornell.edu
Upson 304
255-5431 office


Time and Place

Tu Th 2:55p-4:10p, 341 Statler Hall


Office Hours

Rafael : by appointment. Please email.
Muthu : by appointment. Please email Muthu.

Announcements


Course Administration

CMS

We are using the course management system, CMS.  Please login to http://cms.csuglab.cornell.edu/ and check whether you exist.  There will be a list of courses you are registered for, and Com S 687 should be one of them.  If not, please send your full name and Cornell netid to Muthu so he can register you.  You can check your grades and submit homework in CMS.  There is a help page with instructions.


Suggested Reading

There is no book that serves as the main text for this course. Scribe notes will be available online from the course webpage. Scribe notes can not be considered as substitute for class lectures. Supplementary reading can be made from the following sources.

Sources


Homework and Grading Policy

The grade will be based on homework assignments, scribe and class participation. You should expect roughly 8 problem sets during the term.

You are free to collaborate with other students on the homework, but you must turn in your own individually written solution and you must specify the names of your collaborators. Additionally, you may make use of published material, provided that you acknowledge all sources used. Note that it is a violation of this policy to submit a problem solution that you are unable to explain orally to a member of the course staff.
Assignments and solutions will be posted in CMS. Submit hardcopy in class or to Muthu by the due date, or a .pdf, .ps, .doc, or .txt file in CMS. Problem sets must be typed. Use of LaTeX is not required but LaTeX templates will be provided.
You will be required to scribe one or two lectures of the course.


Prerequisites

General ease with algorithms and elementary probability theory, maturity with mathematical proofs (to be able to read and write mathematical proofs)


Preliminary Syllabus

Please note that the scribe notes are only rough drafts of the lectures.