IMPORTANT NOTE: The following schedule represents a current best guess concerning actual due dates (and everything else), to give you a general idea of the pace and timing of the class. This schedule is likely to change as the quarter progresses.
Last modified on .
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
|---|---|---|
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Week 1
Tuesday(T1) |
Introductions / Syllabus
Basic Ciphers Activity
Explore historical ciphers with CrypTool-Online
Looking Ahead:
• Homework Assignment 0 is due
Thursday. This assignment is
to write a paragraph describing your math background. Include
courses you've taken, topics you like/don't like, and your
general attitude toward math. (Love it? Hate it? Somewhere
in-between?) Submit this on Kit.
• Start Part 1 of
The Woman Who Smashed Codes. We will have a
book discussion on Tuesday of Week 2.
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|
| Thursday (Th1) |
Due on Kit Today :
Homework Assignment 0
Read Chapter 1 of Paar/Pelzel.
Read Chapter 1 of Nielson/Monson.
Continue reading Part 1 of
The Woman Who Smashed Codes. We will have a
book discussion on Tuesday.
DQ:
Take a look at the set of
discussion questions before class. Think of 1 or 2 of your own
questions to include.
|
In-class/New Material:
• Exploring Chapter 1
slides.
• Exploring modular arithmetic.
Check out the lessons and exercises on Modular
arithmetic at Khan Academy
Codebreaker Crossword
Puzzle with a cipher and a secret message
You may watch "The Codebreaker" video (53
minutes) for
free with access through our library. Don't confuse it with
"Codebreaker", which is about Alan Turing. This one will be
found under "American Experience. The codebreaker". Feel free to
also watch the one about Alan Turing!
Looking Ahead:
•Week 1 Reflection (TBD) is due before class
on Tuesday of Week 2.
• Homework 1
is now available and is due on Thursday
(extended from Tuesday) of Week 2.
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
|
Week 2
T2
|
Homework Assignment:
You should be working on Homework
1. It is due Thursday of Week 2.
Reading &
Discussion Questions:
Finish reading Part 1 of "Woman who
Smashed Codes"
Read the Handout - Section 1.1 from Mollin's An
Introduction to Cryptography. (On Kit.)
DQ:
I will ask students to present/describe the following
historical ciphers. (These are described in the Mollin
reading.)
• Spartan skytale
• Caesar substitution
• Alberti cipher disk
• Porta digraphic cipher
• Cardano grille
• Vigenere autokey cipher
DQ:
I will also ask students to present solutions to the
following exercises from the reading in Mollin:
• Exercise 1.1
• Exercise 1.3
• Exercise 1.5
Be sure to have read Chapter 1 of Paar/Pelzel and begin
to read sections 2.1 and 2.2 of Paar/Pelzel. Start
reading Ch.1 of Nielson/Monson.
|
Discussion and New
Material
Discussion of Part 1 of "Woman Who Smashed Codes". (Possible DQs to get you started)
Historical Cyphers
Review/learn modular exponentiation
Begin to explore some Python
by taking a look at Listings 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 from
Chapter 1 in "Practical Cryptography"
|
| Th2 |
Reading &
Discussion Questions:
Read Ch.1 of Nielson/Monson.
Continue reading in "Women Who Smashed
Codes"
You should have finished reading sections 2.1 and 2.2 of
Paar/Pelzel.
DQ:
Problems 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.15,
1.16 from Chapter 1 of
the Paar book (the textbook).
The following two Wikipedia pages contain
additional ideas on historical ciphers from around the
world:
Histroy of Cryptography and Japanese Cryptology from the 1500s to
Meiji. Both of these are good starting points for
pursuing additional knowledge on the history of
cryptography.
|
Discussion Questions
Come with any last questions pertaining to HW 1.
In-class:
DQ from Paar book
We will continue to explore some Python by taking a look at Listings
1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 from Chapter 1 in "Practical
Cryptography".
(Note: The source code for the programs in the book may be found in the repository accompanying the book: Practical Cryptography Repository) Looking Ahead:
Start to work on Project 1. It is
due Thursday of 3rd week.
Work on Reflection of HW
1. It should be submitted on Kit after you have
submitted HW 1.
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
|
Week 3
T3
|
Due Before
Tuesday:
Reflection of HW 1
Reading &
Discussion Questions:
Be sure to have read
Sections 2.1 and 2.2 of
Paar.
Read the chapter on S-DES that can be found
on Kit.
|
New
Material:
Chapter 2 Slides (Stop as
LFSRs).
Work through some One-time
pad exercises from the book "The Joy of
Cryptography"
We will begin to work through the following
example of encryption with S-DES: S-DES Example
Follow-up exercise: Using SDES, decrypt the
string
10100010 using the key
0111111101 by hand. Show intermediate results
after each function (IP, FK, SW, FK,
IP-1). Then decode the first 4 bits of the
plaintext to a letter and the second 4 bits of the plaintext
to another letter where we encode A through P in base 2
(i.e., A = 0000, B = 0001, ..., P = 1111).
(Hint: As a midway check, after the application of
SW, the string should be 00010011.)
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| Th3 |
Due on Kit today:
Project 1
Reading
& Discussion Questions:
Read Sections 3.1-3.3 of
Paar
Finish reading Part II of
"Woman who Smashed Codes" by
Tuesday
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|
| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
| T4 |
Reading
Read Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.6, and
4.7 in Paar.
Begin reading Chapter 3 in Nielson
(Python book)
Make sure you've finshed Part II of "Woman
Who Smashed Codes"
|
Discussion and New Material:
Work on and discuss Paar problems 3.2 and
3.7
DES Exercises (on handout from
email)
Discuss questions from HW 2
Discussion/Intro to AES.
AES
slides.
|
| Th4 |
Due on Kit today:
HW #2
Reading:
Read Sections 5.1 and 5.2 and skim
Section 5.3 of Paar.
Continue reading Chapter 3 of Nielson, up to p. 75.
Work on finishing "The Woman who Smashed Codes"
book by next Thursday
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New Material:
Discussion of block cipher modes of
operation. Chapter 5 slides.
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
|
Week 5
T5
|
Due on Kit before class
today:
Symmetric Encryption reflection
Reading:
Chapter 3 in Nielson, up to p. 75.
Documentation on
cryptography library in Python.Work on finishing reading "Woman who Smashed
Codes"
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New Material/In-class Activity
Start on Project
2
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| Th5 |
Reading:
Take a look at this Stick figure guide to AES!
Make sure you've finished "Woman who Smashed
Codes"
Read Sections 6.1 and 6.2 of Paar.
Start reading chapters 1 and 2 of "Crypto"
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Discussion:
Discuss Parts 2 and 3 of "Woman who Smashed Codes". Submit a
summary of your group's discussion (include all group members' names) on
Kit. You may elect to do an individual reflection, choosing
2-3 points from the last part of the book to discuss.
Overview of public key cryptosystems
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
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Week 6
M6
|
Due sometime today:
Mid-quarter reflection Reading:
Section 6.3 of Paar
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New Material
Work through some essential number theory
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| W6 |
Reading:
Read Sections 7.1 - 7.4 of Paar
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|
| F6 |
Reading:
Read Sections 7.5 - 7.7 of Paar
Take a look at some additional information
related to the RSA Algorithm
Read Chapters 3 and 4 (Public Key and Prime
Time) of 'Crypto' (for Monday)
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Discussion:
Continued discussion of RSA
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
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Week 7
M7
|
Due on Kit today:
Project 2
HW #3 Part A
Reading:
Make sure you've finished chapters 1-4 of
'Crypto'
Work on finishing Chapter 7 of Paar
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Discussion
Discussion of first 4 chapters of
'Crypto'
Follow-up reading/video clips on
Whitfield Diffie as ACM Turing Award winner
Begin to work on Homework #3 Part B (due M8)
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| W7 |
Reading:
Finish chapter 7 of Paar
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| F7 |
Reading:
Read Section 8.1 and 8.4 of Paar. Skim
Sections 8.2 and 8.3
Begin reading Chapter 4 of Nielson, up to
p.138
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
|
Week 8
M8
|
DOGL
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|
| W8 |
Reading:
Be sure to have read Nielson Chapter 4 up
to p. 138.
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Discussion/Class
Activity
Create a new program for Listing 4-4 in
Nielson. Work on Exercise 4.1. Post your public key in
the Cryptography channle of the Collaboration Center
Team, along with an encrypted message for someone else
in the class . Decrypt and post
a reply for the person who encrypted a message for
you.
Work on Exercises 4.2 and
4.3, submitting answers on Kit. (This may be submitted
in groups.)
Work on Exercise 4.4. Continue to
Exercises 4.5 - 4.9 if interested.
Begin to work on Final Project
|
| F8 |
Reading:
Begin reading Sections 10.1, 10.2, 10.4,
10.6, 10.7 in Paar.
Work on finishing reading 'Crypto'
|
In-Class
Activity:
Work on finishing assignments, work on
projects
Complete the Final
Project Survey to indicate your choice of final
project.
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
|
Week 9
M9
|
Memorial Day - no class
|
|
| W9 |
Reading:
Be sure you've read the sections from
Chapter 10
|
Discussion/In-Class
Activity:
Discuss digital signature
algorithms
Chapter 10 Slides
Work on problems 10.4, 10.5, 10.7 (note
this problem goes on to next page), 10.14
part 1 from Paar. (Submit as group work at end of
class)
Check out this discussion related to Problem
10.7: How
does an attack on a digital signature
work?
|
| F9 |
Reading:
Read Chapter 11 of Paar
Be sure you finish reading 'Crypto'.
Discussion on M10
|
Discussion/In-Class
Activity:
Discussion of hash functions
Look at each of the four scenarios in the following file: Security
Scenarios.
Determine which of the following is being used in each
scenario:
symmetric encryption, public-key encryption,
confidentiality,
authentication, signature.
Work on Exercises 11.2 and 11.3 (1, 2, 3, 8) from
Paar. Submit as group work on Kit
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| DAY | PREPARATION | IN-CLASS TOPIC/ACTIVITY |
|
Week 10
M10
|
Reading:
Be sure you've finished reading
'Crypto'
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Discussion
Final discussion of 'Crypto'. Some
possible discussion questions
|
| W10 |
Reading:
Skim over the file "Cryptography and
Network Security Chs11And12.pdf" that can be found on
Kit.
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Discussion:
Discuss hash functions and MACs
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| F10 |
Reading:
No new reading
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Progam Demonstrations and research
presentations
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| Exam Week |
Complete your final reflection and
submit on Kit before end of day Monday, June 10.
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