Foundations of Cryptography

Offers students at the PhD level an accelerated introduction to cryptography and quickly progresses to advanced topics that are at the forefront of current research. Cryptography is the science of protecting information against adversarial eavesdropping and tampering. Examines what kind of security properties can be achieved by relying solely on probability and information theory, without restricting the adversary’s computational power. Studies the complexity-theoretic basis of modern cryptography and the connection between computational hardness and pseudo-randomness. Explores, as the main component of the course, how to take a few well-studied problems in number theory and algebra and use them to build powerful cryptosystems with advanced functionality and security properties. Requires prior completion of an undergraduate course in the theory of computation.