Latest Module Specifications
Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026
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Description The purpose of this module is to introduce the students to elementary number theory, as required for further study of important cryptographic protocols, and to teach the basics of modern symmetric cryptography. Modern block ciphers and hash functions will be studied in some depth, and modern complex methods of block cipher cryptanalysis (linear and differential) will be covered. Participants will learn to appreciate the significance of cryptography as a means of securing information in the modern world. New ideas and some surprising and novel protocols will be discussed. Students are expected to attend lectures, to undertake a difficult assignment, and partake in external reading and study and homework. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. understand the significance of cryptography to the modern world and the internet. 2. understand the rationale behind block cipher design. 3. perform the cryptanalysis of a simple block cipher 4. integrate cryptographic algorithms into software projects 5. solve elementary problems in number theory relating to cryptography 6. build on number theoretic basics to further their knowledge of advanced methods of cryptography | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
Classical method of Cryptography The Caesar cipher. The Vigenere cipher. Rotor machines. The one-time pad. Modern ciphers and hash functions Structure of a block cipher. The Fiestel structure. Key and block size length. DES, AES, IDEA, RC5, SAFER, FEAL-4 and other block ciphers. Stream ciphers and LFSRs. One-way hash functions, SHA-1 and its successors. Cryptanalysis Cryptanalysis of FEAL-4 using linear and differential cryptanalysis. Meet-in-the-middle attacks. Key distribution The key distribution problem. The padlock analogy and the Diffie-Hellman method. An introduction to RSA and related methods. Smartcards Smartcard technology. Side channel attacks. Challenge response systems. The surprising applications of an uncloneable one-way function. Mobile phone SIM cards. Elementary number theory Finite fields. Modular arithmetic. Efficient algorithms for modular arithmetic. Fermats theorem. Euler's criteria, and the totient function. Advanced number theory Primality proving. The Chinese remainder theorem. Quadratic residues and calculating modular square roots and cube roots. The Jacobi symbol. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List Books:
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Other Resources None | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||