ENGG 5383 Applied Cryptography (Fall 2015)

Instructor: Sherman S. M. Chow
Teaching Assistant: Russell W.F. Lai
Time: 2:30-5:15pm, Monday
Venue: Ho Sin-Hang Engg. Bldg (SHB) 833
Tutorial Session:
- 1:30-2:15pm, Monday
- MMW Engineering Building (ERB) 402
- (Tutorials for Nov 16, 23, 30 will be cancelled but replaced with consultation hour for the project)

This is a graduate-level class, yet undergraduate and MSc students are also welcomed.

Class population: Like the past 2 editions, we have a mixture of Undergraduates, MSc students, and PhD students, as well as exchange students from overseas and other HK tertiary institutions.

(Notice to non-CUHK students: Semester-based Wifi Account for Engg. Bldg is available.)

Students who have taken IERG4130, other CSCI, ECLT, IEMS courses on cryptography can also take this class.
(The exclusion of CSCI5470/ENGG5105 is obsolete.)

Workload:

2 Assignments [check eLearn]
Mid-Term (Open-Note) x 1
Project with Presentation x 1 & Report x 1
- Suggested Paper List (Topic Declaration Deadline: Nov 18)
- Similar class project elsewhere: Elliptic Curves in Cryptography, Advacned Computer Security
- Dec 14 (2:30pm-): SYM, SZJ, WXH, ZCY
- Dec 16 (2:30pm-): YAK, WZR, ZK
- Dec 21 (2:30pm-): HMQ, LXY, NCW, WX
- Dec 23 (1:30pm-): CHW, CTT, MPK, TKH, WWH, WYS

Updated Syllabus (Chinese Version)

This is a graduate-level course on cryptography. It focuses on the definitions and constructions of various cryptographic schemes and protocols, as well as their applications.
Useful tools for securing practical systems and emerging techniques in the applied research community will be introduced.
No prior knowledge of security, cryptography, or number theory is required.

Introduction: a brief history, applications in distributed systems; basic number theory
Symmetric-key encryption: definition, information-theoretic security, Entropy, PRNG
Provable security: bounded adversary, random oracle model, basic primitives, reduction
Public-key encryption: modelling security, Diffie-Hellman protocol, hybrid encryption
Authentication: Hash function, collision-resistance, MAC, unforgeability
Public-key infrastructure: certificate management, deployment, and revocation issues
More schemes: Fiat-Shamir transformation, Cramer-Shoup encryption, identity-/attribute-based encryption, certificateless encryption, proxy re-encryption, broadcast
Privacy-enhancing cryptography: zero-knowledge proof, anonymous credentials
Cloud cryptography: symmetric searchable encryption, etc.
Pairing-based cryptography: elliptic curve basic, short signature, public-key searchable encryption

Upon successful completion of the course, the students will have acquired the ability to:

demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential concepts, methods, and technologies of cryptography
understand various cryptographic primitives, their security properties, and applications
apply cryptographic techniques to various security designs, both practical and theoretical
demonstrate awareness in latest advances in the field and what are possible to achieve with cryptography

Schedule:

07.09: Course Logistics
07.09: Introduction/Motivation
14.09: Encryption
21.09: Public-Key Encryption and Signatures
28.09: [Holiday]
05.10: Security Proof and Random Oracle Model
12.10: Zero-Knowledge Proof and Applications
19.10: "More Secure" and "Fancier" Cryptosystems
26.10: [Mid-term Exam] [Project Introduction]
02.11: Pairing-Based Cryptography
09.11: Searchable Encryption
16.11: Anonymous Credentials
23.11: Lattice-Based Cryptography and Fully Homomorphic Encryption
30.11: [Cancelled] (Away for AsiaCrypt '15)
14.12: [Presentations Day 1, 2:30pm-]
16.12: [Presentations Day 2, 2:30pm-]
21.12: [Presentations Day 3, 2:30pm-]
23.12: [Presentations Day 4, 1:30pm-]
30.12: [Project Report Due Date]

Links:

Standard stuff: