Cryptology
CSC 440 (801 & 810)

Marcus Schaefer


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Homeworks and Examples

Assignments will be available through this webpage. Written homeworks are due at the beginning of class for in-class students (Section 801), and by midnight for online students (Section 810)  Late homeworks will not be accepted, but the lowest homework score will be dropped.

Homework

due

Notes

Questions and Answers

There is a page with links for further information.

Schedule

Classes and office hours

The in-class section meets M 5:45pm-9:00pm, in Lewis 1009. This course is COL/OL.

Office hours are M 4:00-5:30 and TuTh 9:15-10am.

During that time you can find me in the CDM building, room 749.
If you want to set up an appointment at another time, or simply ask a question, 
send email to mschaefer@cdm.depaul.edu.

Textbook

Required text: Trappe, Washington: Introduction to Cryptography, Prentice Hall, ISBN: 0131862391 ; 2nd edition (July 15, 2005).

There are several cryptography texts (e.g. Vaudenay's Classical Introduction to Cryptography) available as e-books at the library web-page for free (you need your campusconnect information to log into the proxy server).

Syllabus

The following is a very rough schedule, and we might depart from it.

Week 1-2

Classical Ciphers (Shift, Affine, Vigenere, Hill Cipher, etc.),
Cryptanalysis, Statistics, Mathematical Foundations

Week 3- 5

Modern Block Ciphers (DES, AES), and attacks (differential cryptanalysis)

Week 6-8 Public Key Cryptography (DH Key exchange, RSA, ElGamal) and attacks

Week 9-10

Advanced topics (Secret Sharing, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Error Correcting Codes)

 Official class syllabus.

Grades and exams

Homework, quizzes: 40%, Midterm: 30%, Final: 30%. I will use the following grading scheme:

Grade Percentage
A 95-100
A- 90-95
B+ 87-90
B 83-87
B- 80-83
C+ 77-80
C 73-77
C- 70-73
D+ 65-70
D 60-65
F <60

Throughout the quarter there will be extra credit problems; extra credit does not directly make up for points lost on homeworks or exams; instead it is added in with a weight to the final grade (i.e. not doing extra credit won't harm you, but doing it can move you up).

The midterm and final exams for the in-class section will take place during class. No make-up exams.

General Policies

Academic Honesty

The course adheres to the university Academic Integrity Policy, the following is an excerpt from the policy:

Cheating: Cheating is any action that violates university norms or instructor's guidelines for the preparation and submission of assignments. This includes but is not limited to unauthorized access to examination materials prior to the examination itself, use or possession of unauthorized materials during the examination or quiz; having someone take an examination in one's place-copying from another student; unauthorized assistance to another student; or acceptance of such assistance.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a major form of academic dishonesty involving the presentation of the work of another as one's own. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to the following:

Complicity: Complicity is any intentional attempt to facilitate any of the violations described above. This includes but is not limited to allowing another student to copy from a paper or test document; providing any kind of material—including one’s research, data, or writing—to another student if one believes it might be misrepresented to a teacher or university official; providing information about or answers to test questions.

A charge of cheating and/or plagiarism is always a serious matter.  If proven, it can result in an automatic F in the course and, in case of a repeated violation, possible expulsion.

For homework this means that while you can talk to other students about the class material, you should not talk about your homework solutions; you should not share your homework solutions, either in written or electronic form. Any work you submit with your name on it needs to have been done solely by yourself. If you do use someone else's work, you need to clearly mark this by placing quotations within quotation marks and citing any references you use. If you have questions on proper citation, you can visit DePaul's Writing Center.

Using materials prepared for other purposes (e.g., another course or work) needs the course instructor's prior permission.

Incomplete

An incomplete grade is given only for an exceptional reason such as a death in the family, a serious illness, etc. Any such reason must be documented. Any incomplete request must be made at least two weeks before the final, and approved by the Dean of CDM. Any consequences resulting from a poor grade for the course will not be considered as valid reasons for such a request.


Marcus Schaefer
Last updated: December 13th, 2010.