Cryptography I-an online course

Stanford University is offering an online course called Cryptography I, where you can learn about the inner workings of cryptographic primitives and how to apply this knowledge in the real world.

This session begins on Monday, January 6, 2014, which is a six week long session. Alternatively, there is another six week long session commencing on September 9, 2014.

About the Course:

Cryptography is an indispensable tool for protecting information in computer systems. This course explains the inner workings of cryptographic primitives and how to correctly use them. Students will learn how to reason about the security of cryptographic constructions and how to apply this knowledge to real-world applications. The course begins with a detailed discussion of how two parties who have a shared secret key can communicate securely when a powerful adversary eavesdrops and tampers with traffic.

The course will examine many deployed protocols and analyze mistakes in existing systems. The second half of the course discusses public-key techniques that let two or more parties generate a shared secret key. The course will cover the relevant number theory and discuss public-key encryption and basic key-exchange. Throughout the course students will be exposed to many exciting open problems in the field.

The course will include written homeworks and programming labs. The course is self-contained, however it will be helpful to have a basic understanding of discrete probability theory.

The course will be instructed by Dan Boneh, Workload: 5-7 hours/week, it will be taught in English. Subtitles are available in English.

Click here to apply.