Spring 2026 Semester Overview: Cryptography and Software Verification

This semester pairs Cryptography—from symmetric primitives and number theory through public-key systems and protocols—with Software Verification and Validation, where testing, specs, and formal methods meet real engineering practice. Together they frame how we build systems and how we reason about their security properties.

Posts under each course tag document lecture themes, worked examples, and reflections tied to Canvas materials. The aim is a clear thread from definitions and proofs to tools and trade-offs you would discuss in design reviews or interviews.

Learning goals: strengthen proof-style reasoning about confidentiality and integrity; practice structured test and verification thinking (unit through integration, observability, and where formal methods help); and publish notes that future you (and collaborators) can skim before exams or project deadlines.

Next on the blog: deeper dives on block cipher modes, RSA and DH, hashing and signatures, plus testing strategy, model-style thinking, and tooling notes as those modules land.