Cryptography
Semester: Spring 2026 Status: Active
Course Information
- Start Date: January 14, 2026
- End Date: May 15, 2026
- Time Zone: America/Chicago
- Syllabus: View on Canvas
Description
Advanced study of cryptographic systems, security protocols, and modern encryption techniques.
Topics
- Symmetric and asymmetric encryption
- Hash functions and digital signatures
- Public key cryptography (RSA, Diffie-Hellman)
- Number theory foundations
- Attack models and security goals
- Block ciphers and modes of operation
Resources
- Course blog — filtered by Cryptography
- Latest cryptography posts on this page (below)
- Canvas Course: Course ID 70714
External Resources – Textbooks
See course draft posts for recommended textbooks and reference materials.
Student Planner
Past Week & Upcoming Lectures
| Lecture # | Date | Title | Notes | Slides | Transcript | Media | Additional Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-01-15 | Introduction to Cryptography | |||||
| 2 | 2026-01-22 | Number Theory Foundations | |||||
| Upcoming | 2026-01-29 | Symmetric Encryption | |||||
| Upcoming | 2026-02-05 | Public Key Encryption / RSA |
Course Materials Location
All materials are organized in: /coursework/Spring2026/cryptography/
- Syllabus:
syllabus.yaml - Agent Instructions:
AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS.md - Lecture Materials:
_lectures/lecture-XX/
Canvas & Media Links
- Canvas Course: View on Canvas
- Syllabus: View Syllabus
- Calendar Feed: iCal Feed
Related Content
Latest cryptography blog posts
-
The Fragility of Raw RSA: From Mathematical Elegance to Existential Forgery
15 min read
Why textbook RSA preserves multiplicative structure and enables existential forgery, and how hash-then-sign and padding...
-
The Architecture of Trust: A Comparative Analysis of Group Structures in Cryptography
15 min read
How Lagrange and Cauchy shape real-world DH and ECC groups, why nearly-prime cofactor curves trade...
-
The Hidden Geometry of Trust: Subgroups, Cofactors, and Scalar Efficiency in ECC
15 min read
From Weierstrass curves and double-and-add to cofactor attacks and Dual_EC_DRBG—how subgroup geometry and implementation choices...
-
Vulnerability Assessment Report: Nonce Leakage and Implementation Risks in (EC)DSA
15 min read
A structured look at HNP-based key recovery, BIGNUM representation leaks, lazy resizing CVEs, and protocol-level...
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Engineering Protocol-Secure and Side-Channel Resistant Cryptography: From Theory to Implementation
15 min read
Bridging prime-order proofs with cofactor reality: small-subgroup attacks, BIGNUM leaks, twist security, and a practical...
-
The Great Cryptographic Shift: From Classical Diffie-Hellman to Elliptic Curves
15 min read
Why finite-field DLP hits a scalability wall, how ECC and Pollard rho change the cost...
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Cracking the Code: A Review of Cryptographic Failures in Peer-to-Peer and Wireless Protocols
15 min read
From Tamarin’s prime-order ideal to Scuttlebutt, Bluetooth P-256 invalid-point attacks, and OpenSSL lazy resize—how symbolic...
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The Perfection Paradox: Why the World's Only Unbreakable Code is a Logistical Nightmare
14 min read
Discover the only mathematically unbreakable encryption method—and why its perfection makes it practically useless.
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The One-Time Pad: When Math Guarantees Absolute Security
15 min read
Discover the only encryption method proven to be mathematically unbreakable—and why its implementation is far...
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Why Natural Numbers Fail the Security Test: The Zero Divisor Trap
15 min read
Explore why the natural numbers we use everyday are fundamentally unsuitable for encryption, and the...
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Malleability and the Block Cipher: Why Encryption Isn't Enough
14 min read
Learn why encrypted data can still be tampered with and how block ciphers attempt to...
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The Linearity Trap: Why Your Algebra Teacher is an Accidental Hacker
15 min read
Explore how the Hill Cipher's reliance on linear algebra made it vulnerable to high school...
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The Secret Architecture of Security: Groups Aren't Just for Numbers
12 min read
Discover how the Symmetric Group—where elements are actions rather than numbers—forms the foundation of modern...
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From DES to AES: The Mathematical Evolution of Modern Ciphers
16 min read
Trace the journey from the broken DES standard to the ironclad AES, and discover the...
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The Binary Secret: How AES Uses Polynomials to Secure the Internet
18 min read
Discover how the simplest mathematical field Z_2 with just 0 and 1 becomes the foundation...
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Cryptography – Upcoming Topic (see Canvas Modules)
8 min read
Placeholder draft for a later lecture whose precise topic will be aligned with the Canvas...
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Cryptography – Public-Key Cryptography Overview
10 min read
Stub lecture post introducing the core ideas of public-key cryptography, setting up later deep dives...
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Cryptography – Attack Models and Security Goals
10 min read
Stub lecture post on formalizing security goals and attack models in cryptography, bridging intuitive threats...
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Cryptography – Block Ciphers and Modes of Operation
10 min read
Stub for a lecture post on block ciphers and common modes of operation, building on...
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Cryptography – Number Theory Prerequisites
10 min read
Stub post for the mathematical foundations of modern cryptography, focusing on number theory concepts used...
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Cryptography – Symmetric Encryption Basics
10 min read
A stub for the first deep-dive into symmetric encryption in , focusing on block ciphers,...
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Cryptography – Course Overview and Foundations
10 min read
Course overview for Cryptography, outlining goals, logistics, and the foundational security concepts that will shape...
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Symmetric Encryption Algorithms: Understanding Block and Stream Ciphers
15 min read
A deep dive into symmetric encryption algorithms, including block ciphers like AES and DES, stream...
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Public Key Cryptography: Understanding RSA and Key Exchange
15 min read
Exploring public key cryptography systems, including the RSA algorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, and how asymmetric...
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Cryptography Fundamentals: An Introduction to Secure Communication
15 min read
An introduction to the fundamental concepts of cryptography, exploring how secure communication systems work and...
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Cryptographic Hash Functions: Ensuring Data Integrity
15 min read
Understanding cryptographic hash functions, their properties, applications in data integrity verification, digital signatures, and password...
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Research Zero-Knowledge Proofs: The SNARK Revolution
18 min read
Exploring the theoretical foundations and practical implementation of zk-SNARKs—the cryptographic primitives enabling succinct, non-interactive proofs...
Recent Drafts
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