The art of cryptography: secure internet & e-cash
This course is listed in Aachen Campus as The art of cryptography: secure internet & e-cash, in Bonn Basis as MA-INF 1312 The art of cryptography.
Contents
This course is about various aspects of security in the internet. In the first part we deal with secure connections, whereas the second part considers electronic voting schemes involving further tasks.
- Who can read my email?
- How do I know that eBay is eBay, or amazon is amazon?
- What is the public key of Angela Merkel? Where do I get it and how do I verify that it's really hers?
- ...
In the internet a large variety of protocols ("chatting programs") are in use to make this or that `secure'. VPN, IPsec, SSL, PKI, PGP are just a few tokens that need explanations. We will try to understand a little of that and how things are used and made available. We aim at also considering their security relative to the used primitives.
The application issue this year deals with electronic cash. There is a variety of proposals about how to realize a counter part to real coins (cash!) in the internet. However, most of the approaches that are used in practive are account based. But then transactions are not anonymous. What we are heading for in this chapter are systems that are as anonymous as real coins are. In particular, they must be account free since otherwise the account manager sees all transactions. Thus a certain bit string may be a valid coin. The problem with bit strings as compared to real coins is: they are fairly easy to copy. But one should not be able to just duplicate coins because that would render that kind of coin worthless. There are solutions to this double spending problem. Further issues then arise: real coins can be transferred many times from owner to owner, in case of extortion we may want a tracing option, ...
Lecture
Time & Place
- Monday, 1230-1400, b-it bitmax (0.109).
- Thursday, 1230-1400, b-it bitmax (0.109).
- Tutorial: Monday, 1415-1545, b-it bitmax (0.109).
First meeting: Monday, 9 April 2018, 1230.
Exam
Notice: As soon as you open the exam, you agree to stay the full examination time. This is necessary to allow one person at a time visiting the restroom.
Exam hints
Verify whether your exam exercise sheets are complete: It should contain Exercise 1 to Exercise ??. Insert your name and matrikel (student number) on each sheet. Approaches, solutions and all side calculations must be written to the given paper. Please use also the back sides. If you need extra paper ask the supervisor. Do not remove the staple!
Do write with blue or black ink!
Do not use a pencil or any other erasable pen.
The exam must be handled independently. Permitted auxiliary means are: writing materials, a pocket calculator (non-programmable, without division with remainder, without linear algebra software), and a cheat sheet, DIN A4, two-sided, written only with your own handwriting. Any other utilities, even own paper, are not permitted.
An attempt at deception leads to failure for this exam and possibly other measures - even if the attempt is only detected later.
The exam will carry the hints displayed on the right.
Pre-exam meeting: Monday, 30 July 2018, 1000, b-it 2.122.
Exam: Tuesday, 31 July 2018, 1200-1500, b-it-max (b-it 0.109).
Post-exam meeting: Thursday, 2 August 2018, 1400, b-it 2.122.
Exam2 (repetitions only): Tuesday, 11 September 2018, 1000-1300, b-it 2.113.
Post-exam2: Monday, 17 September 2018, 1000, b-it 2.121.
Notes & Exercises
You find notes and exercises at sciebo until March 2019.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge in cryptography is needed, as for example the course Cryptography held in the previous winter. Compare our programme.
Allocation
4+2 SWS.
- Master in Media Informatics: Computer and Communication Technology.
8 ECTS credits.
Optionally, 3+2 SWS, 6 ECTS credits. On request a breakpoint at about 3/4 of the teaching time will be defined, and only the course material up to that point will be relevant for their exams and grades. - Master in Computer Science at University of Bonn: MA-INF 1312.
9 CP.
Students have to register this course with POS/BASIS.