Course Title: Cryptography and Security

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Cryptography and Security

Credit Points: 12

Course Coordinator: Dr. Kristine Lally

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 99252385

Course Coordinator Email:kristine.lally@rmit.edu.au

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

INTE1120 Introduction to Information Security and INTE1122 Case Studies in Information Security are pre-requisites for this course. INTE1124 Coding for Reliable Communications is a co-requisite for this course. This course builds on the overview presented in the above courses, and introduces a more rigorous study of cryptography.

Course Description

Classical and modern cryptosystems are used to ensure the secrecy and integrity of data communicated over an insecure channel. Topics covered include perfect secrecy and one-time pads, shift registers and stream ciphers, Secret key systems: block ciphers and DES, Public key systems: RSA, digital signatures, hash functions and applications.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course builds on the overview presented in the first semester course, Introduction to Information Security, which includes an overview of public and secret key cryptosystems. This course will enable you to acquire a practical overview of the issues involved in the field of information security and assurance and will contribute to a more meticulous understanding of the practice of IS, especially in evaluation of information security risks across diverse settings including the Internet and WWW based commerce systems, high bandwidth digital communications and funds transfer services. In addition you will further appreciate the use of ethical considerations in all judgments and decisions in academic and professional settings.

On completion of this course you should be able to:
• Apply the knowledge and skills obtained to study further concepts in Information Security; and
• Communicate and interpret ideas related to cryptography in Information Security applications in the form of answers to assignments.

Specific objectives include the ability to:

1. Compare and contrast a range of different cryptosystems from an applied viewpoint.
2. Understand the differences between secret key and public key cryptosystems.
3. Identify the different approaches to quantifying secrecy.
4. Recognize the different modes of operation for block ciphers and their applications.
5. Understand the role of hash functions in Information Security.
6. Understand the place of ethics in the Information Security Area.

Overview of Learning Activities

A variety of planned student learning experiences will be used to cater for the learning outcomes envisaged for this course. This includes seminars, group discussions, and laboratory based learning experiences. The seminar format will be used to give an overview of the specified study area and to direct you to foundational, analytical, and evidence-based readings about cryptography and its place in Information Security. Facilitated open discussions in the seminar context will draw on the your capacity to solve problems and to think critically and analytically. The in-semester assessments will emphasize the role of ethics in the academic arena.

Overview of Learning Resources

You will be expected to expand on the subject matter provided as lecture notes in class. This will take the form of accessing various external and internal resources, such as the library and the Internet.

The Internet will be the most important source for academic, technical and white papers and students will be required to use this as a learning resource on a regular basis.

Appropriate references, to be accessed from the library or elsewhere, will be used in this course.

Overview of Assessment

Individual and group activities, such as in-semester assessments, will be used to provide you with on going feedback. An end-of-semester examination, will complement this aspect of the work.

In-semester assessments may take the form of homework assignments, supervised class tests and/or computer-based project work. Presentation of project work may also form part of the assessment. The assessments will reinforce the material covered in lectures and in your personal study. Your capacity to solve problems and to think critically and analytically will also be addressed through problems presented in lectures and facilitated seminars. Emphasis will be placed on individual assignments and you will be expected to understand the plagiarism policy enforced at RMIT.

The final examination will test the your comprehension of the subject material and your ability to apply this understanding to real world problems.