Digital communication has become a prominent part of our lives, from email to video calling to messaging applications. The ubiquity of this technology results in the exchange of sensitive data. How do we ensure that such data is transmitted securely? This graduate level seminar course will explore cryptographic research aimed at answering this question. Building on the foundations in the undergraduate cryptography course, this course will aim to understand the cryptographic techniques and protocols that may be used to secure communication systems. Students will read, discuss, and review foundational and recent papers in this area and learn how to present conference-style talks on the papers. Students will also complete a course research project on a topic of their choosing related to secure communication.
In this class, we will explore a variety of papers focusing on three topics: key transparency, metadata-hiding communication, and content moderation. The precise set of topics rotates based on instructor preference, recent research developments, and current events.
There are no prerequisites for this course, though it is strongly recommended for students to take COMP 537 (or equivalent).
The following resources may be helpful as references throughout the course.
Cryptography:
Reading papers:
Writing reviews:
Giving talks: