Master's Programme in Computer Science is responsible for the course.

The course belongs to Security module.

The course is available to students from other degree programmes.

Basic university mathematics course.

Basic university-level course in networking.

Cyber Security

The student learns most important cryptographic concepts and relevant mechanisms that are used in realizing those concepts. Examples of these concepts are symmetric ciphers, public-key encryption, digital signatures, message authentication codes and has functions. Student also learns basic mathematical tools that are used as building blocks in cryptographic mechanisms. The student becomes able to apply mathematics for the purposes of cryptography. More advanced cryptographic primitives are also learnt at least on conceptual level. Such primitives include protocols for e.g. zero-knowledge proofs, secret sharing and multipart computations. The student learns how to apply cryptographic tools for information security and privacy, especially in the domain of networking. Mobile communication and block chains are examples of application areas that the student becomes familar with.

First year of Master's studies

Every year, Autumn period I

Basics of cryptography

Mathematical tools

Symmetric ciphers:

AES, differential and linear cryptanalysis, block cipher modes, random number generators, stream ciphers, cryptanalysis against stream ciphers

Public-key encryption:

RSA, side channel attacks, quantum computer attacks

Digital signatures:

Hash functions, certificates, PKI

Systems based on discrete logarithms:

Diffie-Hellman key exchange, Man-in-the-middle attacks, One-time pad, ElGamal, Elliptic Curve Cryptography

Cryptographic protocols:

Key establishment, attacks, design principles

Special protocols:

Secret sharing, Bitcoin, Zero-knowledge proofs, Oblivious transfer, Secure multiparty computation, Authenticated encryption

Communication security:

TLS, IPSec

Cryptography for mobile security:

GSM, 3G, LTE, 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth

Lecture slides are distributed in the wiki page of the course.

Student attends lectures, solves exercise problems and presents solutions.

Lecture slides are collected to the wiki page.

Exam includes 4-5 problems each of equal weight. Completion of exercises provides bonus points worth 0-20 % of exam points.

Separate exams last 3 hours and 30 minutes. Renewal exam (marked with "(U)") is the first separate exam after the course and also a renewal exam of course exam(s). In a renewal exam the points student has earned during the course are taken into account. Exams marked with "(HT)" are allowed only to students who have completed the obligatory projects or other exercises included in those courses. Exams marked with "(HT/U)" are renewals to students who have completed the obligatory projects during the course. Separate exams might cover different area than the lectured course. Check the course web page and contact the responsible teacher if in doubt.

Contact teaching.

Student has to complete 25% of the exercise problems to qualify to the exam.

Exam in the end of the course.

Completion of good portion of exercise problems provides bonus points in the exam. Completion of 25% provides 0 bonus points while completion of 90% provides bonus points worth of 20% of points available in the exam.

Valtteri Niemi