Kryptographie und Datenschutz Lab

Topic

Using selected examples, this course provides an introduction to cryptography and the data security in distributed systems that is based on it. In the course of the lectures, students will experience on several occasions the insecurity of cryptographic protocols resulting from the naive application of cryptographic systems. An important example here is RSA, the best-known asymmetric cryptosystem, whose multiplicativity, on the one hand, renders many textbook protocols insecure, while on the other hand, it allows for the solution of entirely new types of problems.

In preparation for the individual experiments, students work through detailed course materials and complete the desk exercises.
During the experiments, the key algorithms are programmed, with predefined program frameworks saving students from less interesting background work.
Program testing and a wrap-up discussion conclude each experiment.

Information

Course Format

The introductory session is available as a video. It contains all the important information about the course schedule and your assignments.

Course Content

• Attacks on Classical Cipher Methods
• Symmetric block ciphers
• Number-theoretic algorithms
• Asymmetric Encryption Systems
• Digital signature systems
• Cryptography Based on Discrete Logarithms
• Fundamentals of steganography
• The MIX Network
• The DC network
• Zero-Knowledge Protocol

Legacy Materials

Starting with the 2026–2027 winter semester, the course materials for each semester will be published via OPAL. For previous academic years, the older versions can be found at the following link: Course Materials (Legacy Link)