Foundations of Cryptography Course | IIIT Bangalore | Prof. Ashish Choudhury
Course Details
| Exam Registration | 2138 |
|---|---|
| Course Status | Ongoing |
| Course Type | Elective |
| Language | English |
| Duration | 12 weeks |
| Categories | Computer Science and Engineering, Foundations of Computing, Cyber Security |
| Credit Points | 3 |
| Level | Undergraduate/Postgraduate |
| Start Date | 19 Jan 2026 |
| End Date | 10 Apr 2026 |
| Enrollment Ends | 02 Feb 2026 |
| Exam Registration Ends | 20 Feb 2026 |
| Exam Date | 18 Apr 2026 IST |
| NCrF Level | 4.5 — 8.0 |
Foundations of Cryptography: A Deep Dive into Modern Security Principles at IIIT Bangalore
In today's digital world, cryptography forms the bedrock of secure communication, data integrity, and privacy. The Foundations of Cryptography course offered by the prestigious International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B), provides a rigorous and comprehensive introduction to this critical field. Designed and taught by Prof. Ashish Choudhury, this 12-week program is tailored for undergraduate and postgraduate students aiming to master the core principles that underpin modern cryptographic systems.
Meet Your Instructor: Prof. Ashish Choudhury
Leading this intellectual journey is Dr. Ashish Choudhury, an Associate Professor at IIIT Bangalore. With an MS and PhD in Computer Science from IIT Madras, followed by postdoctoral research at ISI Kolkata and the University of Bristol, Prof. Choudhury brings a wealth of academic and research expertise. His research is focused on the foundation of cryptographic protocols for real-world problems, particularly in designing efficient protocols for asynchronous networks. His passion for secure distributed computing and theoretical computer science ensures the course is both deep in theory and relevant to practical challenges.
Course Overview and Objectives
This course moves beyond simple application and delves into the fundamental paradigms and principles of modern cryptography. The primary focus is on understanding the definitions and constructions of various cryptographic objects like encryption schemes, hash functions, and digital signatures.
The key questions the course addresses are:
- What security properties are desirable in a cryptographic system?
- How can we formally and mathematically define these security properties?
- How do we design cryptographic objects that provably satisfy these definitions?
The ultimate aim is to equip students with the knowledge to understand a significant portion of current cryptography research papers and industry standards, a crucial skill for both academia and cutting-edge industry roles.
Who Should Take This Course?
- Intended Audience: Computer Science and Mathematics students at the undergraduate or postgraduate level.
- Prerequisites: While there are no strict prerequisites, some exposure to basic discrete mathematics, algorithms, or theory of computation is beneficial. Prof. Choudhury emphasizes simplifying the presentation to make the material accessible to dedicated learners.
- Industry Support: The knowledge gained is highly relevant for any IT company, especially those in cybersecurity, fintech, cloud services, and software development where data security is paramount.
Detailed 12-Week Course Layout
The course is meticulously structured to build knowledge from the ground up, covering historical concepts to modern protocols.
| Week | Topics Covered |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course Overview, Symmetric-key Encryption, Historical Ciphers, Perfect Security and Its Limitations |
| Week 2 | Computational Security, Semantic Security and Pseudorandom Generators (PRGs) |
| Week 3 | Stream Ciphers, Provably-secure Instantiation of PRG, Practical Instantiation of PRG, CPA-security and Pseudo-random Functions (PRFs) |
| Week 4 | CPA-Secure Ciphers from PRF, Modes of Operations of Block Ciphers, Theoretical & Practical Constructions of Block Ciphers |
| Week 5 | DES, AES and Message Authentication Codes (MAC) |
| Week 6 | Information-theoretic Secure MAC, Cryptographic Hash Functions, Ideal-Cipher Model, Davies-Meyer construction, Merkle-Damgård Paradigm |
| Week 7 | Birthday Attacks on Hash Functions, Applications of Hash Functions, Random Oracle Model, Authenticated Encryption |
| Week 8 | Generic Constructions of Authenticated Encryption, Key-exchange Problem, One-way Trapdoor Functions, Cyclic Groups |
| Week 9 | Discrete-Logarithm Problem, Computational & Decisional Diffie-Hellman Problems, Elliptic-Curve Cryptography, Public-Key Encryption |
| Week 10 | El Gamal Encryption, RSA Assumption, RSA Public-key Cryptosystem, KEM-DEM Paradigm, CCA-security in Public-key |
| Week 11 | CCA-secure Hybrid Ciphers (Diffie-Hellman & RSA), Digital Signatures, RSA Signatures, Schnorr Identification Scheme |
| Week 12 | Schnorr Signature, Overview of TLS/SSL, Number Theory, Interactive Protocols, Course Farewell |
Recommended Textbooks
To supplement the lectures, the course aligns closely with two seminal textbooks in the field:
- Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Jonathan Katz and Yehuda Lindell
- Cryptography Theory and Practice by Douglas Stinson
These texts provide further depth, examples, and exercises for students wishing to solidify their understanding.
Why Enroll in This Foundations of Cryptography Course?
This course is more than just a syllabus; it's a gateway to the theoretical underpinnings of cybersecurity. By focusing on definitions and provable security, it trains students to think like cryptographers—to not just use cryptographic tools, but to understand why they work and how to evaluate new ones. Whether you aim for a career in research, to contribute to security standards, or to build more secure systems in the industry, the Foundations of Cryptography from IIIT Bangalore provides the essential knowledge base to launch your journey.
Enroll Now →