CSC 350 - Cryptology and Security

Centenary College of Louisiana
Wright Building Fishbowl Lab 105
TR 2:00-3:15 - Fall 2008

Instructor: Dr. Mark Goadrich

Contact Info
mgoadric@centenary.edu
104 Wright Building
(318) 869-5194

Office Hours
MW 10:00-12:00
TR 10:00-11:00
or by appointment


Overview | Syllabus | Labs | Projects | Exams | Grading


What's New

Course Details

Textbook

Cryptography and Network Security
by Behrouz A. Forouzan, 2008
De Anza College
ISBN: 978-0073327532
Find this book at Amazon

Overview

This course investigates both classical and modern methods for information security. Topics will include classical alphabetic cryptographic and decryption techniques, RSA, private and public key encryption, visual cryptography, and data privacy.

Prerequisites

CSC 234 or permission of instructor.

Quizzes and Participation

You are encouraged to attend class and participate in discussions. Active participation in class discussions and short quizzes will comprise 5% of your final grade.

Extra Credit

Extra credit for this course can be earned by participating in the Centenary Math Problem of the Week (POTW). Each reasonable submission will be worth an additional 0.5% toward your final grade, CC me with your submission for credit.

Disabilities

Centenary assures students with disabilities equal opportunity to reach the same level of achievement as other students. Strict confidentiality will be maintained on students with disabilities. Services for students with disabilities are available through the Counseling Center, located on the ground floor of Rotary Residence Hall, phone (318) 869-5424.

Honor Code

All students are bound by the Honor System. The Honor System is applicable to all academic work. See the Centenary College Handbook for the complete Honor Code.

Extensions

Each day an assignment is late, you will lose 10% of the credit for that assignment. No late work will be accepted after 5 days past the due date. This is an actual day, not a class day. You will have 2 free late days, to be used at your discretion throughout the semester. If you are turning in an assignment late, you need to email me with how many free late days you plan to use. Extensions beyond this for labs, projects, exams and quizzes are only given when circumstances beyond your control (e.g. being sick, choir or sports travel) prevent you from completing a project on time. You must notify me either by email or phone of your circumstances well in advance of the due date.

Syllabus

We will be covering pieces of the textbook, Chapters 1-6, 9-10, with projects covering Chapter 11-18. We will also be using additional supplemental material such as relevant web-pages and background material. Readings will be assigned before material will be covered in class. You are expected to review the material and come to class prepared. As readings are assigned, they will be posted here.

Code for class and data files can be found here.

I have also posted Lecture Notes for the semester to help you study for the final.

Homework

You will have weekly Homeworks in this course, for a total of 40% of your final grade. These homeworks will cover concepts we have discussed in class, and will be due approximately one week after they are assigned.

You may work with a partner on these homeworks. You may discuss concepts and ideas with your classmates, but the code you turn in must be your own or written only with your partner. You will be graded not only on correctness, but also technique, documentation and evaluation of your solution. Further details on the grading standards for each project will be given when they are assigned.

Project

The purpose of this project is to improve your research, writing and communication skills as well as give you an opportunity to explore in-depth a particular area of cryptology and security. You will gain a grasp of the state-of-the-art Security research in your particular topic and share this with the rest of the class through a paper / web-page and a presentation.

The project will involve:

Topic Assignments

Guidelines

Your 6 page reports should have roughly the following format, be sure to include figures and diagrams:

Exams

There will be two exams (midterm and final), each worth 20% of your final grade.

Grading

Your final grade for this course will be based on the Homework, Project, Exams and Participation described above.
Grading Scale
90-100A
80-89B
70-79C
60-69D
0-59F
Weights
Homework40%
Project15%
Participation5%
Midterm20%
Final20%


© Mark Goadrich, Centenary College of Louisiana