Welcome!

This is the externally accessible web-page for COMS30048: Applied Cryptology, a unit operated by the School of Computer Science, University of Bristol (UoB). Quoting the catalogue entry, the remit of this unit can be summarised as follows:

[t]his unit delivers an introduction to two sub-fields of cryptography, namely applied cryptography and cryptographic engineering. As such, the unit content can be summarised as spanning three core topics:

  1. efficient implementation techniques for standard symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic primitives,
  2. implementation (specifically side-channel and fault induction) attack and mitigation techniques, and
  3. system-level applications of cryptography, e.g., deployment in standard protocols such as TLS.

The aim is to equip students with understanding and skills that enable use (i.e., design, implementation, deployment, and analysis) of cryptographic technologies when addressing real-world (e.g., industrially relevant) problems. By offering an applied, practical perspective on the field of cryptography, it complements, and therefore represents an ideal companion for, other units offering a more theoretical perspective.

Note that

  • Our somewhat complex curriculum structure means this unit is divided into a teaching unit COMS30048, plus associated assessment units COMS30049 and COMSM0054: although COMS30048 is usually a valid catch-all, some care is required in certain contexts re. use of the correct unit code.
  • An associated GitHub-based repo. houses the source code for this web-site, plus various other resources which might be useful.

  • Although this external-facing web-site hosts as much static content as possible, the unit cannot and so is not entirely “Blackboard-free”. Selected internal-facing, dynamic content is only accessible via other means: important examples include

    1. unit-wide communication, e.g., announcements (Blackboard),
    2. assessment submission, marks, and feedback (Blackboard),
    3. discussion forum (Teams).

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