Welcome!

This is the externally accessible web-page for COMSM0042: Advanced 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 builds on the foundations of confidentiality and authenticity set down in COMS30023 Cryptology, and deals with more advanced topics, specific to modern cryptographic research. Topics will range from foundational questions to more practical ones. The syllabus may include aspects of:

  • Foundations and primitives: pseudo-random generators, functions and permutations, hard-core bits; hash function preimage and collision resistance.
  • Elliptic-curve Cryptography: ECDH, ECDSA, Curve25519, pairings.
  • Post-Quantum Cryptography: lattices, codes, multivariate, hash-based, isogenies, and MPC-in-the-Head.
  • Interactive 2 Party Protocols: Security models and applications of commitment schemes and sigma protocols (zero-knowledge).
  • Digital signatures: One-time signatures, signatures based on sigma protocols (Fiat-Shamir heuristic), and blind signatures.
  • Multi-party primitives, protocols, and use cases: Shamir secret sharing, generic multi-party computation; e-cash and e-voting; algorithmic side-channel countermeasures.

Note that

  • Our somewhat complex curriculum structure means this unit is divided into a teaching unit COMSM0042, plus associated assessment units COMSM0153 (as a major option) and COMSM0158 (as a minor option): although COMSM0042 is usually a valid catch-all, in certain contexts care is needed re. use of the correct unit code.
  • An associated GitHub-based repo. houses the source code for this web-page, plus various other resources which might be useful.
  • Although the goal is to provide “Blackboard-free” access to as much static content as possible, selected internal-facing dynamic content is only accessible via the associated Blackboard web-page: important examples include any unit announcements, the unit forum, and any submission points, marks, and feedback related to assessment.

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