Applied Cryptanalysis

Modern cryptography has become an integral part of our everyday lives. Everyone uses various Internet services, online banking, contactless payment, etc. on a daily basis and therefore services that would not be possible without cryptography. In addition to encrypting confidential information, cryptography has been reliably guaranteeing other security goals such as authenticity, integrity and non-repudiation for decades.

Cryptanalysis is the science and practice of analysing and breaking cryptographic systems, for example to decrypt confidential information without knowledge of the secret key. In addition to analysing encryption schemes, cryptanalysis also includes other cryptographic mechanisms in order to identify and exploit their vulnerabilities. In this course, selected attack techniques against modern cryptographic methods (e.g., factoring or side-channel attacks), with a focus on encryption methods, are presented, discussed and applied. What options do attackers have to break RSA? How can schemes based on discrete logarithms, like the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, be attacked? And what does all of that effect the security of security protocols like TLS? These and many more questions will be answered in this course which will lead to a better understanding of what the term “secure encryption” means. Knowledge of the possibilities of attacks is a prerequisite for the secure practical use of cryptographic algorithms in security protocols or for their implementation. Knowledge of cryptography from other courses is advantageous, but not a prerequisite for participation in the course.

This course for master students is taught at Kiel University of Applied Sciences from the Winter Semester 2024/25.