Cryptography: A Hands-on Approach

Name: Cryptography: A Hands-on Approach
Rating: 4.5 (535 reviews)

Secret-key encryption, one-way hash, public-key cryptography, digital signature, PKI, TLS, cryptocurrency and blockchain

Bestseller

Created byWenliang Du

Last updated 5/2022

English

What you'll learn

Study the basic principles of cryptography, including secret-key encryption, one-way hash function, and public-key cryptography
Study various crypto applications, including authentication, digital signature, HTTPS, credit card, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, etc.
Study the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and the TLS protocol, which are essential for securing communication on the Internet
Understand the risks faced by various crypto algorithms and protocols, and how these risks can be mitigated
Understand the common mistakes in the use of crypto
Gain hands-on experiences through 8 crypto labs (SEED Labs) developed by the instructor

Course content

7 sections • 56 lectures • 11h 12m total length

Topics, Textbooks Labs, and the Instructor9:56
Update on the textbook (May 10, 2022): I have already published the 3rd edition of my book. There are three volumes. The "Internet Security" volume contains all the contents covered in this course, so you should get this volume if you plan to buy one.

Introduction2:32
Classical Crypto Systems12:40
Explore classic cipher systems, including substitution and transposition ciphers, and examine how frequency analysis reveals letters and common sequences, forming the building blocks of modern ciphers.
Polyalphabetical Cypher and Enigma9:27
Explore polyalphabetic ciphers and the Enigma machine, showing how rotors, wiring, and a plugboard create shifting mappings, guarded by initial rotor positions and a secret codebook.
DES and AES9:33
Encryption Modes18:27
Explore how encryption modes—CBC, CFB, OFB, and CTR—use IV and feedback to prevent identical ciphertext for identical plaintext in block ciphers.
Common Mistakes on IV22:08
Authenticated Encryption Mode: GCM5:25
Padding7:27
Padding Oracle Attack17:41
Demonstrates a padding oracle attack, where an oracle’s padding validity feedback allows attackers to progressively reveal plaintext from ciphertext, with practical lab demonstrations.
Summary2:54
Examine classic and modern crypto systems, from the Enigma to DES and AES, and learn about block modes, initialization vectors, padding, padding oracle attacks, and authenticated encryption with GCM.

Introduction4:26
Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange17:52
Math Background for RSA15:20
The RSA Algorithm25:56
Public Key Encryption Tools and Performance14:25
Padding8:15
Digital Signature12:42
Discover how digital signatures prove message origin and integrity by signing hashes with a private key and verifying with a public key using RSA.
Programming11:38
Applications of Public Key Cryptography16:35
Summary1:35

Introduction3:19
The Man-In-The-Middle Attack14:55
Examine how a man-in-the-middle intercepts and alters public key exchanges, differentiating eavesdropping from interception, and explore how PKI helps thwart these attacks.
Overview of PKI16:16
Public Key Certificate15:10
Issue Certificates21:33
Secure Web Server Using Public Key Certificate14:16
How PKI Defeats MITM Attacks14:37
Explore how public key infrastructure defeats man in the middle attacks by validating certificates, proving private key ownership, and protecting identity and public keys amid domain name system cache poisoning.
Attacks on PKI14:39
Analyze PKI attack surfaces across verification, approval, and user confirmation, including certificate authority breaches and private key exposure, and how hash weaknesses enable forged certificates and domains that resemble sites.
Summary2:12

Introduction2:58
Overview of the TLS Protocol10:09
Learn how TLS encrypts data, negotiates a key via the handshake, and manages records between the application and transport layers, comparing TLS 1.3 and 1.2 and the evolution from SSL.
The TLS Handshake Protocol26:15
Explain the tls handshake protocol, detailing key exchange and authentication, compare rsa-based and diffie-hellman methods, and describe ephemeral keys and forward secrecy in tls 1.3.
Data Transmission6:38
After a handshake, the SSL layer splits data into records, encrypts with a MAC, and transmits over TCP; boundaries may not align with TCP segments, so a buffer holds leftovers.
TLS Client Program12:53
Build a tls client that performs a tcp handshake to establish a tls session, verifies the server certificate with trusted roots, and prints handshake details like the cipher.
Hostname check14:03
TLS Server Program11:51
TLS Proxy20:08
Explore how a tls mitm proxy intercepts and inspects client-server traffic by installing a root certificate, generating on-demand certificates, routing via dns, and optionally modifying responses.
Summary2:22

Introduction3:09
Explore how blockchain and Bitcoin underpin cryptocurrency and their applications. Build a blockchain emulator on your computer using container technology, with labs to come.
Blockchain8:31
Proof-of-Work Consensus (PoW)18:52
Bitcoin History4:56
Bitcoin Address14:46
Bitcoin Transaction17:05
Locking and Unlocking Transaction15:37
Double Spending9:46
Explain how double spending occurs in Bitcoin, how confirmations and hash power influence security, and why waiting for several blocks reduces double spending risk.
Ethereum Blockchain9:05
Summary2:53

Requirements

No programming background is needed, but to work on the hands-on labs, some basic Python programming background is needed

Description

Cryptography is a foundation in cybersecurity. It is the underlying building block of many defense mechanisms, systems, and protocols. Without crypto, we will not be able to safely conduct many things on the Internet, such as web browsing, online banking, working remotely, etc. Without crypto, blockchain and cryptocurrency will not exist.

In this course, we systematically study the basic principles of cryptography. In particular, we focus on the three essential pillars of cryptography, including secret-key encryption, one-way hash function, and public-key cryptography. We study how they work and how they are used in the real-world applications. We also look at the risks they face, and how these risks are mitigated in the real world. Furthermore, we study the common mistakes people make when using crypto algorithms and protocols. We show how these mistakes can be exploited in attacks.

The course emphasizes hands-on learning. For each topic covered, students not only learn the theory, they also get to work on the hands-on exercises developed by the instructor. These exercises are called SEED labs, and they are being used by over 1000 institutes worldwide. The course is based on the widely-adopted textbook written by the instructor. The title of the book is "Computer & Internet Security: A Hands-on Approach".

Who this course is for:

Undergraduate and graduate students studying cybersecurity
Anyone who is interested in learning the cryptography basics, especially the applied aspects of crypto
Anyone who is interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how various crypto-based systems work
Anyone who is interested in learning how blockchain and cryptocurrencies work

Cryptography: A Hands-on Approach

What you'll learn

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Course content

Course Overview1 lecture • 10min

Secret-Key Encryption10 lectures • 1hr 48min

One-Way Hash Function7 lectures • 1hr 36min

Public-Key Cryptography10 lectures • 2hr 9min

Public-Key Infrastructure9 lectures • 1hr 57min

Transport Layer Security9 lectures • 1hr 47min

Bitcoin and Blockchain10 lectures • 1hr 45min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: