MCS 150
Cryptanalysis
January Term 2007
This is a course in making and breaking
codes. Students will be engaged in learning how to "crack" enciphered
messages without knowing, at the outset, the enciphering keys. Beginning
with cryptograms of the sort found in newspapers and puzzle books, we shall
work our way through successively more complicated enciphering schemes
and learn methods of attack based on exhaustive search, computer programs,
statistics, and mathematics. This course will also survey the history of
cryptography and modern developments, including public-key cryptography
and data encryption techniques.
Prerequisites: Two years of high school algebra and tenacity
Instructor