Cryptography and Computer Security for Undergraduates

1
Cryptography and Computer Security for
Undergraduates

• Paul De Palma
• Gonzaga University
• Charles Frank
• Northern Kentucky University
• Suzanne Gladfelter
• Penn State York
• Joshua Holden
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

2
Inspiration

• We stand today on the brink of a revolution in
  cryptography
• Diffie Hellman, 1976
• If all the personal computers in the worldwere
  put to work on a single PGP-encrypted message, it
  would still take an estimated 12 million times
  the age of the universe, on average, to break a
  single message.
• William Crowell, Deputy Directory of the NSA,
  1997

3
Then Why Are Systems Vulnerable?

• Shortage of security personnel
• From the NSA Website
• The National Plan for Information Systems
  Protection highlights the acute shortage in the
  subset of trained information systems security
  personnel.
• Cryptographic algorithms are embedded in real
  systems of staggering complexity.

4
The Federal Governments Response

• NSA has established Centers of Academic
  Excellence in Information Assurance Education
• Students in universities so designated are
  eligible for scholarships
• The Cyber Security Research and Development Act
  (2002) provides 216 million to support training
  in computer security

5
Computing Curricula 2001s Response The Context

• Computing is a broad field that extends well
  beyond the boundaries of computer science
• CC 2001
• Chomsky once observed that the maturity of a
  discipline is inversely proportional to its size.
• I was so much older then, Im younger than that
  now.

6
Security and Cryptographic Issues Appear Four
Times in CC2001

• NC3 Network Security (core component,
  Net-Centric Computing)
• OS7 Security and protection (elective component,
  Operating Systems)
• AL9 Cryptographic algorithms (elective
  component, Algorithms and
• Complexity)
• CS312 Cryptography (an advanced course,
  Algorithms and Complexity)

7
CS312 Cryptography

• Topics
• Historical overview of cryptography
• Private-key cryptography and the key-exchange
  problem
• Public-key cryptography
• Digital signatures
• Security protocols
• Applications (zero-knowledge proofs,
  authentication, and so on)

8
Initial Problems

• CS students have not studied number theory
• Mathematics students have not studied CS
• Turf battles between departments of mathematics
  and computer science

9
More Significantly

• Cryptography without a significant consideration
  of complex systems is misleading
• Most texts present crypto as if it were applied
  mathematics
• Crypto has a lively social context
• Battles over exporting strong crypto
• The Clipper Chip

10
In Sum

• Crypto is necessary for the CS curriculum
• Crypto will be hard for many CS majors
• Crypto enters an already crowded curriculum
• Crypto must be placed in a systems context
• Crypto materials
• www.cps.gonzaga.edu/depalma/crypto