Introduction to cryptology

M1 MoSIG, INFO and AM, U. Grenoble Alpes

The documents are gradually made available. In the meantime, documents from previous years may be useful.

Slides

1. Introduction
2. Block ciphers: passive encryption of small messages
3. Symmetric encryption: passive encryption with small shared secret
4. Hash functions: Swiss Army knife of cryptography
5. Message authentication codes & Authenticated encryption: authentication with small shared secret
6. Key exchange: agree on a secret in the presence of passive adversaries
7. Public-key encryption: passive encryption without shared secret
8. Digital signatures: authentication without shared secret
9. RSA ecosystem: public-key encryption and signatures
10. Transport Layer Security (TLS): putting it all together

Previous years

• 2025 +-
  1. Introduction
  2. Block ciphers: passive encryption of small messages
  3. Symmetric encryption: passive encryption with small shared secret
  4. Hash functions: Swiss Army knife of cryptography
  5. Message authentication codes & Authenticated encryption: authentication with small shared secret
  6. Key exchange: agree on a secret in the presence of passive adversaries
  7. Public-key encryption: passive encryption without shared secret
  8. Digital signatures: authentication without shared secret
  9. RSA ecosystem: public-key encryption and signatures
  10. Transport Layer Security (TLS): putting it all together
• 2024 +-
  0. the documents for the first part of the course are available on Pierre Karpman's webpage.
  1. Key exchange protocols
  2. Public-key encryption
  3. Digital signatures
  4. RSA encryption scheme and signatures
  5. TLS protocol
• 2023 +-
  1. Introduction
  2. Block ciphers
  3. Symmetric encryption
  4. Hash functions
  5. Message authentication codes & Authenticated encryption
  6. Key exchange
  7. Public-key encryption
  8. Digital signatures
  9. RSA public-key encryption and signatures
  10. Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Additional documents

• Introduction to discrete probabilities: all you need about discrete probabilites, with pictures
• Mathematical background: Chapter 0 of Boaz Barak’s textbook (cf below), especially recommended if you are unfamiliar with (discrete) probability theory
• AES animation
• Birthday bounds: fully-written formal proofs
• Proof sketch of the IND-CPA security of the CTR mode

Exercise sheets, TP and exams

• TD1: Introduction
• TD2: Block ciphers
• TD3: Symmetric encryption
• TD4: Hash functions
• TD5: Message authentication codes & authenticated encryption
• TD6: Key exchange
• TD7: Public-key encryption
• TD8: Digital signatures
• TD9: The RSA ecosystem
• TP: tbd
• MidTerm: Mid Term Exam
• Partiel: Sujet de partiel en français

• 2025 +-
  • TD1: Introduction
  • TD2: Block ciphers
  • TD3: Symmetric encryption
  • TD4: Hash functions
  • TD5: Message authentication codes & authenticated encryption
  • TD6: Key exchange
  • TD7: Public-key encryption
  • TD8: Digital signatures
  • TD9: The RSA ecosystem
  • TP: Birthday attack against CBC (upload your code on Caseine with the password sent by email)
  • MidTerm: Mid Term Exam
  • Partiel: Sujet de partiel en français
• 2024 +-
  • TD1-3: see Pierre Karpman's webpage
  • TD4: Key exchange protocols
  • TD5: Public-key encryption
  • TD6: Digital signatures
  • TD7: The RSA ecosystem
  • TP: see Pierre Karpman's webpage
  • FinalExam: Final exam
  • Examen: Examen (sujet en français)
• 2023 +-
  • TD1: Introduction
  • TD2: Block ciphers
  • TD3: Symmetric encryption
  • TD4: Hash functions
  • TD5: Message authentication codes & authenticated encryption
  • TD6: Key exchange
  • TD7: Public-key encryption
  • TD8: Digital signatures
  • TD9: The RSA ecosystem
  • TP-MultiCollisions: TP Multicollisions [mc.tar.bz2]
  • MidTerm: Mid Term
  • FinalExam: Final Exam

Bibliography

• M. Rosulek. The Joy of Cryptography, MIT Press, 2026.

From the webpage: “an undergraduate-level textbook that introduces students to the fundamentals of provable security.” Very good book. Only the first 3 chapters are available online, but it is worth reading them. A complete preliminary version in also available.

• J. Katz, Y. Lindell. Introduction to modern cryptography, 3rd. ed., CRC Press, 2021.

Very good textbook, unfortunately quite expensive.

• D. Boneh et V. Shoup. A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography, version 0.6, Jan. 2023.

A slightly more difficult resource, but available for free and legally online.

• B. Barak. An intensive Introduction to Cryptography, course notes.

More theoretical presentation, for complexity theory lovers!

• J.-Ph. Aumasson. Serious cryptography, 2nd edition, no starch press, 2024. Translated into French as La cryptographie déchiffrée, Dunod, 2024.

A more application-oriented textbook, although it covers in quite some details the theory too. The French version is available online through Beluga and the 1st edition of the original version through archive.org.

Last modification : February 18., 2026