Cryptography: Authentication Codes and Hash Functions

This free online course in Cryptography: Authentication Codes and Hash Functions, highlights the increasing need for knowledge about the security of systems and data in this modern digital age. You will learn about the cryptographic primitive known as Message Authentication Code (MAC) and the Cryptographic Hash Function. You will gain insight on how to construct Message Authentication Codes (MAC) for a string of block from a Pseudo-Random Function (PRF); and Message Authentication Code for a fixed-length message from a Pseudo-Random Function (PRF).

The construction of Pseudo-Random Functions for arbitrary-length inputs will be outlined in the first section of the course. Then you will learn about the definition of one-time information-theoretic MACs, the construction of information-theoretic MACs secured against a computationally unbounded adversary, and the collision-resistant properties of the Merkle-Damgard Paradigm for constructing Collision-Resistant Hash functions. Next, you will be introduced to the concept of designing MAC for arbitrary length messages using Collision Resistant Hash Function (CRHF). Thereafter, you will learn about generic attacks which can be launched on Hash Functions, namely; the birthday attacks for finding collisions in Hash Functions. You will also learn about the applications of Hash Functions, Blockchain and Merkle Trees.

Lastly, you will learn about the Random Oracle Model and proofs of Cryptographic Constructions based on Hash Functions in the Random Oracle Model (ROM). This course is a great starting point for anyone who is looking to pursue a career in Cryptography, particularly in the area of Message Authentication Codes and Hash Fuctions. It will also be highly relevant to those who want to learn to improve the security of their systems and data. Why wait, start this course today!