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CIS*4520: Introduction to Cryptography

Free, open-source study notes for CIS*4520 at the University of Guelph. Covers all major course topics with diagrams, worked examples, and quick reference tables.

Notes by Sabrina Haniff: feel free to use, share, and contribute.


What's Covered

Topic Description
Matrix Algebra Matrix operations, inverses, and the Hill cipher
Modular Arithmetic & GCD Euclidean algorithm, modular inverse, fast exponentiation
Classical Ciphers Caesar, Vigenère, Substitution, OTP, Playfair, Hill, Rail Fence
AES & Block Cipher Modes AES structure, GF(2⁸), ECB, CBC, CTR, GCM
RSA Encryption Key generation, encryption/decryption, Miller-Rabin, OAEP
Diffie-Hellman DH protocol, ECDH, MITM attacks, forward secrecy, TLS
Hash Functions MD5, SHA family, birthday attacks, HMAC, Argon2
Digital Signatures RSA signatures, DSA, ECDSA, PSS padding, PKI, chain of trust

How to Use These Notes

Use the navigation tabs at the top to jump between topics, or the search bar to find anything specific. Each page has a table of contents on the right side.


Contributing

Found a mistake or want to add something? PRs are welcome on GitHub.