Modern Cryptography Fundamentals
Description
Deep-dive into Modern Cryptography
In this course, we’ll cover the essentials of modern cryptography in a clear, approachable way, no heavy math background required. Across the chapters, you’ll learn core ideas like symmetric and public-key encryption, hash functions, digital signatures, key exchange, and real-world protocols. Along the way, we’ll connect the dots to practical applications such as secure messaging, TLS, password storage, and authentication.
The material is designed for learners of all levels and balances intuition with just enough technical depth to satisfy curiosity. Expect a focused, engaging journey. By the end, you’ll understand how and why modern cryptography works and how to use it responsibly.
Learning path
Objectives
- Explore Beale ciphers and modern cryptographic methods to understand basic and historical concepts of cryptography.
- Delve into number theory, groups, and fields to master key mathematical concepts underlying cryptography.
- Study the RC4 stream cipher and AES with a 128-bit key to learn about symmetric cryptographic algorithms.
- Investigate the RSA cryptosystem, key distribution, and hash functions to explore asymmetric cryptography.
Curriculum
+-Introduction
+-What is Cryptography?
+-Mathematical Foundations of Cryptography 1
+-Mathematical Foundations of Cryptography 2
+-Symmetric Cryptography
+-Asymmetric Cryptography
+-The RSA cryptosystem
+-Final Section
This course is taught by Jan-Willem Burgers
Jan-Willem has been active in the Bitcoin ecosystem for over ten years. Currently, he teaches various courses about Bitcoin, including for the University of the Andes, the Cubo+ program, and the Discovering Bitcoin platform. He also co-organizes BitDevs Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Bitcoin Meetup. In addition to his Bitcoin endeavors, Jan-Willem is a partner at Great Stuff Ventures, an early-stage investment fund.
