Topic outline

  • Applications of Coding Theory to Security

    The course will start with a collection of lectures giving a brief intro to finite fields and coding theory as well as summarizing some recent research on related applications, including private information retrieval and secure distributed computation. The course is mostly concerned with information theoretic security, i.e., security that does not rely on computational hardness. Background in coding theory is not necessary.

    Teachers: Camilla Hollanti (camilla.hollanti@aalto.fi) and Okko Makkonen (okko.makkonen@aalto.fi)

    The sessions are in M2 on Tue 10-12, Wed 12-14, Thu 12-14 (excluding vappu (1.5) and hela-torstai (9.5)), and will be flexibly used for lectures/exercises/project presentations. Attendance in the lectures and presentations is mandatory (unless there's a compelling reason pre-approved by the teachers).

    After the lecture part, students will work on (mandatory) projects and give short presentations. The projects can be geared according to the students' background and can also cover topics related to computational hardness (e.g., code-based crypto). The presentations will take place during the 6th  course week or the exam week. We will also give some homework assignments (precise format TBD), which are adjustable to different levels of algebra/coding theory knowledge.

    The course is 5 ECTS and graded pass/fail.

    Prerequisites: linear algebra, preferably also abstract algebra.

    Welcome!