ECE598DA Topics in Information-Theoretic Cryptography

Instructor

Daniel Alabi

Description

In this course, we will study foundational and recent work on the use of information theory to design and analyze cryptographic protocols. We will begin by studying privacy attacks which motivate strong privacy and security definitions. Then, we will explore the basics of differential privacy and study some core works on zero-knowledge proofs. Finally, we will explore various applications, including watermarking of generative models.

Meeting Times/Days

1hr 20 mins (05:00PM - 06:20PM) on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Location

Room 2015 in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Building

Prerequisites

• At least one of:
  • ECE 313/MATH 362: Probability with Engineering Applications
  • MATH 461: Probability Theory
• ECE/CS 374: Introduction to Algorithms and Models of Computation

Prerequisite overrides will be considered by the instructor on a case-by-case basis.

Recommended Textbooks

• Introduction to Cryptography with Coding Theory. By Wade Trappe, Lawrence C. Washington.

• Tutorials on the Foundations of Cryptography. Edited by Yehuda Lindell.

Schedule

Week 1: Introduction: motivations, one-time pad review, review of probability theory

Week 2: Attacks and Composition Theorems for Differential Privacy

Week 3: Standard Mechanisms for Differential Privacy

Week 4: Information-Theoretic Lower Bounds for Differential Privacy

Week 5: Differentially Private Statistical Estimation and Testing

Week 6: Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Week 7: Statistical Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Part I

Week 8: Statistical Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Part II

Week 9: Multi-Party Computation

Week 10: Multi-Party and Computational Differential Privacy

Week 11: Code-Based Cryptography: Part I

Week 12: Code-Based Cryptography: Part II

Week 13: More Applications

• Watermarking of Generative Models
• Proof Systems for Machine Learning
• Bounded-Storage Cryptography
• Quantum Cryptography

Week 14: Project Presentations

Grading Policy

Class Participation (30%)

• Attendance is mandatory for all lectures, with a maximum of three unexcused absences allowed.
• Each student must (co)scribe at least one lecture during the course.

Quiz (10%)

• There will be 1 (in-class) short quiz to gauge students’ understanding of the fundamentals.
• The quiz will happen either in the middle or end of the semester.

Project (60%)

Students will work on projects related to one or more of the covered topics. The project is divided into four components:

• Proposal: 15%
• Mid-term report: 15%
• Final presentation: 15%
• Final report: 15%