Cryptography Uses and Misuses Part II - Asymmetric Cryptography and Key Exchange

Many security professionals and software engineers working in security are familiar with the basic concepts of cryptography. However, few fully understand what security guarantees are provided by different cryptographic primitives, which constructions are recommended and which should not be used (and why), and how easy it is to misuse cryptography to the point that it is trivially broken. In this course, we will take an in-depth look at cryptographic concepts, constructions and implementation dangers and issues. The focus of this course will be on asymmetric cryptography, including RSA, Elliptic Curve Crypto, Post-Quantum Crypto and Key Exchange.

The aim of the course is to understand the security guarantees provided by asymmetric cryptographic primitives and key exchange protocols, obtain an idea as to how they are constructed and how they work, learn how they can be properly and improperly used, and be familiar with the main attacks against them. The course will be filled with real-world examples of crypto misuses and we demonstrate how difficult it is to do crypto properly and how devastating the results are when it is misused. After taking this course, among other things, you will have a deep understanding of the major known attacks on RSA and Elliptic-Curve Cryptography, how much of a threat post-quantum crypto is and how to ready yourself, and how advanced attacks work on key-exchange protocols like WPA2, SSH and SSL/TLS. As a result of the course, you will be able to understand new attacks as they are released, and therefore evaluate their danger to your business.

This is part 2 of the course "Crypto Uses and Misuses"; the first part focused on symmetric cryptography and hash functions. This course follows on, and applies the same principles to asymmetric cryptography and key exchange. We note that the course is stand-alone and it is not necessary for participants to have previously taken part 1.

This course is of importance to anyone who uses cryptography in any way in their products, to developers who either use existing cryptographic libraries or implement their own, and to any security professional who needs to evaluate the ramifications of new attacks that are discovered.

None

Students should bring paper, pens and laptops.

Students will receive a reference booklet containing everything needed to further their understanding of the material. In addition, students will receive a CD with all of the slides, and code examples.