News

[14/11/07] Information regarding Modules 2 and 3 is available here.

[21/10/07] The course webpage is now available and uptodate.

Intro

Advanced Topics in Information Security is a Ph.D. level course, corresponding to a Curriculum Unit credited with 5 ECTS. It is offered jointly by the Departamento de Informática at Universidade do Minho, the Departamento de Ciência de Computadores at Universidade do Porto and the Departamento de Electrónica, Telecomunicações e Inform´atica at Universidade de Aveiro in the MAP-I doctoral program. The course has been accredited by Carnegie Mellon University under the CMU-Portugal Agreement.

Information is a crucial resource of today.s economy and society at large. Information differs radically from other resources in that, for instance, it can be copied practically without cost and it can be altered or destroyed without leaving traces. The protection of information and intellectual property in general poses enormous challenges. Information security, in particular cryptography, is an enabling technology that is vital for the development of the information society. The objective of this course is to expose students to cutting-edge research topics in relevant areas in information security. The course will cover both theoretical and applied issues in information security.

At the theoretical level, there are two types of cryptographic security. The security of a cryptographic system can rely either on the computational infeasibility of breaking the scheme (computational security), or on the theoretical impossibility of breaking it, even using infinite computing power (information- theoretic or unconditional security). While theoretical analysis of most practical schemes seems to rely solely on the former approach, information theoretic security arguments are central to many computational security results. Furthermore, there has been a resurgent interest in information theoretic security in novel areas such as quantum cryptography and security over wireless channels. This course covers both computational and information-theoretic security approaches, as well as their combined use in cryptography. These complementary views are presented by instructors who conduct active research in these fields. The course also covers the application of information security technology to real life problems, including selected computer and network security topics. Critical information society services, such as electronic voting, secure identification and privacy protection, will be used as case studies of both the theoretical and practical issues involved, taking advantage of the experience of both the instructors and invited speakers in these areas. The course is not intended as an introductory survey in any of these areas, although it is planned that, throughout the course, some of the lectures will be crash-courses where relevant background is revised. Instead, the focus will be on advanced topics and recent results. The course will emphasise definitions, foundations, and a formal approach to information security.

Instructors

Manuel Barbosa, DI-UM
João Barros, DCC-FCUP
José Esgalhado Valença, DI-UM
André Zúquete, DETI-UA