Late Submission

No extensions will be granted without an approved application for Special Consideration. There will be a deduction of 10% of the total available marks made from the total awarded mark for each 24 hour period or part thereof that the submission is late. For example, 25 hours late in submission for an assignment worth 10 marks – 20% penalty or 2 marks deducted from the total.  No submission will be accepted after solutions have been posted.

Supplementary Exam

If you receive Special Consideration for the final exam, a supplementary exam will be scheduled after the normal exam period, following the release of marks. By making a special consideration application for the final exam you are declaring yourself available for a resit during the supplementary examination period and will not be eligible for a second special consideration approval based on pre-existing commitments. Please ensure you are familiar with the policy prior to submitting an application. Approved applicants will receive an individual notification one week prior to the exam with the exact date and time of their supplementary examination.  

COMPUTING FACILITIES

Important! Please note that ITEC643 is a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) unit since 2016. You will be expected to bring your own laptop computer (Windows, Mac or Linux) to the workshop, install and configure the required software, and incorporate secure practices into your daily work (and play!) routines.

CLASSES

Each week you should complete any assigned readings and review the lecture slides in order to prepare for the lecture. There are three hours of lectures and a one-hour workshop every week. There uses hands-on exercises to reinforce concepts introduced during the lectures; you should have chosen a practical on enrollment. You will find it helpful to read the workshop instructions before attending - that way, you can get to work quickly!

For details of days, times and rooms consult the timetables webpage.

Note that Workshops commence in week 1.

You should have selected a practical at enrollment.

Please note that you will be required to submit work every week. Failure to do so may result in you failing the unit or being excluded from the exam.

DISCUSSION BOARDS

This unit makes use of discussion boards hosted within iLearn . Please post questions there; they are monitored by the staff on the unit.

REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND/OR MATERIALS

Required readings for this unit:

• Cryptography Engineering: Design Principles and Practical Applications, Ferguson, Neils, Tadayoshi Kohno and Bruce Schneier, 1st ed., Wiley
• R. Anderson, Security Engineering (SE) Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2008. The complete second edition is now available online at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/book.html

Recommended readings for this unit:

• A. J. Menezes, P. C. van Oorrschot and S. A. Vanstone, Handbook of applied cryptography (HAC), CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1996. All required chapters are available online at http://cacr.uwaterloo.ca/hac/
• NIST SP 800 documents available from http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsSPs.html
• IETF RFC's available from http://www.rfc-editor.org
• Bauer, Craig P., Secret History: The Story of Cryptology, CRC Press (2013)
• N. Smart, Cryptography: An introduction, McGraw-Hill. The 3rd edition is available online at http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~nigel/Crypto_Book/

TECHNOLOGY USED AND REQUIRED

iLearn

iLearn is a Learning Management System that gives you access to lecture slides, lecture recordings, forums, assessment tasks, instructions for practicals, discussion forums and other resources.

Echo 360 (formerly known as iLecture)

Digital recordings of lectures are available. Read these instructions for details.

Technology Used

Java or C++ programming language and GP/PARI, GnuPG, VeraCrypt, Thunderbird, Gnu Privacy Guard, Enigmail, OpenSSH, PuTTY, Ophcrack.

• In the past, ITEC643 was dealing with cryptography and information security. From 2019, Session 2, ITEC643 exclusively focuses on applied cryptography.
• The unit has been organised around three distinct modules. Symmetric-key Cryptography from week 1 to 4, then Public-key cryptography from week 5 to 8 and finally Protocols and Applications from week 9 to 12.
• There is no mid-term test nor final examination as each part is now assessed via a module examination worth 20%. Module exams are not a hurdle.

At the end of the semester, you will receive a grade that reflects your achievement in the unit

• Fail (F): does not provide evidence of attainment of all learning outcomes. There is missing or partial or superficial or faulty understanding and application of the fundamental concepts in the field of study; and incomplete, confusing or lacking communication of ideas in ways that give little attention to the conventions of the discipline.
• Pass (P): provides sufficient evidence of the achievement of learning outcomes. There is demonstration of understanding and application of fundamental concepts of the field of study; and communication of information and ideas adequately in terms of the conventions of the discipline. The learning attainment is considered satisfactory or adequate or competent or capable in relation to the specified outcomes.
• Credit (Cr): provides evidence of learning that goes beyond replication of content knowledge or skills relevant to the learning outcomes. There is demonstration of substantial understanding of fundamental concepts in the field of study and the ability to apply these concepts in a variety of contexts; plus communication of ideas fluently and clearly in terms of the conventions of the discipline.
• Distinction (D): provides evidence of integration and evaluation of critical ideas, principles and theories, distinctive insight and ability in applying relevant skills and concepts in relation to learning outcomes. There is demonstration of frequent originality in defining and analysing issues or problems and providing solutions; and the use of means of communication appropriate to the discipline and the audience.
• High Distinction (HD): provides consistent evidence of deep and critical understanding in relation to the learning outcomes. There is substantial originality and insight in identifying, generating and communicating competing arguments, perspectives or problem solving approaches; critical evaluation of problems, their solutions and their implications; creativity in application.

Your final grade depends on your performance in each assessment task and on your ability to perform well enough on the hurdle assessment tasks.

For each task, you receive a mark that reflects your standard of performance. Then the different component marks are added up to determine an aggregated mark out of 100. In order to pass the unit, this aggregated mark needs to be at least 50.

You also need to be achieve a minimum standard of performance on the hurdle assessment tasks.

Hurdle Assessment Task

• Submission of tutorial tasks in this unit is a hurdle requirement. You are required to make at least 8 out of 12 submissions in order to pass the unit. 

Not that assignment submission in this unit is not a hurdle requirement. However, if you do not make a reasonable attempt at the two assignments, you will be unlikely to pass the unit. 

Your final grade is then a direct reflection of the aggregated mark (provided that you satisfy the hurdle requirements) according to the following:

• 85-100 for HD
• 75-84 for D
• 65-74 for CR
• 50-64 for P

If you receive special consideration for the final exam, a supplementary exam will be scheduled in the interval between the regular exam period and the start of the next session.  By making a special consideration application for the final exam you are declaring yourself available for a resit during the supplementary examination period and will not be eligible for a second special consideration approval based on pre-existing commitments.  Please ensure you are familiar with the policy prior to submitting an application. You can check the supplementary exam information page on FSE101 in iLearn (bit.ly/FSESupp) for dates, and approved applicants will receive an individual notification one week prior to the exam with the exact date and time of their supplementary examination.

If you are given a second opportunity to sit the final examination as a result of failing to meet the minimum mark required, you will be offered that chance during the same supplementary examination period and will be notified of the exact day and time after the publication of final results for the unit.