CS 341: Cryptography

Structure of your preliminary reports

For each of the cryptographic systems we study this term (see course information page), you will write a 1-2 page preliminary report. This report should have the following sections:

• The question. A brief statement of the question under investigation. For example, "How do automatic teller machines work?"
• Background. A couple sentences to orient the reader to the context of the question. For example, you might explain briefly what an ATM is, and whether you are talking about a particular type of ATM (e.g. owned by and located in a bank, or leased by a gas station, or...), etc.
• Components of the system. A short list of the system components that are relevant to our topic. For example, the components for an ATM system would include the user's ATM card, the ATM kiosk itself and its various sub-components (e.g. money holder, touch screen, etc.), some sort of network connection, a server with access to the bank records, etc.
• Typical operation. A step-by-step description of the events comprising a typical use of the system. Some steps may be executed by a person, others by a piece of software on some machine, others by dedicated hardware like a card reader, etc. This portion of your report should tell a concise but reasonably detailed story of how a communication or transaction takes place. For an ATM, walking through the steps of a simple cash withdrawal would be appropriate here.
• Cryptography used. A list of the cryptographic algorithms and protocols used by the system in question.
• Vulnerabilities. A list of potential attacks on the system.
• Recommended study topics. List here the collection of topics you think our class should study to enable us to thoroughly understand the system in question. For ATMs, for example, this might include whatever private key algorithm modern ATMs use, key distribution mechanisms, etc.