Information Security and Cryptography —
Fundamentals and Applications

June 11-13, 2025 in Zurich, Switzerland

Lecturers: Prof. David Basin and Prof. Ueli Maurer


This seminar provides an in-depth coverage of Information Security and Cryptography from both a conceptual and an application-oriented viewpoint. At the same time, the mathematical, algorithmic, protocol-specific, and system-oriented aspects are explained in a way understandable to a wide audience. This includes the foundations needed to understand the different approaches, a critical look at the state-of-the-art, and a perspective on future security technologies.

The material is presented at three different levels. At the highest level, the basic concepts are presented in detail, but abstractly (e.g., as black boxes), without mathematics. No background is required to follow at this level. At an intermediate level, the most important concrete schemes, models, algorithms, and protocols are presented as well as their applications. Here some minimal mathematical and systems background is assumed. At the deepest level, which is not required to understand the higher levels, different special topics, requiring some mathematical background, are discussed.


Information Security: An Overview

  • Information at Risk: Threats, Security Objectives, and Security Measures
  • Classification of the Fundamental Information Security Problems
  • Course Overview

Cryptography: Central Methods and Foundations

  • Some History
  • Types and Models of Cryptographic Systems
  • Cryptographic Functions, Hash Functions
  • Secrecy, Authenticity, and their Duality and Independence
  • Symmetric Cryptography: Block Ciphers, Stream Ciphers, MACs, etc.
  • Randomness and Pseudo-Randomness
  • Cryptanalytic Attacks, Assumptions, Security Definitions
  • Public-Key Encryption and Secret-Key Agreement
  • Digital Signatures, Certificates

Cryptography Foundations

  • Discrete Mathematics Basics, Groups, Fields
  • Theoretical Foundations of Cryptography
  • Discrete Logarithms, Factoring, and other Hard Problems
  • Design and Analysis of Cryptographic Systems
  • RSA: Workings and Security Analysis
  • Diffie-Hellman Protocol: Workings and Security Analysis
  • Elliptic Curve Cryptography
  • Modes of Operation for Cryptographic Systems
  • Security Proofs, Indistinguishability, Reductions
  • Constructive Cryptography and Universal Composability

System and Network Security

  • Networking Essentials
  • Trade-offs in Securing Network Layers
  • Security Protocols including Kerberos, SSL, IPsec
  • Security Architectures
  • Firewalls and Intrusion Detection

PKI and Key Management

  • Key Management Challenges
  • PKI Certificates, Architectures, and Standards
  • Key Revocation and Recovery
  • Trust Models (Direct, Cross, Hierarchical, Web of Trust)
  • X.509 and PGP
  • Alternative PKIs: Client, CA, and Domain-Centric Options
  • Certificate Handling in Web Browsers

Authentication, Authorization, and Access Control

  • AAA Architectures: Authentication, Authorization, and Access Control
  • Authentication: Passwords, Biometrics, and Token-based
  • Policies and Models
  • Access Control Matrix Model
  • DAC and MAC Models
  • BLP, Biba, and Chinese Wall Models
  • RBAC, XACML
  • Single Sign-on
  • Identity Management

Privacy and Usage Control

  • Data Protection and Control of Intellectual Property
  • Anonymity and Privacy-enhancing Technologies
  • Proxies, Mix Networks, and other Anonymity Approaches
  • Usage Control Architectures
  • Digital Rights Management and Trusted Computing

Security Engineering and Web-Application Security

  • Security Engineering in the Software Engineering Life Cycle
  • Common Vulnerability Classes including: Session Management, Injection Attacks, Cross-Site Scripting, and Race Conditions
  • Security Standards and Certification

Advanced Topics in Cryptography

  • Interactive Proofs and Identification Protocols
  • Zero-Knowledge Proofs
  • Proofs of Knowledge
  • Secure Multi-party Computation
  • Virtual System Emulation
  • E-Voting
  • Quantum Cryptography
  • Quantum Computing

Blockchains and Digital Payment Systems

  • Classification of Digital Payment Systems, E-Cash
  • Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers
  • Smart Contracts
  • Crypto-Currencies, Bitcoin

Download our seminar brochure with the course description.

Seminar's format

The sessions are interactive, with the possibility to decide, on demand, which topics should be treated in more depth. There are coffee breaks in the morning and afternoon. The lecturers will also be available for discussions on all related topics. The lectures and all course material are in English.


Early registration before February 28, 2025: CHF 4,400
Standard registration as from March 1, 2025 CHF 4,800

Price includes course material, lunches, coffee breaks, and beverages during the seminar.


Seminar enrollment: please fill in and send this form by email to info@infsec.ch to enroll in the seminar. 

Venue of the seminar 2025

Marriott Courtyard Zurich North
Max-Bill-Platz 19
CH-8050 Zurich
Switzerland
P: +41 (0)44 564 0340
www.marriott.de

You may make a reservation for your accommodation at the seminar venue by contacting the hotel directly or using this link to book your accommodation at a special group rate.

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