Improve Your Career in Computer Security. Master the cryptographic tools and their design principles to apply them for computer security

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Sang-Yoon Chang

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Applied Cryptography SpecializationUniversity of Colorado System

Skills you will gain

About this Specialization

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This specialization is intended for the learners interested in or already pursuing a career in computer security or other cybersecurity-related fields. Through four courses, the learners will cover the security of information systems, information entropy, classical cryptographic algorithms, symmetric cryptography, asymmetric/public-key cryptography, hash functions, message authentication codes, digital signatures, key management and distribution, and other fundamental cryptographic primitives and protocols.

Applied Learning Project

Learners will build the logic and the pseudo-code for the widely used cryptographic primitives and algorithms (as opposed to merely knowing how to use them as black boxes), which will enable them to implement the cryptographic primitives in any platforms/language they choose.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Intermediate Level

Approximately 5 months to complete

Suggested pace of 2 hours/week

English

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Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Intermediate Level

Approximately 5 months to complete

Suggested pace of 2 hours/week

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

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How the Specialization Works

Take Courses

A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.

Hands-on Project

Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.

Earn a Certificate

When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.

There are 4 Courses in this Specialization

Course1

Course 1

Cryptography and Information Theory

4.5

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400 ratings

Welcome to Cryptography and Information Theory!

This course combines cryptography (the techniques for protecting information from unauthorized access) and information theory (the study of information coding and transfer). More specifically, the course studies cryptography from the information-theoretical perspectives and discuss the concepts such as entropy and the attacker knowledge capabilities, e.g., Kerckhoff's Principle. It also contrasts information-theoretic security and computational security to highlight the different train of thoughts that drive the cryptographic algorithmic construction and the security analyses. This course is a part of the Applied Cryptography specialization.

Course2

Course 2

Symmetric Cryptography

4.6

stars

238 ratings

Welcome to Symmetric Cryptography!

Symmetric cryptography relies on shared secret key to ensure message confidentiality, so that the unauthorized attackers cannot retrieve the message. The course describes substitution and transposition techniques, which were the bases for classical cryptography when the message is encoded in natural language such as English. Then, we build on product ciphers (using both substitution and transposition/permutation) to describe modern block ciphers and review the widely used cipher algorithms in DES, 3-DES, and AES. Lastly, we enable the use of block ciphers to support variable data length by introducing different modes of block cipher operations in ECB, CBC, CFB, OFB, and CTR modes. This course is cross-listed and is a part of the two specializations, the Applied Cryptography specialization and the Introduction to Applied Cryptography specialization.

Course3

Course 3

Asymmetric Cryptography and Key Management

4.7

stars

243 ratings

Welcome to Asymmetric Cryptography and Key Management!

In asymmetric cryptography or public-key cryptography, the sender and the receiver use a pair of public-private keys, as opposed to the same symmetric key, and therefore their cryptographic operations are asymmetric. This course will first review the principles of asymmetric cryptography and describe how the use of the pair of keys can provide different security properties. Then, we will study the popular asymmetric schemes in the RSA cipher algorithm and the Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange protocol and learn how and why they work to secure communications/access. Lastly, we will discuss the key distribution and management for both symmetric keys and public keys and describe the important concepts in public-key distribution such as public-key authority, digital certificate, and public-key infrastructure. This course also describes some mathematical concepts, e.g., prime factorization and discrete logarithm, which become the bases for the security of asymmetric primitives, and working knowledge of discrete mathematics will be helpful for taking this course; the Symmetric Cryptography course (recommended to be taken before this course) also discusses modulo arithmetic. This course is cross-listed and is a part of the two specializations, the Applied Cryptography specialization and the Introduction to Applied Cryptography specialization.

Course4

Course 4

Cryptographic Hash and Integrity Protection

4.5

stars

70 ratings

Welcome to Cryptographic Hash and Integrity Protection!

This course reviews cryptographic hash functions in general and their use in the forms of hash chain and hash tree (Merkle tree). Building on hash functions, the course describes message authentication focusing on message authentication code (MAC) based on symmetric keys. We then discuss digital signatures based on asymmetric cryptography, providing security properties such as non-repudiation which were unavailable in symmetric-cryptography-based message authentication. This course is a part of the Applied Cryptography specialization.

Instructor

Sang-Yoon Chang

Offered by

University of Colorado System

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the refund policy?
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Can I just enroll in a single course?
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Can I take the course for free?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for financial aid.
Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
How long does it take to complete the Specialization?
The specialization is designed to span across 4 courses and 16-17 weeks with the load being 2-5 hours per week.
What background knowledge is necessary?
The learners are recommended to have background in engineering and have a working knowledge of discrete mathematics and probability.
Do I need to take the courses in a specific order?
It is recommended to follow the order of the courses as specified in this specialization.
Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?
University of Colorado system plans to give university credit for this specialization, but the discussion is ongoing. This page will get updated when the details are finalized.
What will I be able to do upon completing the Specialization?
By the end of this specialization, the learners will be able to apply cryptography to secure networking and systems, design cryptographic protocols and cryptosystems using established primitives, and evaluate the security strength and identify the potential vulnerabilities of existing systems.

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Applied Cryptography Specialization

Skills you will gain

About this Specialization

Applied Learning Project