The Foundations of Cryptography - Surveys
Oded Goldreich
The Foundations of Cryptography are the paradigms,
approaches and techniques used to conceptualize, define and provide
solutions to natural Cryptographic problems.
The surveys start by presenting some of the central tools;
that is, computational difficulty (in the form of one-way functions),
pseudorandomness, and zero-knowledge proofs.
Based on these tools, they turn to the treatment of basic
applications such as encryption and signature schemes
as well as the design of general secure cryptographic protocols.
The presentation assumes basic knowledge of algorithms,
probability theory and complexity theory, but nothing beyond this.
Material available on-line:
- Foundations of Cryptography -
A Primer (2004).
This survey is more extensive than the previous ones available
below and superseeds them as an introductory text.
- The Foundations of Cryptography - An Essay (1997).
This essay was originally written for readers who have some
familiarity with the basic problems of Cryptography
(i.e., know the basic setting of encryption and signature schemes).
The aim was to introduce such readers (who may even be very
knowledgeable about the applied aspects of cryptography)
to the rigorous foundations of the discipline.
- Cryptography
and Cryptographic Protocols (2001).
The survey was originally intended for researchers
in distributed computing,
and assumes no prior familiarity with cryptography.
The aim was to introduce such readers
(who may know nothing about cryptography)
to the basic paradigms, approaches, techniques
and results that provide the foundations of the discipline.
The original audience (distributed computing) is reflected
in the extensive treatment of secure cryptographic protocols.
Related Material available on-line:
A webpage on Foundations of Cryptography,
including access to the following manuscripts (and more).
Back to the Foundations of Cryptography page
or to Oded Goldreich's homepage.