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TTM4135

This is the official course website for TTM4135 Applied Cryptography and Network Security during the spring of 2026.

The course covers:

  • Cryptography; symmetric and public-key, cryptographic protocols, key distribution, authentication, digital signatures.
  • Network security; access control, services and mechanisms for authentication, network security protocols, application layer security.

See the full course description at ntnu.edu/studies/courses/TTM4135.

Course Staff

Lecturer:   Tjerand Silde
Contact:    tjerand.silde@ntnu.no
Office:      Electro B225
Webpage:   tjerandsilde.no

Head TA:   Emil August Hovd Olaisen
Contact:    emil.august.olaisen@ntnu.no
Office:      Electro B211
Webpage:   ntnu.no/ansatte/emil.august.olaisen

Teaching assistants:

  • Jonatan Aalen
  • Prateek Sharma
  • Imre Angelo
  • Haakon Kirksæter

Reference Group

The reference group consist of the following members:

  • Adelin Mae Evergreen (adelinme), MTKOM
  • Mina Johanne Heier (minajh), MTKOM
  • Gianluca Ravaglia (gianlura), exchange student

Reference group meetings:

Ed Forum

We use Ed as the forum for this course, and enrolled students can access it at edstem.org/eu/courses/2762.
Note that the first time you log in to Ed Forum, you must use the link in the Blackboard sidebar.

Course Materials

The course materials are the lecture slides, references therein, and the assignments.
The slides are mainly based on Cryptography and network security: principles and practice
by William Stallings. You can find it at akademika.no or at the NTNU University Library.
We do not require that you buy any books, but recommend the following literature:

Portfolio Assignment (40%)

The portfolio is weigthed 40% of the final grade and is divided into three assignments. More info will be announced.

Practical (10%)

There will be an individual practical assignment for cryptanalysis of classical encryption techniques.

You can find the assigment here: practical.pdf. The ciphertexts are available here: practical.zip.

The practical assignment must be handed in through Blackboard by Friday, January 30.

Quizzes (10%)

There will be five individual quizzes on Blackboard, each counting for 2%. Each quiz will cover 2-3 lectures.
The quizzes will be available for a week, you will have two attempts, and you need 7 out of 8 correct to pass.

  • The first quiz will be released on Thursday, January 22 at 14:00. The deadline will be Thursday, January 29 at 18:00.
  • The second quiz will be released on Thursday, January 29 at 14:00. The deadline will be Thursday, February 5 at 18:00.
  • The third quiz will be released on Thursday, February 12 at 14:00. The deadline will be Thursday, February 19 at 18:00.
  • The fourth quiz will be released on Thursday, February 19 at 14:00. The deadline will be Thursday, February 26 at 18:00.
  • The fifth quiz will be released on Thursday, February 26 at 14:00. The deadline will be Thursday, March 5 at 18:00.

Lab Work (20%)

This assignment is to complete a web security lab work in groups of 3-4 students. Important information:

  • The groups had to be formed by Friday, February 27th, at the latest, through the signup in Blackboard.
  • The web security lab assingmenent was published on Monday, March 2nd: Web Securuty Lab Assignment
  • There is a mandatory LaTeX template for the lab available on Overleaf: overleaf.com/read/vmpgfqfzzrpm
  • You can get help from teaching assistants in Weeks 11, 12, and 13 between 09:00 and 17:00 in Electro A175
  • You can also ask for help using the Ed Forum. Do not send emails to the staff unless it is really necessary.
  • All milestones must be approved by a teaching assistant by 17:00 on Friday, March 27th, at the latest.
  • The written report must be submitted in Blackboard by the end of the day on Friday, April 24th, at the latest.

Exercise Sheets (0%)

We will publish a weekly exercise sheet related to the lectures, and make solutions available one week later. The exercise
classes will go through some relevant exercises, and you can make requests via the Ed Forum if you have any wishes. We
recommend everyone to try to solve these problems to prepare well for the exam, but it is not mandatory nor graded.

Final Exam (60%)

There will be an in-person 3-hour written exam on May 20, weigthed 60% of the final grade. More info will be announced.

You can check out previous exams in this course from 2015 to 2025 to see roughly what you can expect this year: exams.zip.

Grading

We will use the official NTNU grading scale to assign grades on the portfolio and exam.

Lecture Plan

We have the following sessions in lecture hall S2 this semester:

  • Mondays at 09:15-10:00: Exercises
  • Mondays at 10:15-12:00: Lecture
  • Thursdays at 12:15-14:00: Lecture

The lectures end in week 10, and then lab weeks from 11 to 13.

The lectures will not be recorded, but our slides will be available.

Week Date Format Responsible Topic Resources
2 05/1 Lecture Tjerand Intro and Basic Number Theory Intro and Lecture 1
2 08/1 Lecture Tjerand Classical Encryption Techniques Lecture 2, CrypTool, CyberChef, JCrypTool
3 12/1 Exercises Emil Exercise Lecture
3 12/1 Lecture Tjerand Hill Cipher, Stream Ciphers and the One Time Pad Lecture 3
3 15/1 Lecture Tjerand Block Ciphers, DES and AES Lecture 4
4 19/1 Exercises Emil Exercise Lecture
4 19/1 Lecture Tjerand Encryption Modes and PRNGs Lecture 5
4 22/1 Lecture Tjerand Hashes and MACs Lecture 6
5 26/1 Exercises Emil Exercise Lecture
5 26/1 Lecture Tjerand Number Theory for Public Key Crypto Lecture 7
5 29/1 Lecture Tjerand Public-Key Cryptography and RSA Lecture 8
6 02/2 Exercises Emil Exercise Lecture
6 02/2 Lecture Tjerand Discrete Log Public Key Cryptosystems Lecture 9
6 05/2 Lecture Tjerand Digital Signatures Lecture 10
7 09/2 10:15 Exercises Emil Practical Review and Exercise Lecture
7 12/2 Lecture Emil Key Establishment and Certificates Lecture 11
8 16/2 Exercises Emil Exercise Lecture
8 16/2 Lecture Tjerand Quantum-Safe Cryptography Lecture 12
8 19/2 Lecture Tjerand Transport Layer Security Lecture 13
9 23/2 Exercises Prateek and Jonatan Exercise Lecture
9 23/2 Lecture Tjerand TLS 1.3 and IP Security Lecture 14
9 26/2 Lecture Tjerand Email Security and Secure Messaging Lecture 15
10 02/3 10:15 Exercises Emil Exercise Lecture
10 02/3 11:15 Lecture Tjerand Web Security Lab Walkthrough Lab Slides
10 05/3 No Lecture No Lecture
11 Lab Week
12 Lab Week
13 Lab Week
...
18 27/4 09:00-13:00 Lecture Emil Exam Lecture in S3 Course Summary