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DD2520 Applied Cryptography 7.5 credits

Administer About course

This course serves as an introduction to cryptography from a computer security and privacy perspective.

Information per course offering

Choose semester and course offering to see current information and more about the course, such as course syllabus, study period, and application information.

Termin

Information for Spring 2026 tilkry26 programme students

Course location

KTH Campus

Duration
13 Jan 2026 - 13 Mar 2026
Periods
P3 (7.5 hp)
Pace of study

50%

Application code

60279

Form of study

Normal Daytime

Language of instruction

English

Course memo
Course memo is not published
Number of places

Places are not limited

Target group

Students in year 3 and students admitted to a master's programme, as long as it can be included in the programme.

Planned modular schedule
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Schedule
Schedule is not published

Contact

Examiner
No information inserted
Course coordinator
No information inserted
Teachers
No information inserted

Course syllabus as PDF

Please note: all information from the Course syllabus is available on this page in an accessible format.

Course syllabus DD2520 (Spring 2021–)
Headings with content from the Course syllabus DD2520 (Spring 2021–) are denoted with an asterisk ( )

Content and learning outcomes

Course contents

Basic concepts and principles of cryptography, intuition about security, implementation and engineering aspects as well as influence on society, black box analysis, use of cryptographic primitives such as symmetric and asymmetric encryption in applications, digital signatures, cryptographic hash functions and simple crypto systems and cryptographic protocols.

Intended learning outcomes

After passing the course, the student should be able to:

  • use basic terminology in computer security and cryptography correctly
  • describe cryptographic concepts and explain their security properties
  • find and use documentation of cryptographic libraries and standards
  • identify and categorise threats against a cryptographic IT-system at a conceptual level, suggest appropriate countermeasures and present the reasoning to others

in order to

  • as citizen and engineer be able to discuss applied cryptography in general, and risks of using/developing cryptography in particular
  • in professional life and/or research and development project be able to evaluate challenges in software development related to cryptography.

Literature and preparations

Specific prerequisites

Completed course in computer security equivalent to DD2395.

Active participation in a course offering where the final examination is not yet reported in LADOK is considered equivalent to completion of the course.

Being registered for a course counts as active participation. The term 'final examination' encompasses both the regular examination and the first re-examination.

Literature

You can find information about course literature either in the course memo for the course offering or in the course room in Canvas.

Examination and completion

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

Grading scale

A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Examination

  • INL1 - Assignments, 2.5 credits, grading scale: P, F
  • LAB1 - Laboratory work, 5.0 credits, grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

Examiner

Profile picture Douglas Wikström

Ethical approach

  • All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
  • In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
  • In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

Further information

Course room in Canvas

Registered students find further information about the implementation of the course in the course room in Canvas. A link to the course room can be found under the tab Studies in the Personal menu at the start of the course.

Offered by

EECS/Computer Science

Main field of study

Computer Science and Engineering

Education cycle

Second cycle

Transitional regulations

The outdated module TEN1 can be examined through compensatory assignments.

Supplementary information

In this course, the EECS code of honor applies, see:
http://www.kth.se/en/eecs/utbildning/hederskodex