Cryptography
Cybersecurity Module — Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Preface
UTAD · MEEC · 2026/2027
Cryptography
Cybersecurity Module
University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
This coursebook is a self-contained study resource for the Cryptography module, part of the Cybersecurity course unit of the Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.
Structure of the Coursebook
The chapters follow the structure of the module’s lectures (the last two lectures, TLS/PGP and algorithmic efficiency/PQC, are taught in the same session):
- Classical Cryptography — substitution, polyalphabetic and transposition ciphers
- Block Ciphers — fundamentals, Feistel, DES and 3DES
- AES — stages and modes of operation
- Stream Ciphers — RC4, Salsa20, ChaCha20 and padding
- Hashing — properties, attacks, SHA, MAC and HMAC
- Asymmetric Cryptography and RSA
- Diffie-Hellman and Digital Signatures
- Elliptic Curve Cryptography
- Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
- TLS and PGP
- Algorithmic Efficiency and Post-Quantum Cryptography