Introduction to Encryption and Cryptography (edX)

You'll also look at modern encryption, and investigate both symmetric and asymmetric encryption schemes. The course also takes a look at the future of encryption, and includes several practical encryption activities that are also appropriate to use in the classroom.

What you'll learn
Over the following two weeks, you will:

• Describe the general process of encryption and decryption
• Apply a Caesar cipher and a Vigenère cipher
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different encryption algorithms
• Compare symmetric and asymmetric encryption
• Demonstrate methods of breaking simple encryption schemes
• Describe how encryption is used in the modern world, and some of the possible ethical implications of this

Syllabus

The course will cover:

• A brief look at the history of encryption
• The encryption and decryption process, and the importance of keys
• The Caesar and Vigenère ciphers
• Symmetric and asymmetric encryption schemes
• Public-key encryption in the real world
• An introduction to quantum cryptography
• Practical encryption activities