B8311 - SECURITY OF DATA AND NEURAL PROCESSING M

Academic Year 2025/2026

  • Docente: Alex Marchioni
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: ING-INF/01
  • Language: English
  • Teaching Mode: In-person learning (entirely or partially)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Electronic Engineering (cod. 6716)

    Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Electronic Engineering (cod. 0934)

Learning outcomes

The course provides a basic knowledge of the fundamental concepts, terminology and problems in cryptography as well as tools for assessing the security of data protection schemes commonly employed. It also provides high level requirements and design guidelines for typical blocks used in security-ensuring mechanisms.

Course contents

  • Data security services
  • Symmetric Algorithms
  • Perfect Secrecy, Diffusion, and Confusion
  • Stream Ciphers: LFSR, Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm, CPRNG
  • Block Ciphers: AES, Modes of Operation
  • Asymmetric Algorithms
  • RSA
  • Cyclic Groups and DHKE
  • Digital Signature
  • Hash function
  • Post-Quantum Cryptography
  • Block-Chain
  • Security in Neural Networks

Readings/Bibliography

Available on the platform Virtuale:

  • Lecture Notes
  • Scientific papers
  • Technical notes/specifications and standards publications

Additional textbooks for reference

  • Boneh, Shoup, "A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography" (available online cryptobook.us)
  • Smart, "Cryptography: An Introduction (3rd Edition)" (available online)
  • Rubinstein-Salzedo, "Cryptography", Springer, 2018 (available in the UniBO library)
  • Buchmann, "Introduction to Cryptography", Springer, 2001 (available in the UniBO library)

Teaching methods

  • Class lectures with theory
  • Lab sessions

Assessment methods

Written and oral exam

Teaching tools

Lecture notes, recommended readings.
Python programming language.

Office hours

See the website of Alex Marchioni