Introduction to Encryption and Cryptography CO220
Discover the history of encryption and learn how it's used in the modern world
Summary
Discover the history of encryption and learn how it's used in the modern world. On this course, you will learn about what encryption is and understand its use in the past by using the Caesar and Vigenère ciphers. You will also look at the present and future of encryption and investigate both symmetric and asymmetric encryption schemes. The course includes several practical encryption activities which you can complete and use in your own classroom. There are several optional steps involving using Python to implement some forms of encryption. We recommend that for these you are comfortable using functions with parameters.
Who is it for?
This course is for prospective teachers of Key Stage 3 computing and GCSE computer science, who may be new to the subject.
No prior experience or knowledge of computer science is expected before attending this course.
What topics are covered?
- Encryption and decryption
- Using ciphers to teach encryption
- Symmetric and asymmetric encryption
- How encrpytion is used in the modern world
How will you learn?
This course is not facilitated. You can learn independently or with colleagues to directly address your individual needs.
How long is this course?
This is approximately 8 hours of self-directed learning.
Outcomes
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- 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