Starter Kit

Here, I will try to collect what others have written that may be useful for a new researcher intending to dive into the world of cryptography. So, this can be seen as a starter kit for those who want to be in this field.

I am not the most qualified to give you advise, but in general, to get you started, you may want to do the following:

• Read research articles from reputable conferences and journals. You can find a list here and here
• Enrol in the free cryptography courses provided by Dan Boneh, David Evans and Christof Paar. Other videos can be found here
• Get a PhD in cryptography. If you think you are not ready, then you may try enrolling in a Master by research programme. A good place to start finding a university is this page
• Send your scientific manuscripts to reputable conferences and journals. This is to ensure that your work is evaluated by qualified researchers in the field
• Learn how to use LaTeX. LaTeX takes care of formatting to allow you to focus on the content of your manuscript

Pointers and explanations about certain topics in cryptography are given below.

Basics

• Memo to the Amateur Cipher Designer, Crypto-Gram Newsletter, October 15, 1998 by Bruce Schneier
• So, You Want to be a Cryptographer, Crypto-Gram Newsletter, October 15, 1999 by Bruce Schneier
• 52 Things People Should Know To Do Cryptography, compiled by a group at the Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol

Cryptanalysis

• A Tutorial on Linear and Differential Cryptanalysis by Howard Heys.

Cryptographic Engineering

• Series on cryptographic engineering by Matthew Green
  • Introduction, 2011
  • Where Things Fall Apart: Primitives, 2011
  • Where Things Fall Apart: Protocols (Parts one and two), 2011

Random Oracle

• What is the Random Oracle Model and why should you care? (Parts one, two, three and four) by Matthew Green

SSL/TLS

• On the (provable) security of TLS (Parts one and two), Sep 2012 by Matthew Green

Zero Knowledge

• Zero Knowledge Proofs: An illustrated primer (Parts one and two) by Matthew Green

Writing

• How to Write a Paper by Oded Goldreich
• Notes on Writing Papers by Daniel J. Bernstein
• Et al.: When and How
• Common Errors in Technical Writing
• How to Read a Technical Paper by Jason Eisner (Johns Hopkins University)
• How to Read a Research Paper by Michael Mitzenmacher (Harvard)
• Efficient Reading of Papers in Science and Technology by Michael J. Hanson and Dylan J. McNamee (Columbia University)

This page was last updated on 18 August 2017