First of all, data storage and transmission must be error free, in spite of the flaws of physical media. This is achieved by channel coding.
Secondly, data often need protection against unauthorized access and intentional falsification. This is the task of cryptography. Modern cryptography also deals with problems like electronic signatures, access control systems, electronic cash ...
Both topics are regarded both from the mathematical/algorithmic side, and from the viewpoint of technical realization. For cryptography, there is yet another aspect: Judgement of the security of a cryptosystem is usually only possible if one knows the possible attacks against it. Thus cryptography without cryptanalysis is impossible.
The two main speakers come from the institute for experimental mathematics at Essen University:
Professor Frey is the head of the working group on number theory, which - also in co-operation with industry - develops crypto algorithms, access control systems, and so on. He will give three overview talks as well as two special lectures on public-key cryptosystems.
Professor Vinck heads the digital communications group, working on channel coding and cryptography. He will be giving three lectures on Topics in information theory: Data security and channel coding.
In addition to these two main speakers, further specialists will focus on additional aspects of data security:
Elisabeth Oswald from Graz will talk on hardware and software implementations of the systems treated in Frey's talks, and Serge Fehr from Aarhus will give two lectures on provably secure digital signatures and public-key cryptosystems.
Of course we shall also deal with "classical" symmetrical cryptography: Willi Meier of the FH Aargau will talk about stream ciphers, and Niels Ferguson, a cryptography consultant from Amsterdam, will give two lectures on block ciphers and practical cryptography.
Francois Koeune from Louvain will deal with the implementation of cryptoalgorithms on smartcards and, in a second lecture, with "side-channel attacks", where an opponent can measure e.g. the power consumption of the chip running the cryptoalgorithm.
Like everywhere else in information technology, the significance of quantum physics is likely to increase in the area of data security. Professor Schmiedmayer from Heidelberg will give an introduction to quantum physics for non-physicists. In a second lecture he will report on realizations of quantum computers, in particular those on which his group is working. It is well known that current public-key cryptography will become insecure as soon as sufficiently large quantum computers can be built. A possible "replacement" could be quantum cryptography. Hannes Boehm from Vienna University will talk on this topic, and also report on experimental teleportation (recently realized in Vienna), and its relation to quantum cryptography.
Additionally, members of our faculty will present some results of their research in related fields: The group around Professor Fliege will report on their work on channel coding, Professor Popp will give a talk on coding theory over algebraic curves, and Frederik Armknecht from the cryptography group of Professor Krause will talk about stream ciphers.
Participation in the summer school is free, but participants have to cover their own expenses. All participants are required to register in advance.
Stefan Lucks (lucks@th.informatik.uni-mannheim.de, phone +49-621-181-2669)
Wolfgang K. Seiler (seiler@math.uni-mannheim.de, phone +49-621-181-2515)