ENEE/CMSC/MATH 456 Cryptography
Questions for Extra Credit Assignment

Write a 1-2 page summary of the paper you selected from the signup sheet (linked to from an announcement on Canvas). Your summary of the scholarly paper should address each of the following:
1. Is this a cryptanalysis paper (about breaking cryptosystems) or a cryptography paper (about building cryptosystems)?
2. What is the topic of the paper? How does the topic of the paper relate to topics that we covered in class this semester?
3. What is the goal of the paper? What distinguishes the results of this paper from previous results? What is the contribution of the paper?
4. If this is a cryptanalysis paper, describe the attack. If this is a cryptography paper, describe the construction.
5. If this is a cryptanalysis paper, describe why the attack works. If this is a cryptography paper, describe how security is proved.
6. Finally, I would like to see some critical thinking in your summary. One way you can show critical thinking is by describing ways in which the research could be extended. For example, for a cryptanalysis paper, you can discuss how the attack might be extended and/or how we can protect against such an attack. For a cryptography paper, you can discuss how efficient/useful the construction is (and what can be done to improve efficiency/usefulness), and what the practical applications are. You can also critique the paper if you found weaknesses in the result. Finally, you can compare the results of the paper with previous or subsequent work.