CS 507 Topics in Cryptography
Secure Computation
Fall 2025

Instructor
Professor David Heath
daheath@illinois.edu
4322 Siebel Center

TA
Ananya Appan
aappan2@illinois.edu

Description

We will discuss secure multiparty computation (MPC), a suprisingly powerful branch of cryptography that allows mutually untrusting parties to work together to securely run programs on private data. We will discuss both the theory and the practice of this emerging technology. Our discussion will cover computing on private data, zero-knowledge proofs, oblivious RAM, and more.

Class Times

We will meet Wednesdays and Fridays from 12:30pm – 1:45pm in the Sidney Lu Mechanical Engineering Building, Room 2200. Lectures will be recorded and made available here.

Office Hours

Office Hours will be held 2:00pm on Wednesdays in 4322 Siebel Center and Thursdays at 2:00pm in 4309 Siebel Center.

Resources

Prerequisites

The main prerequisite is mathematical maturity. You will be expected to read, understand, and write formal definitions/proofs.

It is advised that you have basic familiarity with concepts in cryptography, such as having completed CS/ECE 407 or similar. More importantly, it is advised that you have a basic understanding of basic computer science theory, especially in terms of understanding computational models like state machines, RAM machines, circuits, etc.

Grade Distribution

Homework

Collaboration.

Homeworks are to be completed and submitted individually. However, you may collaborate with up to one other student on homework assignments. On each homework submission, declare your collaborator (if any). In your collaboration you are expected to discuss the homework, not to copy answers. Plagiarism will not be tolerated (see Academic Integrity).

Course Schedule

Date Topic Notes Video Reading Extra
8/27 Course Overview and Introduction Notes, Slides Video – No Audio, sorry! Pragmatic MPC Chapter 1 The Five Card Trick
8/29 Semi-Honest Security Notes, Slides Video – No Audio, sorry! Reading on Simulation
9/3 Correlated Randomness Notes Video
9/5 A Three-Party Protocol Notes

Course Topics

Topics covered in the course include—but are not limited to—the following:

Depending on time remaining, we will review previously discussed topics, and move on to other topics such as (but not limited to):

Academic Integrity

Academic dishonesty is a serious offense. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Student Code (https://studentcode.illinois.edu) is considered a part of this syllabus. If you are ever in doubt of what constitutes plagiarism or cheating, do not hesitate to ask me.

Disability Accommodations

To obtain disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the course instructor and the Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible. To contact DRES you may visit 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, call 333-4603 (V/TTY), or e-mail a message to disability@illinois.edu.