Spring 2027

Introduction to Cryptography

Introduction to cryptography covering secure transmission of digital information, distinguishing perfect from computational security, and introducing technical aspects.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Rishab Goyal3.3/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Eric Bach

Homeworks were difficult but interesting to work through, while exams were reported to be easier than the homework assignments.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe and distinguish between perfect secrecy and computational security.

  • State game‑based security definitions—IND‑CPA, IND‑CCA, MAC unforgeability, and signature unforgeability—in both symmetric‑ and public‑key contexts.

  • Explain core primitives: pseudorandom functions, block ciphers, and collision‑resistant hash functions.

  • Contrast foundational hardness assumptions: one‑way functions, PRFs, Diffie–Hellman, discrete logarithm, and integer factoring.

  • Construct symmetric and public‑key encryption and authentication schemes using these primitives, and prove their security.

  • Evaluate the security and deployment trade‑offs of protocols such as authenticated encryption, key exchange, and digital signatures.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2 UW Guide 3

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(MATH 320, 340, 341, 345, or 375), graduate/professional standing, or declared in Mathematics VISP (undergraduate or graduate)

COMPSCI/ECE/MATH 435

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Rishab Goyal

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.70/5 from 10 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.15 GPA, 54.0% A/AB (n=113 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.30 GPA, 55.9% A/AB (n=68 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ANDREI CALDARARU is recorded teaching in Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ERIC BACH is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2011, Spring 2019, Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

GREGORY SHINAULT is recorded teaching in Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NIGEL BOSTON is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2017, Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RISHAB GOYAL is recorded teaching in Spring 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHAMGAR GUREVICH is recorded teaching in Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SOMESH JHA is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1250
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1250
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Eric Bach, Somesh Jha

CS435 was described as an enjoyable course with well-organized lectures, though one student found it hard to follow without pre-lecture slides.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.12 GPA, 47.3% A/AB (n=93 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.08 GPA, 45.5% A/AB (n=101 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.15 GPA, 36.9% A/AB (n=84 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Eric Bach

Homeworks were difficult but interesting to work through, while exams were reported to be easier than the homework assignments.

Past student reviews · Eric Bach

Lectures were not recorded, making attendance necessary to learn the content well, although the instructor was available and helpful during office hours.

Topics

  • Secure transmission of digital information
  • Perfect secrecy and computational security
  • Cryptographic primitives: PRFs, block ciphers, hash functions
  • Foundational hardness assumptions in cryptography
  • Authenticated encryption, key exchange, and digital signatures

Skills

  • State game-based security definitions for symmetric and public-key contexts
  • Explain cryptographic primitives including PRFs, block ciphers, and hash functions
  • Construct and prove the security of encryption and authentication schemes
  • Evaluate security and deployment trade-offs of cryptographic protocols

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.25 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
COMPSCI/ECE/MATH 435 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Cryptography

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI/ECE/MATH 435 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Cryptography

Recorded 2026-10-14
COMPSCI/ECE/MATH 435 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Cryptography

Recorded 2026-10-14
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Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2Download part 3Download part 4
Model & dataset provenance 
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  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
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  "output_id": "4e4027def6e173635ac279150d8340919f9de9dc0b6474e7e62d73f0043b37a2",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
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