Course catalogue

• Introduction to security through the lens of information theory.
• Fundamental concepts of information theory (information, entropy, mutual information, capacity, Gaussian channel, rate-distortion theory).
• Definition of physical-layer security.
• Metrics for secrecy and security.
• Perfect secrecy in terms of information theory.
• Shannon's encryption system.
• Wiretap channels.
• Secrecy capacity and secret key capacity.
• Security bounds of channels and wireless communication.
• Coding for secrecy.
• Secrecy beamforming and precoding, MIMO channels.
• Fundamentals of Diffie-Hellman, AES, and side-channel attacks.
• Use of common randomness and artificial noise.
• Privacy-interference-jamming in multi-user channels.
• Network coding security.
• LDPC codes for the wiretap channel.
• Secret key generation, key agreement (one-way, two-way communication, and quantum key distribution), and channel-based fingerprinting.
• Source coding under secrecy constraints.
• Practical Applications: Solving exercises on modeling wiretap channels, estimating secrecy metrics, developing codes and encoding schemes, beamforming, and key generation through channel estimation.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Understand fundamental methods of information analysis.
• Quantify information, determine the information rate, and assess channel capacity.
• Familiarize themselves with information and equivocation metrics.
• Comprehend the fundamental principles of achieving physical-layer security, as well as the benefits and advantages it offers.
• Understand the concepts of secrecy, confidentiality, secrecy metrics, and secrecy capacity.
• Study wiretap channels, understand potential threats, and explore countermeasures.
• Analyze beamforming, precoding, and cooperative transmission techniques as means of secure and confidential communication.
• Understand secure encoding processes through the physical layer of the communication channel.

Not required.

Group and Personal assignments/excercises - Final exams.

Lectures in the classroom & Optional laboratory exercise with an explanation in a special supplementary lesson.

Assessment through a written examination.

The assignment is optional and has only a positive impact on the grade (if it does not help, it is not taken into account).

The assignment accounts for 30% of the final grade, and those who submit it (with a grade higher than 6 in the assignment) will take the final exam with a maximum possible grade of 7.

Greek (English for Erasmus students)