Cryptographic Foundations
Summary
This chapter covers the cryptographic building blocks that underpin all trust technologies. Students will learn how hash functions create tamper-evident data structures, how encryption protects information in transit, and how these primitives combine to form hash chains, Merkle trees, and non-repudiation mechanisms. These concepts are essential prerequisites for understanding both certificate authority systems and blockchain.
Concepts Covered
This chapter covers the following 12 concepts from the learning graph:
- Hash Function
- Cryptographic Hash
- SHA-256
- Hash Chain
- Merkle Tree
- Data Integrity
- Tamper Evidence
- Encryption
- Symmetric Encryption
- Asymmetric Encryption
- Nonce
- Non-Repudiation
Prerequisites
This chapter builds on concepts from:
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