Tutorial I: Alice´s Adventures in Cryptoland

Summary form only given: The techniques required for implementing secure information handling and management, are provided by cryptography, which can be succinctly defined as the study of how to establish secure communication in an adversarial environment. For centuries, the main usage of this ancient science was oriented towards diplomacy and military activities. However, due to the continuous technological improvements witnessed in the last few decades, research in cryptography has addressed a whole new spectrum of more advanced practical problems, ranging from the design of cryptographic protocols that allow the secure communication among nodes and entities, to the implementation of anonymous electronic voting systems. This evolution in the original purpose of cryptography has propelled this research area to become as one of the most applied and active disciplines in computer science. In this talk, we present a summary of the historical evolution that the cryptology discipline has suffered across the centuries as a direct consequence of the never ending battle between crypto-analysts on one side, and cryptographers on the other. Therefore, reviewing Alice´s adventures in cryptoland will take us on a journey that, beginning with a revision of the cryptosystems devised by the Greek and Arab civilizations, will continue with a description of the crypto schemes proposed in Europe during the period of time that goes from the XVI century through the XX century. We then describe the threats to data security associated to the advent of quantum computing, as well as the counter-measures proposed by the so-called, post-quantum cryptography.