Title: Code-Based Cryptography and a Variant of the McEliece Cryptosystem

Abstract: After a brief overview of public-key cryptography I will turn to a specific realization of a cryptosystem that relies on the hardness of decoding a random code. These cryptosystems were introduced by McEliece in 1978, but became popular only recently when it was discovered that RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography won't be secure in the presence of quantum computers. I will discuss the workings, advantages and drawbacks of the McEliece cryptosystem and also present a variant that aims at overcoming some of its drawbacks. No prior knowledge on public-key cryptography and coding theory is assumed.