How to Learn Cryptography

A structured path through Cryptography — from first principles to confident mastery. Check off each milestone as you go.

Cryptography Learning Roadmap

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Estimated: 24 weeks

Mathematical Foundations

2-3 weeks

Study modular arithmetic, prime numbers, greatest common divisors, Euler's totient function, and basic number theory. These form the mathematical basis for most cryptographic algorithms.

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Classical Cryptography

1-2 weeks

Learn historical ciphers (Caesar, Vigenere, Enigma) and their cryptanalysis. Understand frequency analysis, substitution, and transposition techniques to build intuition for modern concepts.

Symmetric-Key Cryptography

2-3 weeks

Study block ciphers (DES, AES), stream ciphers (ChaCha20), modes of operation (ECB, CBC, CTR, GCM), and symmetric key management. Understand why AES is the current standard.

Hash Functions and MACs

1-2 weeks

Explore cryptographic hash functions (SHA-2, SHA-3), their properties (preimage resistance, collision resistance), and message authentication codes (HMAC). Study password hashing (bcrypt, Argon2).

Public-Key Cryptography

3-4 weeks

Master RSA, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), and digital signatures (DSA, ECDSA, EdDSA). Understand the mathematical problems underpinning their security.

Protocols and Infrastructure

2-3 weeks

Study TLS/SSL handshake, PKI, certificate authorities, X.509 certificates, and secure communication protocols. Learn how cryptographic primitives are composed into secure systems.

Cryptanalysis and Security Models

2-3 weeks

Learn attack models (chosen plaintext, chosen ciphertext), side-channel attacks, padding oracle attacks, and formal security proofs. Understand what makes a system provably secure.

Advanced and Emerging Topics

3-4 weeks

Explore post-quantum cryptography (lattice-based, hash-based), homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, secure multi-party computation, and blockchain cryptography.

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