Novosibirsk State University conducted the "Cryptography and Information Security" Summer School fr om July 1 to July 19. Students from five Russian universities attended this annual school.
"This year the school was dedicated to the memory of its founder IT Department Professor Sergei Fedorovich Krendelev", said summer school leader, docent at the Computer Systems Department of ITD Natalia Tokareva.
The school was organized by the NSU Cryptography Center, the JetBrains Research cryptography laboratory, the NSUCRYPTO international Olympiad organizers, the NSU IT, and Mechanics and Mathematics Departments (MMD). The 26 students chosen from a field of 40 applicants came from NSU (MM, IT, and Physics Departments), Novosibirsk State Technical University, and the Southern Federal University.
Ilya Mateyuk, a second-year NSU ITD student described his experience at the school,
We did not waste an hour of the three weeks. It was the most productive July in my life. The cryptography school builds on the base that we have and shows that the mathematics we learned in our first year can be useful and interesting.
Nine teachers worked with students. The program was very diverse: lectures, team and individual work in projects related to solving research problems in the field of cryptography and information security, and sports activities. In the evenings, students and teachers solved cryptography quests together, walked around Akademgorodok, and held tea parties. One of the most important school events was a round table discussion on modern cryptography issues wh ere teachers and students asked each other questions and generated a lively dialogue.
Maxim Bolshom, another second-year ITD student, said this about the school,
There was not a single moment I regretted coming here. The Round table, cryptoquest, volleyball, I have the coolest memories from all of these activities. It was at this school that I challenged a previous assumption and realized that I can immerse myself in science and get a new level of results. My project, of course, is not entirely scientific, but it will probably become the starting point for my professional career as a programmer and researcher.
The project themes covered a variety of issues from blockchain technologies and monitoring systems for network attacks to creating pseudorandom generators, new stream ciphers and describing the mathematical properties of their components. The finals consisted of each student presenting a report on their results at a conference. The results from several projects will be presented in articles for scientific journals.
Polina Uleva, a Southern Federal University sixth year student from Taganrog, said,
The school demonstrated that a teacher can be a teacher, a mentor, and a friend who will not only show you the right path, but also be ready to listen and discuss even your most far fetched ideas as they support you in all your endeavors and projects. Many thanks to the summer school, my fellow students, and the teachers for the knowledge gained, excellent atmosphere, interesting communication, and time well spent time. These three weeks were amazing.
The summer school project mentors included teachers from ITD and MMD, and young cryptography and information security specialists. Among them was NSU graduate students Roman Lebedev, four-time winner of the All-Russian Olympiad on Information Security, and many other competitions in this field.
