2-Day Study Plan

Intro to Computer Security — exam cram

Goal: Exam-ready in 2 days (today + tomorrow).
Method: Lesson drill → Arabic video (pause at examples) → paper trace → NotebookLM check.
Reality check: Prioritize exam traces over reading full textbook chapters.

Your progress

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Day 1 · Today

Map + Symmetric Crypto

Target: DES + RC4 traces on paper. ~4–5 hours total.

Block 1 — Orientation (~45 min)

Crypto Landscape — symmetric vs asymmetric, cipher vs hash

Intro Playlist Concepts — CIA, layers, threats (~30 min)

Skim cheat sheet once — don't memorize yet

NotebookLM: "List the 5 algorithms in exam order with one formula each"

Block 2 — DES (~2 hours) ← highest priority

Watch DES lecture (Arabic, ~45 min) — pause at every worked step · after DES Feistel Round

DES Feistel Round + S-box reference

DES Key Schedule — PC-1, shifts, K₁ and K₂

Drill D: After PC-1, effective key length is 56 bits

Read DES PDF: IP, Feistel round, S-box rule (skip history)

Drill A: S-box lookup for 011000 → row 0, col 12

Drill B: State Feistel equations: Lₙ = ?, Rₙ = ?

Drill C: Trace round 1 with M=0123456789ABCDEF, verify R₁ from lesson

Block 3 — RC4 (~1 hour)

RC4 Keystream — confirm 3-bit answer C=[4,2,3]

Drill: Verify 4-bit solution C=[13,3,1,3,6] against lesson

Redo 4-bit KSA + PRGA on paper (no notes)

Write KSA + PRGA loops from memory on blank paper (2 min)

Block 4 — Day 1 review (~30 min)

Close all tabs. Recall: DES 3 facts + RC4 formulas

NotebookLM flashcards — 10 min

Mark weak spot for tomorrow's morning review

End of Day 1 success: One DES S-box lookup + one RC4 PRGA step from memory.

Day 2 · Tomorrow

Public-Key + Hash + Exam Run

Target: DH, RSA, SHA-1 drills + timed mixed set. ~4–5 hours total.

Block 1 — Morning warm-up (~20 min)

Redo yesterday's weak spot (1 DES or RC4 trace, no notes)

Quick scan Crypto Landscape + Intro Playlist Concepts quizzes

Block 2 — Diffie-Hellman + RSA (~2 hours)

Watch DH lecture (Arabic) — focus on numeric example · before Diffie-Hellman & RSA

Watch RSA lecture (Arabic) — key gen + encrypt · after RSA Modular Math

RSA Modular Math — Extended Euclidean + successive squaring

Diffie-Hellman & RSA

Drill A (DH): q=353, α=3, X_A=97, X_B=233 → K=160

Drill B (RSA): p=11, q=17, e=19 → φ, d, encrypt M=21 → C=98

Drill C (RSA): Decrypt C=98 → M=21

One sentence: why DH alone is vulnerable (MITM)

Drill D: State d=59 when e=19, φ=160 (no table)

Block 3 — SHA-1 (~1 hour)

Watch SHA-1 lecture (Arabic) — focus on padding · after SHA-1 Padding

SHA-1 Padding

SHA-1 Compression — W expansion + 80-round overview

Drill C: Compute one W₁₆ expansion step from lesson

Open professor's SHA-1 doc — match his format

Drill A: 12-char message → 96 bits → 351 padding zeros

Drill B: 200-bit message → compute padding zeros yourself

Skip full 80-round compression unless professor tests it

Block 4 — Exam simulation (~1.5 hours)

#	Algorithm	Time	Check
1	DES	25 min	One f-round or S-box lookup
2	RC4	15 min	3-bit PRGA for one byte
3	Diffie-Hellman	15 min	Shared K from q, α, X_A, X_B
4	RSA	20 min	Encrypt M=21
5	SHA-1	10 min	Padding zeros for bit length

Complete timed set (no notes), then check answers

Redo any problem that took >25 min or was wrong

NotebookLM: "Quiz me on my weak algorithm"

Block 5 — Final review (~30 min)

Read cheat sheet — exam numbers table only

Skim glossary — unfamiliar terms only

Skim RSA math cheat sheet

Teach each algorithm aloud in 60 seconds (5 min total)

Sleep — retrieval consolidates overnight

End of Day 2 success: Timed set done with ≤1 cheat-sheet peek.

What to cut (no time)

Stallings full chapters — use lessons + NotebookLM
DES full 16-round trace (know round 1 + key schedule)
SHA-1 full 80-round trace (know W₁₆ + overview from SHA-1 Compression)
Intro playlist — covered by Intro Playlist Concepts
Triple-DES, modes, classical ciphers, ECC, MACs

Exam drill checklist

Algorithm	Must be able to…
DES	S-box row/col, Feistel XOR, key schedule K₁/K₂
RC4	KSA j-formula, PRGA keystream, C = P ⊕ k
Diffie-Hellman	Y = α^X mod q, K = Y_other^X mod q
RSA	φ(n), d = e⁻¹ mod φ, C = M^e mod n
SHA-1	(L+1+k) ≡ 448 mod 512, append 64-bit length

If you only have 3 hours total:
Today: Crypto Landscape + DES Feistel Round + DES video + S-box drill
Tomorrow: Diffie-Hellman & RSA + SHA-1 Padding + DH/RSA/SHA-1 drills + cheat sheet

Stuck? Ask your AI teacher — paste drill work for checking (especially RC4 4-bit).