2026-09-11 –, Uni Campus Seminarhaus 1
Cryptography is the invisible shield of the digital world, but its roots stretch back through millennia of human history. This workshop, indeed, offers a hands-on retrospective of this fascinating field. In four hours, we will journey from the simple yet effective Caesar cipher to the mind-bending principles of quantum cryptography. Participants will not only learn the historical and theoretical underpinnings of these cryptographic systems but will actively engage with them through a series of hands-on challenges. We will explore the cat-and-mouse game of code-makers and code-breakers, understanding how vulnerabilities in one generation of cryptography spurred the innovations of the next. The workshop is designed to be accessible to those with a foundational understanding of security concepts, providing a tangible and discursive look at how we've protected our secrets through the ages and what the future holds for this critical domain. Attendees will leave with a richer appreciation for the elegant mathematics and clever designs that secure our digital lives.
This workshop is a deep dive into the art and science of cryptography, charting its evolution from antiquity to the cutting edge of modern research. The session is structured as a chronological and interactive exploration, tailored for the hands-on and intellectually curious audience. The four hours are segmented to cover distinct eras of cryptographic development, each combining a theoretical overview with practical application.
Part 1: The Age of Classical Ciphers (Hands-On)
We begin our journey in the ancient world, with some of the earliest recorded uses of cryptography. Participants will get their hands dirty with classical "pen-and-paper" ciphers, starting with the famed Caesar cipher, a simple substitution method used by Julius Caesar for his private correspondence. We'll discuss the vulnerabilities of these early systems, such as their susceptibility to frequency analysis (a groundbreaking cryptanalytic technique developed by Arab scholar Al-Kindi around the 9th century). This section will involve hands-on exercises where attendees will encrypt and decrypt messages using these classical methods and even attempt to break them.
Part 2: The Mechanical and Early Digital Revolution (Demonstration and Puzzles)
This segment explores the leap to more complex cryptographic machinery. We will discuss the pivotal role of devices like the Enigma machine during World War II and the monumental efforts to crack its codes, which laid some of the foundational theory for modern computing. The workshop will then transition to the dawn of the digital age with the introduction of the Data Encryption Standard (DES), the first cryptosystem certified for use by the US Government. To make this era tangible, we will engage with interactive puzzles that simulate the logic of these more complex systems.
Part 3: The Dawn of Public-Key Cryptography (Conceptual and Practical)
A revolutionary shift in cryptography came with the concept of asymmetric keys. We will demystify public-key cryptography, explaining how the use of a public and private key pair solved the age-old problem of secure key exchange. The principles behind RSA and Diffie-Hellman will be explained in an accessible manner, focusing on the one-way mathematical functions that make them secure. Participants will engage in a practical exercise to understand how public and private keys are used to encrypt and decrypt information, providing a foundational understanding of the technology that underpins much of modern secure communication, including TLS/SSL.
Part 4: The Quantum Frontier (Discursive and Forward-Looking)
The final hour will be a discursive exploration of the future of cryptography in the face of quantum computing. We will discuss why current cryptographic standards like RSA and AES are vulnerable to the power of quantum computers. The session will introduce the fundamental concepts of quantum cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), explaining how they leverage the principles of quantum mechanics to offer a new paradigm of secure communication. The aim is to provide an intuitive, high-level understanding of this next evolution in cryptography, sparking a conversation about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Throughout the workshop, the emphasis will be on interaction, discussion, and hands-on learning. Participants will leave not only with a historical perspective but also with a practical feel for the cryptographic concepts that have shaped and will continue to shape our world.
Alessio Di Santo is a Cybersecurity Professional and Doctoral Candidate with a focus on cryptography and digital forensics. He holds both a Bachelor's Degree in Information Engineering and a Master's Degree in Computer and Automation Engineering from the Università degli Studi dell'Aquila, where his research concentrated on Cryptographic Fairness and Forensic Acquisition for IT/OT systems, respectively. Since 2020, Alessio has worked in the cybersecurity industry as a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst, Incident Responder, and Malware Analyst. He is currently completing his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Dajana Cassioli (co-tutor Walter Tiberti) and working as a Senior Information Security Specialist at Deutsche Boerse.
Dajana Cassioli (Senior Member, IEEE) is an Associate Professor of Telecommunications Engineering with the University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy, where she served as the Elected Head for the Study Program in “Telecommunications Engineering: Advanced Technologies and Services” from 2021 to 2024. She co-authored more than 100 articles published in the most renowned international journals, magazines, and conference proceedings. She was a Summer Manager with the Wireless Systems Research Department, AT&T Laboratories-Research, NJ, USA, in 2000. She was a Short-Term Visiting Scholar with the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, hosted by Prof. Andy Molisch, in 2022. Her main research interests are in wireless communications, 5G/B5G networks and cybersecurity.
Dr. Cassioli is the Chair of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on “Propagation Channels for Next Generation Wireless Systems and Emerging Deployment Scenarios” and Chair of the SiG on Distributed and Massive MIMO of the IEEE P1944 Standard for Channel Models of Wireless Systems, both within the IEEE Communications Society. She also serves as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Activity Coordinator of the IEEE Italy Section. She is the Past Chair of the IEEE WIE AG Italy Section from 2016 to 2022 and the IEEE VT06/COM19 Italy Chapter from 2011 to 2017. She served as the Chair of the IEEE ComSoc RCC SiG on Propagation Channels for 5G&B from 2021 to 2025. Since 2015, she is the Coordinator of the University of L’Aquila Node of the CINI National Laboratory of Cybersecurity, where she led the CyberEquality WG from 2020 to 2021. She has been awarded the ERC StG VISION (Video-oriented UWB-based Intelligent Ubiquitous Sensing) in 2010 and the ERC PoC Grant iCARE (MobIle health-Care system for monitoring toxicity and symptoms in Cancer patients Receiving Disease-Oriented Therapy) in 2016. She was the CEO in 2014–2018, and 2019 of the spin-off of the University of L’Aquila “Smartly: Natives of Smart Living srl,” which designs and markets advanced ICT solutions to improve the quality of life. She served as the Co-Chair for Globecom 2025 WC, ICC 2024 MWN, ICC 2023 CISS, PIMRC2018 Industry, RTSI WIE Chair in 2018, 2019, and 2020, MELECON2020 and MetroInd4.0, and the TPC member of several International Conferences, including ICC, PIMRC, VTC, and GLOBECOM. She participated in the definition of the standard channel model for the IEEE 802.15.4 standard in 2005. She is an Associate Editor of IET Electronic Letters, and an Executive Editor of WILEY INTERNET TECHNOLOGY LETTERS and Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technology and served as an Associate Editor for IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS from 2018 to 2022.