metadata
license: bsd-3-clause
configs:
- config_name: default
data_files:
- split: test
path:
- data/caltech/*.json
- data/epfl/*.json
- data/eth_zurich/*.json
- data/mit/**/*.json
Open Problem Exams: Cryptography and Security (LaTeX)
A curated dataset of open-ended exam problems (with solutions) in cryptography and computer security, formatted in LaTeX. The dataset is sourced from university courses at three institutions.
Dataset Overview
| Institution | Files | Topics | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caltech & TU Delft | 8 | 38 | 145 |
| EPFL | 6 | 19 | 86 |
| ETH Zurich | 1 | 14 | 37 |
| MIT | 3 | 33 | 79 |
| Total | 18 | 104 | 347 |
Difficulty Distribution
| Institution | Easy | Medium | Hard | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caltech & TU Delft | 28 | 82 | 35 | 145 |
| EPFL | 16 | 45 | 25 | 86 |
| ETH Zurich | 0 | 18 | 19 | 37 |
| MIT | 11 | 65 | 3 | 79 |
| Total | 55 | 210 | 82 | 347 |
Problem Type Distribution
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Proof | 107 |
| Mixed | 97 |
| Explanation | 88 |
| Computation | 37 |
| Construction | 18 |
Subject Coverage
- Caltech & TU Delft — Quantum cryptography and quantum information theory: BB84, quantum money, entanglement, CHSH game, secret sharing, semidefinite programming, state discrimination, teleportation, superdense coding, decoherence.
- EPFL — Classical cryptography and cryptanalysis: DES/3DES attacks, PKCS#1 signature attacks, hash collisions, MACs, Pedersen commitments, ECDSA, DSA, hard disk encryption, EKE protocols.
- ETH Zurich — Cryptographic protocols: zero-knowledge proofs, interactive proofs, commitment schemes, oblivious transfer, secure multi-party computation, secret sharing, Byzantine agreement, player elimination.
- MIT — Broad computer security: encryption schemes, authentication, isolation, symbolic execution, browser security, timing attacks, TLS, collision resistance, public-key encryption, differential privacy, software security, privilege separation.
Data Format
Each JSON file contains an array of problem sets. Every problem set follows this schema:
{
"topic": "Problem title",
"level": "graduate",
"describe": "Problem description and context (LaTeX)",
"tags": ["POVM", "state-discrimination", "quantum-measurement"],
"source": {
"institution": "Caltech & TU Delft",
"course": "CS/Ph 120 — Quantum Cryptography",
"license": "Academic use — original course materials",
"url": "https://..."
},
"questions": [
{
"question": "Question text (LaTeX)",
"solution": "Solution/answer (LaTeX)",
"difficulty": "hard",
"problem_type": "proof",
"prerequisite_knowledge": ["linear algebra", "density matrices", "POVM"],
"tags": ["pretty-good-measurement", "POVM"]
}
],
"date": "DD.MM.YYYY",
"author": "Author name(s)",
"license": "Institution name"
}
All mathematical notation is written in LaTeX.
Field Reference
| Field | Level | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
level |
topic | undergraduate · graduate |
Academic level of the course |
tags |
topic | list of strings | Subtopic keywords for filtering |
source |
topic | object | Institution, course, license, URL |
difficulty |
question | easy · medium · hard |
Estimated question difficulty |
problem_type |
question | proof · computation · true_false · explanation · construction · mixed |
Nature of the question |
prerequisite_knowledge |
question | list of strings | Concepts needed to solve the question |
tags |
question | list of strings | Specific subtopic tags |
Labels were assigned automatically via rule-based heuristics and may need manual review for edge cases.
Directory Structure
data/
├── caltech/ # Quantum cryptography (Caltech CS/Ph 120 & TU Delft)
├── epfl/ # Cryptography and security (COM-401)
├── eth_zurich/ # Cryptographic protocols (SS 2021)
└── mit/
└── basic/ # Computer security (6.858 / 6.1600)
License
BSD 3-Clause — see individual file license fields for per-source attribution.
Citation
@misc{natnitaract2026openexamscrypto,
author = {natnitaract},
title = {Open Problem Exams: Cryptography and Security (LaTeX)},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/natnitaract/open-problem-exams-cryptography-and-security-latex}
}