Editorial Review

Cryptographic techniques have applications far beyond the obvious uses of encoding and decoding information. For Internet developers who need to know about capabilities, such as digital signatures, that depend on cryptographic techniques, there's no better overview than Read more

Reviews (96)

A must-have book for understanding Cryptography.
This book has really shed a lot of light on cryptography for me. I honestly can't put it down--I wish I had paid more attention in my statistics classes so I could be able to apply some of the stuff the author talks about better. I am about half way through the book, and I haven't gotten to the point where it's more of a chore than a pleasure to read it (something I can't about my other technical books).
Prepare to drink from the firehose
This book is really incredible.When it was first published in the mid-90's, there was almost no material available on the subject of cryptography.Now, ten years later, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of books riding on Schneier's coattails - but almost none have anything new or useful to say.Impeccably researched (with 1,653 references!) and unarguably complete, Schneier's expertise in theoretical mathematics, experience as a practitioner, and razor-sharp lucidity combine to make this the only book you'll ever need on the subject of cryptography.

Text Book for School
The book was in excellent condition.The book came within the alloted time period.No complaints! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer security    3. Computers - Computer Security    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Cryptography    6. Discrete Mathematics    7. Programming Languages - General    8. Security - General    9. Security measures    10. Telecommunication    11. Computers / Security    12. Data security & data encryption   

Reviews (16)

Advanced Crypto for the college mind.
This very detailed work is not for the light hearted. It's an in depth look at the mathmatics behind cryptography. If you're looking for a book to help you program then look for Applied Cryptography by Bruce the crypto king instead. If you're looking for something to help you learn cryptoanalysis and how to break codes then this is the first step.

Fantastic traditional reference
The Chapter 14 - Efficient Implementation - shows several multiple precision algorithms. They are very easy to understand and implement under any microprocessor. It is a very good complement to the book set written by Donald Knuth (The Art of Computer Programming, Volumes 1-3 Boxed Set), another fantastic traditional reference.

A very detailed book, but not for everyone.
This is a fairly strong book on crypto, with heavy detail on the math involved.The upside is that the second chapter is devoted to most of the important mathematical theory you'll need to understand for the rest of the book.The downside?That chapter tries to cover just about the same breadth of information as a semester long course in Number Theory.Read more

Subjects:  1. Access control    2. Algorithms (Computer Programming)    3. Computers    4. Computers - Computer Security    5. Cryptography    6. Cryptography/Access Control    7. Discrete Mathematics    8. Handbooks, manuals, etc    9. Reference    10. Security - General    11. Applications of Computing    12. Applied mathematics    13. Data security & data encryption    14. Mathematical theory of computation    15. Mathematics / Combinatorics   

Reviews (15)

Biased to Schneier's algorithms
This can be an annoying book for a serious developer, but I do know Writing a secure cryptosystem is very hard. People should be aware that it is hard, and they are likely to make mistakes. It isn't something that should be attempted lightly. If you are doing some actual work, it's not a good one. The book does not cover sufficient mathematic knowledge, and the edit is bit horrible as well. The authors chose to support their own algorithm shedding less light on AES and even RSA. That really made me stop reading this book.
Self contradictory and selflauding
From the very first pages, authors emphasize the need for public algorithms and peer review. Yet, the book is full of suggestions that appear first time in the book. They even take time to give fancy names to their new proposals. It is typical to see things like "While writing this chaper we came up with this new random number generator...". Well, the authors could have used some of public scrutiny they are so fond of.
Must be used with Applied Cryptography
As one other reader pointed out this book can be called Applied Cryptography Light. It is true, it gives you more theory and very little math. I did not like this book by itself since I was interested in actual implementation and i wanted to see full algorithms and math. I did end up buying Applied Cryptography and those 2 books combined provide an excellent reference. I was not able to give more than 3 stars since I did not feel i got any knowledge out of this book to be able to apply it in real life except reading: "Cryptography is hard, you might need to hire an expert..." while I want to become an expert myself one day! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer security    3. Computers    4. Computers - Computer Security    5. Computers - General Information    6. Cryptography    7. Internet - General    8. Networking - General    9. Security - General    10. Computers / Security    11. Data security & data encryption    12. Privacy & data protection   

Reviews (32)

Wonderful book explaining all the secret s of secure communication
Cryptography Decrypted is an easy to read and fun book that explains how cryptography has evolved from Caesar's time to now. The author goes over how encryption is used in all areas of communication, and what sequential systems have deveoped to stop hacker attacks along the way. It is detailed but fun to read, and explains how all the enigmatic parts, like Private Keys, Public Keys, Secret Keys, Digital Signatures, SMIME, PGP, RSA, SHA-1 ect. all fit together.
Simply THE BEST!!!
This book is phenomenal! I skimmed through countless books on cryptography before I settled on this one. The authors Mel and Baker have the unique ability to make a complex subject like cryptography completely accessible even to the mathematically challenged. This book is a MUST READ! If you work in the IT Security or Network Design field, this book gives you all the background you need to be more effective in your job without having the turgid style of most crypto books. It really does a fantastic job of explaining all the basic building blocks of cryptography as well as suites like SSL and IPSEC in plain everyday language. You will not be disappointed with this book!

Good first book on security
Excellent book for people who want to understand in nutshell what security is all about. If you are overwhelmed by several security terms and want to know how things fit in a bigger picture, this is the book for you. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer security    2. Computers    3. Computers - Communications / Networking    4. Cryptography    5. Cryptography/Access Control    6. Language    7. Security - General    8. Coding theory & cryptology    9. Computers / Internet / Security    10. Data security & data encryption    11. Network security   

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Reviews (5)

Great Book to Use When Writing an SSL app.
If you have little or no experience with SSL, or OpenSSL, get this book. It explains the principles behind SSL, and then goes on to cover OpenSSL. The companion website opensslbook.com contains the latest examples.
openssl programming cleanly explained
The book starts with a general introduction of encryption in general, then SSL protocol in general. Then openssl command line interface is introduced with some easy to follow examples. Later openssl programming is explained in detail.
Excellent!
OpenSSL is a terrific programming resource, but the online documentation on itRead more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer network protocols    3. Computer networks    4. Computers    5. Computers - Computer Security    6. Networking - Network Protocols    7. OpenSSL    8. Security - General    9. Security measures    10. Computers / Computer Security    11. Computers / Security    12. Computers/Networking - Network Protocols    13. Network security   

Subjects:  1. Cryptography    2. Computer Bks - General Information    3. Computers - Computer Security    4. Security - General    5. Cryptography/Access Control    6. Computer Science    7. Networking - General    8. Coding theory & cryptology    9. Computers / Computer Science    10. Data security & data encryption    11. Computer Books: General    12. Access control    13. Computers   

Reviews (10)

Essential book on the mathematics of cryptography
This wonderful book lies between the layman's approach of "The Code Book" and "Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C", which takes an algorithmic approach to cryptography but glosses over the mathematical details. It is great for people who already understand the use of various cryptographic algorithms as depicted in "The Code Book", but want to understand the underpinning mathematics before they implement cryptography in code. It is the best of the applied math books on the subject, since it manages to explain the mathematics behind cryptography without getting bogged down in proofs. If cryptographic algorithms and implementations are your business, all three books are essential reading.
Difficult to understand
I took this course at the U of Minn (where the author is a professor). He has a reputation of being a good professor and a good guy (and I have no reason to doubt it). Unfortunately, his book is very hard to understand. While packed chock full of information, it is written in a **very, very** dense style. It makes a lot of assumptions about your prior knowledge and there are few examples to illustrate the theory. While this may be OK for a grad student in math (or even a bright senior), it is definitely not sufficient for a non-math major and most undergrads.

Great buy!
Other than a few 1st edition errors and too small of an anwer key, the book is definitely worth the money.It has a very down-to-earth style which is great if you're using the book on your own like me.I'm using this book for the Siemman's Westinghouse Scholarship Competition, and I think it is a great book for anyone interested in Cryptology, whether they like math or not. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business Writing    2. Coding theory    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Utilities    6. Cryptography/Access Control    7. General    8. Security - General    9. Utilities    10. Computers / Security    11. Word processing software   

Editorial Review

People love secrets. Ever since the first word was written, humans have sent coded messages to each other. In Read more

Reviews (223)

Rich history and nice technology review
Singh has done a wonderful job of making a dry subject fascinating.The history is amazing and well written.The technology of code making and code braking is quite complete, and could not be made more interesting of read.The end of the book may get too technical for the non-technical reader, but even they will be more than pleased with the first 3/4 of the book.The nature of the subject forces recent history to be left uncovered, but you will be amazed at what has recently become known from fifty years ago.

Accessible Summary of Codes, Etc.
Simon Singh has done an excellent job of narrating the history of codes and ciphers, covering material in quite a comprehensive manner, yet explaining it in a fashion that even readers who are not particularly gifted in mathematics will understand.His narration of the (frequently military) history surrounding some important events in the history of cryptography added considerable interest for me; there's just enough of it to add another dimension without there being so much that it detracts from the main story.His decision to include the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics and Cretan Linear B script was a wise one, as well.As he notes, neither was an attempt to conceal the meanings, but the methods used are exactly parallel to many used in deciphering codes and ciphers.
Makes cryptography entertaining
This book is an excellent one that intertwines the history, strategy, and mathematics ofthose dedicated to encrypting messages and those dedicated to exposing the encryption strategy and thus the message. It explains the idea behind several kinds of encryption strategies starting with Mary Queen of Scots and how her personal involvement in the plot against Queen Elizabeth I of England was exposed when her correspondence that was encrypted with simple monoalphabetic substitution was decyphered.
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Subjects:  1. Cryptography    2. Data encryption (Computer science)    3. History    4. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    5. Linguistics    6. Military - Intelligence/Espionage    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Science / History   

Reviews (11)

It's a College TextBook
It's a pretty good one too, but it's still a college text. The orientation of this book is far more theoretical than practical, complete with abstract mathematical notation that sometimes does more to confuse than to elucidate (although the author, to his credit, includes a glossary of mathematical notation early in the text). Still, the book is complete and up-to-date, covering everything from probability theory and number theory through the latest stuff on PKI, symmetric crypto (including AES), and authentication.
Good reference, poorly edited
What's great about Mao's book is that so many aspects of cryptography are covered in an approachable manner and with many good examples. Best of all
Excellent,the best of all modern treatment on this subject,All in one guide.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Computer Security    4. Cryptography/Access Control    5. Security - General    6. Computers / Internet / Security    7. Data security & data encryption    8. Network security   

Reviews (13)

A one-step guide
I was able to use this book as an introduction, and more than an introduction, on the world of cryptography. I started reading it with no knowledge on cryptographic algorithms, ad I learned the principles behind cryptographic algorithms and how they are linked with pratical implementation on security products.
Fantastic Primer for this Subject Area
I adored this book!It's one of my favourite texts of all time.I used it for a computer security subject and it's a great primer.It covers a middle ground in computer encryption and network security that serves wonderfully as a primer for the novice and a reference for the experienced.
Smooth and Quick Transaction
Completely satisfied with delivery of book.It came on the date that the seller promised.
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Subjects:  1. Coding Theory    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer networks    4. Computers    5. Computers - Communications / Networking    6. Cryptography/Access Control    7. Data encryption (Computer science)    8. Networking - General    9. Security    10. Security - General    11. Security measures    12. Computer Communications & Networking    13. Data security & data encryption   

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Reviews (12)

Good developer reference
This is a well-written and example oriented book for C/C++ programmers that covers secure programming in all aspects. I had been using this book for last one year now and It helps me as a quick reference and also real source code demonstrating practical approaches that can be incorporated into their software projects.
a good reference if you've really got to be secure
If you are not sure that you need this book, then you probably don't. But if there is something it the table of contents that you've got to know, and you've got to get it right, then this would be a good book to have. Chapter 12 on Anti-Tampering was a really enjoyable read, though probably a futile task.

Great book for anyone using C
This is simply a great book for anyone using C or C++.Read more

Subjects:  1. C (Computer program language)    2. C++ (Computer program language    3. C++ (Computer program language)    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer security    6. Computer software    7. Computers    8. Computers - Computer Security    9. Development    10. Programming - General    11. Security - General    12. C & Visual C    13. Computers / Computer Security    14. Computers / Programming Languages / C++    15. Computers / Security    16. Computers/Programming - General    17. Data security & data encryption   

Reviews (18)

Handshakes
"Trust used to be all about a handshake - and nothing has changed..."
Vacca's PKI book is a 'must read'
"Trust used to be all about a handshake - and nothing has changed..."
E-Commerce users - feel secure!
As usual, John writes a very timely book on contemporary IT issues. Most people are still afraid to use their credit cards on the net and businesses have huge constraints in terms of what can and can't be done through the web. As the rules of the game toughen for the every-ready hacking minds, government are also cracking down on such culprits, however, for the average user of electronic commercial transactions, there needs to be a stronger feeling that their money is safe.John's PKI book helps to educate those with this understandable concern, that it may now be getting safer to do business on the net. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer networks    3. Computer security    4. Computers    5. Cryptography/Access Control    6. General    7. Public key infrastructure (Com    8. Public key infrastructure (Computer security)    9. Security - General    10. Security measures    11. Technology & Industrial Arts    12. Web services    13. Computers / Security   

Reviews (12)

This book made a better sermon than a technical read
I've read many books on PKI and there are not many good ones out there.This one used to be the best among some very awful books, which wasn't saying much.It was excellent on covering the standards of PKI such as they exist, but otherwise said very little about installation, layout, protocols, and design, common problems, and real world solutions.Most of what they said was repeated multiple times throughout the book.Sometimes even on the very next paragraph.They took two/three pages just to say that the top down approach to PKI planning is better than slapping in a service just to support a single product.Stating the obvious didn't win any points with me.They discussed outdated or barely used protocols like SET, and didn't bother getting in depth at all with protocols that are in use like SSL.They discussed Single Sign On like a simple PKI install will solve all our problems, completely missing the outstanding problem of vendor interoperability.Active Directory and PKI are only mentioned in passing with no operational details.Get Klaus Schmeh's book or the Housley book instead.

Terrific explanation of PKI
This book does a terrific job of explaining how various applications can use PKI and what PKI requires from an infrastructure stapoint. Part III, Deployment COnsiderations, is exceptionally good at how can PKI can be used from a practical standpoint. Strikes just the right balance between theoretical and practical. Technical detail was totally sufficient for me and included everything up to but not including a discussion of the actual mathematics behind public key encyrption.
Has value for Technical Architects / Security Analysts
I think there's some merit to people expecting a more hands on approach in a book like this.But those expectations seems unrealistic.The book is not titled "Implementing PKI," it's called "Understanding PKI."Read more

Subjects:  1. Business enterprises    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer networks    4. Computers    5. Computers - Computer Security    6. Cryptography/Access Control    7. Networking - General    8. Public key infrastructure (Com    9. Public key infrastructure (Computer security)    10. Security - General    11. Security measures    12. Computers / Internet / Security    13. Data security & data encryption    14. Network security   

Reviews (4)

A must have for people doing research in theoretical crypto
This is a sequel of Foundations of Cryptography, Vol 1, which covers theoretical proofs of signatures, encryptions, and more.
Fundamental book for anyone working with cryptography
This book, that you can see some parts on the authors site, is a essencial on everyone desk working on security and cryptography. Itis not a book of recipes of how to build a secure cryptographic environment but a fundamental book on the basics of cryptography and cryptographic protocols.

Great idea -- needs a good editor!
This book hits some extremes in good and bad.The good is easy:There are few (no?) other books that fill the niche of theoretical cryptography.There are some excellent lecture notes from Bellare and Goldwasser that are available on the web, but they don't go into the detailed motivation of topics that Goldreich does.The topics that Goldreich has chosen cover a lot of important areas, and he has done a great job of pulling out the best, most essential results to present.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business Writing    2. Coding Theory    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Computer Security    6. Cryptography    7. Cryptography/Access Control    8. Mathematics    9. Programming - Systems Analysis & Design    10. Security - General    11. Coding theory & cryptology    12. Computers / General    13. Data security & data encryption    14. Network security   

Reviews (16)

awesome book.
this is the best book on Steganography out there.
Discover The Art of Hiding Data
Not knowing much other than the definition of steganography before opening this book I found it very easy to read and very informative. Good, but basic, and the editor should be fired.
The information is quite good, though not very in depth. The examples are good, as they explain, "See, this really *can* be used in 'real life'." There is also some programming information, so for some parts (nothing critical, just program design), a knowledge of C is useful. Personally, this is my first book on steganography, so the technicality of the information was at a good level (informative, but not buried in jargon or advanced math). I have no programming background, but skipping the program designs was not a detriment in any way.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - General Information    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computer Data Security    4. Computer networks    5. Computer security    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. Cryptography    9. Microcomputer Networks    10. Networking - General    11. Security - General    12. Security measures    13. Coding theory & cryptology    14. Computers / Networking / General    15. Data security & data encryption    16. Network security   

Reviews (4)

The latest cutting edge research on Elliptic Curve Cryptography
First, the reviews dated below (July 25, 2002, July 29, 2000 [Lee Carlson] and January 31, 2000) are refering to Blake, Seroussi and Smart's first book: Elliptic Curves in Cryptography: London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 265, not the new book Advances in Elliptic Curve Cryptography, London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 317.
too much math
This is a fairly complete treatment of elliptic curve cryptography. It suffers from a very uneven treatment. The chapters on implementation are well written and easy to read. The material on the logarithm problem, however, is much too advanced and will only be accessible to research mathematicians. A big omission in the book are protocols such as signatures and encryption.

Good compact book on elliptic curves in cryptography
This book gives a good summary of the current algorithms and methodologies employed in elliptic curve cryptography. The book is short (less than 200 pages), so most of the mathematical proofs of the main results are omitted.The authors instead concentrate on the mathematics needed to implementelliptic curve cryptography. The book is written for the reader with someexperience in cryptography and one who has some background in the theory ofelliptic curves.A reader coming to the field for the first time mightfind the reading difficult. The authors do give a brief summary in Chapter1 on the idea of doing cryptography based on group theory. They then moveon to discuss finite field arithmetic in Chapter 2. The reader is expectedto know some of the basic notions of multiprecision arithmetic forintegers. The authors choose to work with 2^16. Psuedocode is given fordoing modular arithmetic with Montgomery arithmetic given specialattention. The last section of the chapter gives a good summary ofarithmetic in fields of characteristic 2. Chapter 3 discusses verycompactly arithmetic in elliptic curves. This is where the reader shouldalready have the background in the theory of elliptic curves, since thereading is very fast and formal. The authors do a good job of summarizinghow modular polynomials come into play in elliptic curve cryptography andgive some explicit examples of these polynomials. The most importantchapter of the book is Chapter 4, where the authors give a discussion ofhow to implement elliptic curves efficiently in cryptosystems. This chapteris nicely written and pseudocode appears many times with lots of niceexamples. This chapter serves as background for the next one on thediscrete logarithm problem using elliptic curves over finite fields. TheMOV attack, the anomalous attack, and the baby step/giant step methods arediscussed very nicely. Random methods, such as the tame and wild kangarooare discussed at the end of the chapter. Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer security    2. Mathematics    3. Number Theory    4. Public key cryptography    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Security    7. Security - General    8. Applied mathematics    9. Coding theory & cryptology    10. Data security & data encryption    11. Mathematics / Number Theory   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Cryptography    5. Cryptography/Access Control    6. Programming - Software Development    7. Computers / Cryptography    8. Computers / Languages / Programming    9. Computers / Security    10. Computers/Programming - Software Development    11. Data security & data encryption    12. implementing, cryptography, algorithms, ciphers, hashes, public-key, RSA, AES, SHA, software developer   

Editorial Review

Douglas R. Stinson's Read more

Reviews (14)

Good book after Schneier's Non-Mathematical Treatment
If you are an engineer trying to learn crypto, maybe get a book on number theory to go with this book. It'd be nice if there were fewer errors and more worked out problems, as well.
Volume III ofthe Definitive Work
This book takes a fairly rigorous mathematical approach to cryptography. It is intended for upper level undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics, computer science and engineering. I suspect only the quite mathematically inclined computer science and engineering students will find this book helpful. This is not a Boy Scout how to do secret messages book, but a book that will give the professional the data needed to implement cryptographic software, and the mathematician hints on both code breaking and creating.
Could be a great book .... but it falls short
As other people have pointed out, this is not a mathematics book, and it is not an algorithm (recipies) book. It could be a great book for people that are interested in learning these tools to actually use them, either in a research or product development context (something besides homework). Unfortunately, the number of typos, in key mathematical expressions AND PORTIONS OF THE EXPLANATIONS is staggering. Go to the author's web page and you will find that some chapters, like 4 for example, average more than one typo per page (and some of these 'typos' are full sentences, or math expressions that do not look like anything that is actually printed on the page). If you do not have that errata sheet handy, you will waste a lot of time trying to understand the text, or trying to solve the exercises. If you are trying to learn from this book, without attending a class and without the errata, you will simply give up. It is a real shame because it has all the makings of a great book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coding theory    2. Combinatorics    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Communications / Networking    6. Cryptography    7. Operating Systems - General    8. Security - General    9. Coding theory & cryptology    10. Computers / Security   

Reviews (3)

all about understanding RSA
The book revolves around RSA. The motivation for the book is that the reader wants to understand public/private key cryptography, where this is represented by the seminal RSA algorithm.
Excellent introduction
This book is a very readable introduction to the theory of numbers. The author manages to concentrate in a relatively short book and with a very clear and pleasant style the material necessary to understand the mathematics underneath the RSA cryptosystem. No previous knowledge ofadvanced mathematics is assumed. Perhaps not enough for mathematicians, butmore than rewarding for the rest of us. It reminds me a bit of the style ofM. Gardner. Books on mathematics can be very dull without the style ofexposition of Mr. Coutinho. Highly recommended !

multiplication
multiplicatio ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cryptography    2. Cryptography/Access Control    3. Mathematics    4. Number Theory    5. Programming - Algorithms    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Theory Of Numbers   

Editorial Review