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Book excerpts:

The goal of this book was to assimilate the existing cryptographic knowledge of industrial interest into one consistent, self-contained volume accessible to engineers in practice, to computer scientists and mathematicians in academia, and to motivated non-specialists with a strong desire to learn cryptography. Such a task is beyond the scope of each of the following: research papers, which by nature focus on narrow topics using very specialized (and often non-standard) terminology; survey papers, which typically address, at most, a small number of major topics at a high level; and (regretably also) most books, due to the fact that many book authors lack either practical experience or familiarity with the research literature or both.

This book provides a detailed presentation of those areas of cryptography which have been found to be of greatest practical utility in industrial experience, while maintaining a sufficiently formal approach to be suitable both as a trustworthy reference for those whose primary interest is further research, and to provide a solid foundation for students and others first learning the subject.

Throughout each chapter, this book emphasizes the relationship between various aspects of cryptography. Background sections commence most chapters, providing a framework and perspective for the techniques which follow. Computer source code (e.g. C code) for algorithms has been intentionally omitted, in favor of algorithms specified in sufficient detail to allow direct implementation without consulting secondary references. This style of presentation allows a better understanding of how algorithms actually work, while at the same time avoiding low-level implementation-specific constructs (which some readers will invariably be unfamiliar with) of various currently-popular programming languages.

In most cases (with some historical exceptions), where algorithms are known to be insecure, this book leaves out specification of their details, since most such techniques are of little practical interest. Essentially all of the algorithms included have been verified for correctness by independent implementation, confirming the test vectors specified.

Intended Audience

This book is intended as a reference for professional cryptographers, presenting the techniques and algorithms of greatest interest to the current practitioner, along with the supporting motivation and background material. It also provides a comprehensive source from which to learn cryptography, serving both students and instructors. In addition, the rigorous treatment, breadth, and extensive bibliographic material should make it an important reference for research professionals.

Reviews:

Slashdot

:) "If you want to learn about cryptography, not the politics but the actual technology, then this is a great book to get before you get over your head. It's very readable and while the math can be a little heavy in places it is accessible and useful. It gives you a good flavor of how more advanced papers and books on the subject are and it avoids the nonacademic discussions surrounding cryptography."

Amazon.com

:) "If you're going to work in the area of Cryptography, you can't afford to neglect this book."

:) "This is a fairly strong book on crypto, with heavy detail on the math involved."

:) "The mathematical background information and explanations are complete and clear. It is very satisfying to be able to read the prose and implement the ideas in a computer program with ease."