If you write software this book will help you understand cryptography

books:


	• Practical Cryptography Niels Ferguson, Bruce Schneier Wiley, 2003 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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!

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If you write software this book will help you understand cryptography

This book really does explain the practical side of cryptography and writing cryptographic software.

The authors take the readers with them as they design a secure communication system using existing algorithms and standards. You look over the shoulders of two experts in the field as they make decisions (e.g. AES vs. Serpent vs. Twofish) and explain them (e.g. AES is the IBM of algorithms, Serpent is the most secure, and Twofish is fast like AES but without the vulnerabilities).

There is an entire chapter devoted to "Implementation Issues" which includes some of the best information on software design I have ever read. In addition to the cryptography related information, the authors point out some flaws in traditional software development methodology. In fact, this book should be required reading for every computer science student and every practicing software engineer.

If you have had trouble understanding cryptography and cryptographic algorithms in the past, this book will fill in the gaps. The book very well written, which is a rarity in the field of cryptography. If you are a crypto-phile, you can actually read this book for entertainment.

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Cryptography Explained for the Practical Implementation

Guru Bruce Schneier teams with fellow guru Niels Ferguson to explain the practical implementaion of cryptography.

In his first book, Applied Cryptography, Schneier dissected how cryptography worked. But there was a lot of hand-waving, such as "Alice implements a secure RNG" which worked for theoretical knowledge of cryptography, but weren't of much use to a programmer who needs to design something. Practical Cryptography is the "in depth" sequel to Applied Cryptography, and explains in detail a lot of the nuts and bolts of actually implementing good cryptography.

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Self contradictory and self lauding

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.

The authors are extremely biased against algorithms designed by others. For example, they bend over backwards to blow some generic weaknesses of AES out of proportions. They even add a scary story of a bored PhD student offhandedly breaking AES. I think this not only unfair but also a bit unethical to direct generic critisism to a design and then pretent it does not apply to their own.

They must be really pissed off when their own algorithm was beaten by AES in the NIST competition.

The book is useful if all you want is a light reading about security and you can manage to read it with a grain of salt.

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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.
The author's other book "Applied Cryptography" is still my favorite.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

Security is the number one concern for businesses worldwide. The gold standard for attaining security is cryptography because it provides the most reliable tools for storing or transmitting digital information. Written by Niels Ferguson, lead cryptographer for Counterpane, Bruce Schneier's security company, and Bruce Schneier himself, this is the much anticipated follow-up book to Schneier's seminal encyclopedic reference, Applied Cryptography, Second Edition (0-471-11709-9), which has sold more than 150,000 copies.
Niels Ferguson (Amsterdam, Netherlands) is a cryptographic engineer and consultant at Counterpane Internet Security. He has extensive experience in the creation and design of security algorithms, protocols, and multinational security infrastructures. Previously, Ferguson was a cryptographer for DigiCash and CWI. At CWI he developed the first generation of off-line payment protocols. He has published numerous scientific papers.
Bruce Schneier (Minneapolis, MN) is Founder and Chief Technical Officer at Counterpane Internet Security, a managed-security monitoring company. He is also the author of Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World (0-471-25311-1).

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