[3024] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Reading List
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Adam Shostack)
Tue Jul 21 12:20:17 1998
From: Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>
In-Reply-To: <199807210201.WAA15410@jekyll.piermont.com> from "Perry E. Metzger" at "Jul 20, 98 10:01:02 pm"
To: perry@piermont.com
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:03:01 -0400 (EDT)
Cc: jon@callas.org, cryptography@c2.net
Perry E. Metzger wrote:
|
| Jon Callas writes:
| > What books and articles would you recommend someone to look at to learn
| > about crypto, security, and privacy? I'm looking for suggestions, simple,
| > intermediate, and advanced.
|
| For cryptography, I personally recommend two books:
|
| 1) Kahn's "The Codebreakers". No, it won't teach you anything about
| how cryptography is done NOW, but it will teach you a bit of respect
I'll actually suggest his 'Seizing the Enigma' as a much more
accessable text to start with. (If you can find it, anyway. I got
mine from a foolish library selling it off because it was not checked
out enough.)
| 2) Schneier's "Applied Cryptography". This is the best introduction to
| the field of modern (i.e. post-DES, post-public key) cryptography in
| existance.
I'll agree with this, and suggest that the first edition is
just as useful as the second as an intro text, and I find it easier to
lug about.
Also, I found that Kaufman, Perlman, and Spencer's "Network
Security: Private Communication in a public world" has the best
overview of DES I've seen. It was the one that finally gelled an
understanding of the algorithm for me.
For security in general, the best book is probably "Firewalls
and Internet Security" by Cheswick and Bellovin.
Also, books like The Cockoo's Egg and Underground are useful
for understanding how systems are actually comprimised.
Adam
--
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
-Hume
