Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, Second Edition

Amazon.com

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 Applied Cryptography, the definitive book on the subject. Bruce Schneier covers general classes of cryptographic protocols and then specific techniques, detailing the inner workings of real-world cryptographic algorithms including the Data Encryption Standard and RSA public-key cryptosystems. The book includes source-code listings and extensive advice on the practical aspects of cryptography implementation, such as the importance of generating truly random numbers and of keeping keys secure.

Book Description

". . .the best introduction to cryptography I've ever seen. . . . The book the National Security Agency wanted never to be published. . . ." -Wired Magazine

". . .monumental . . . fascinating . . . comprehensive . . . the definitive work on cryptography for computer programmers . . ." -Dr. Dobb's Journal

". . .easily ranks as one of the most authoritative in its field." -PC Magazine

". . .the bible of code hackers." -The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog

This new edition of the cryptography classic provides you with a comprehensive survey of modern cryptography. The book details how programmers and electronic communications professionals can use cryptography-the technique of enciphering and deciphering messages-to maintain the privacy of computer data. It describes dozens of cryptography algorithms, gives practical advice on how to implement them into cryptographic software, and shows how they can be used to solve security problems. Covering the latest developments in practical cryptographic techniques, this new edition shows programmers who design computer applications, networks, and storage systems how they can build security into their software and systems.

What's new in the Second Edition?
* New information on the Clipper Chip, including ways to defeat the key escrow mechanism
* New encryption algorithms, including algorithms from the former Soviet Union and South Africa, and the RC4 stream cipher
* The latest protocols for digital signatures, authentication, secure elections, digital cash, and more
* More detailed information on key management and cryptographic implementations

Customer Reviews:

Dated but indespensible.......2007-08-02

Sadly, this book is more than a few years old. That said, it is still the finest single volume introduction to data security in the modern age. For clarity of description, for illustration, and for its success at communicating essential concepts and ideas without resorting entirely to mathematics, it is without peer.

Every so often I look on Amazon and hope that I'll find Schneier has penned a third edition, updating this work with the results of the AES selection process and all the other recent developments in this suddenly fast paced field. Alas, I don't think that's going to happen. But I'm not sure that it would really make any difference -- the field now evolves so swiftly that any detailed, thorough volume would be obsolete by the time it reaches the shelves.

So instead of looking for something more recent, pick up Applied Cryptography. Read it and keep it close at hand as a reference (mine is almost falling apart from years of loving use). Nothing presents the fundamentals as well. If you need to know about a new cipher, a new hash, a new encryption mode or protocol, that's what the Internet is for.

But to really understand the underlying ideas, techniques, challenges, risks, and rewards of cryptography, nothing finer exists.

The unique and original applied cryptography book!.......2007-06-27

This book is extremely complete. It briefly covers the history of cryptography. It describes the political implications of cryptography and finally it shows how cryptography can be used in applications and presents the different cryptographic algorithms.

The algorithm section starts with a number theory primer.Honestly, I have found it a little bit too thin to learn all the needed background to fully understand the algorithms but on the other side, you cannot expect a simple 600 pages book to provide that background in the latest mathematical research number theories. It has at least the merit that it did stimulate my curiosity about number theory when I have read the first edition of this book.

Another point that makes this book interesting is that at the end of each chapter presenting the various algorithms in a given category, you will get Bruce Schneier opinion on which algorithm is the best. Of course, this type of information usually become outdated real fast but it is interesting to follow his thought process and test his predictions as the book grow older.

So, if you are looking for your first cryptography book, it should be this one.

Easy to read, perfect level of detail........2007-06-07

Great Book! The author's style makes this very easy to follow, and he frequently clarifies on topics which are difficult to grasp. Most importantly, he writes from a practical point of view; the material is very grounded and applicable instead of being a math textbook. That being said, he cites over 1600 sources; the book is riddled with leads to sources with more complete coverage for those interested in the fine details. Though I have some programming experience, I don't intend to write any programs; but it is interesting to read the logic in code. It was my goal to learn about modern cryptography and I have achieved that and much more.

Excellent Introduction.......2007-03-12

This book is now in the thirteenth reprinting of it's second edition with more than a hundred thousand copies sold. It is the definitive book on cryptography from the standpoint of a general overview of what sending secret messages is all about. It is not specifically oriented to the developer, but is more general in nature. There is not enough here for the mathematically inclined to seriously research the background of all the various systems.

As such consider this to be an introductory book on cryptography in general with a bit of history, a bit of story telling, an analysis of various cryptographic protocols and systems. There is source code provided for nine common protocols, and an invitation to order a three disk system that has source code for several more algorithms, functions, systems and additional text on various subjects. This disk set can only be sent to US and Canada addresses because of export rules on cryptographic information.

This is the definitive book on the subject. The only complaint I have is that it could stand to be done over in a third edition that would bring it more up to date.

A must-have book for understanding Cryptography........2006-03-11

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).
Glancing through the C source code at the end of the book started me thinking on the code implementation in my efforts - although I used Java althrough my life. I am not much comfortable with the C code because I was hoping for more goodie examples. If you want some practical guidance..you may little bit uncomforatble as well. At the end of the day if you are serious about Cryptography then you really need to get a copy of this.

Cryptography in C and C++, Second Edition

Average customer rating:

Good book with valuable source code
practical guide to software implementation of cryptography
Excellent!
Good book -- Wrong title
a book that takes the abstract and makes it practical

Cryptography in C and C++, Second Edition
Michael Welschenbach
Manufacturer: Apress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1590595025

Book Description

This book covers all that is needed to write professional-level cryptographic code. An expanded and improved version of the very well received first edition, it includes approximately 100 pages of new material as well as numerous improvements in the original text.

Customer Reviews:

Good book with valuable source code.......2007-03-19

This book is really good for beginners in cryptography. However, the most useful thing in the book is the source code, which can be used for programming your own crypto protocols. I would give this 5/5 rating.

practical guide to software implementation of cryptography.......2006-12-15

This book offers a practical and relatively easy to read description of implementing cryptography algorithms, especially RSA, in software. Most books in the field are highly mathematical. This book covers all of the necessary mathematics, but also explains how to efficiently implement the mathematics in C. It covers many of the real-life issues in building security software. As a researcher in the field, I found the book very helpful.

Excellent!.......2004-11-03

Don't even try to do crypto routines in C/C++ without this book.

It will save you a lot of heartache.

Read it!

Good book -- Wrong title.......2004-04-17

If truth in titling were a crime, someone would be in leg-irons over this one. This book should be entitled, "A Detailed Account of the Construction of a Large-Precision Number Library of the Sort that can be Used for RSA and Similar Cryptographic Systems, with a few Examples." The book fulfills this latter title exceptionally well.

The great majority of this book is a detailed, step-by-step account of the how the author constructed a C-language big-number library. It treats wrapping the C-libraries with C++ classes as a separate chapter -- nice touch. This treatise is thorough, well-written, and engaging. Nicely done. It is written from a mathematicians perspective, and its mathematical underpinnings may repel some programmers, but they need not fear. In the end the C-code is well-explained.

The only "cryptography" of note is a chapter on implementing RSA with the library. Indeed, the great majority of implementing RSA and similar ciphers is creating the big-number libraries. The RSA chapter is, fortunately, much more than a simple example. It is an excellent treatise of the pitfalls in implementing RSA. That is, RSA is more than a "simple example." If you are implemeting RSA with any big-number library, this chapter alone is worth the cost of admission.

There is a chapter on AES (Rijndael) cipher, but it is out of place here and an obvious paste-on, probably a last minute, hot-button item required by the publisher. It really has nothing you can't get from the original NIST documents on AES.

I'm willing to believe that the title and AES paste-on are the fault of the publisher, because otherwise Welschenbach did an excellent job -- lots of hard and careful work, well documeted. With a title-change, I'd give it a 5-star.

The question in the end is: Why would you want this book? Apart from general interest, the audiences that come to my mind are those who are constructing such libraries on their own, and those who need to use the software included with the book (on a non-commercial basis -- the software license prohibits commercial use).

a book that takes the abstract and makes it practical.......2002-07-14

This book will only be appealing to avid crypto fans. The book takes the abstract concept of contemporary algorithms and provides mechanisms for the user to contstruct concrete examples in C & C++ computer code. A rare advanced crypto book that also provides the reader with the mechanisms to explore the various aspects of contemporary advanced crypto ideas in programs. Welschenbach provides the boilerplate code for integrating these highly esoteric functions in C. Invaluable if you have both crypto knowledge and programming acumen.

Coding Theory and Cryptography: The Essentials, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (Pure and Applied Mathematics)

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Coding Theory and Cryptography: The Essentials, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (Pure and Applied Mathematics)
D.C. Hankerson , Gary Hoffman , D.A. Leonard , Charles C. Lindner , K.T. Phelps , C.A. Rodger , and J.R. Wall
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Cryptography: Theory and Practice, Third Edition (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications)

ASIN: 0824704657

Book Description

Containing data on number theory, encryption schemes, and cyclic codes, this highly successful textbook, proven by the authors in a popular two-quarter course, presents coding theory, construction, encoding, and decoding of specific code families in an "easy-to-use" manner appropriate for students with only a basic background in mathematics offering revised and updated material on the Berlekamp-Massey decoding algorithm and convolutional codes. Introducing the mathematics as it is needed and providing exercises with solutions, this edition includes an extensive section on cryptography, designed for an introductory course on the subject.

Elliptic Curves: Theory and Cryptography, Second Edition (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications)

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Elliptic Curves: Theory and Cryptography, Second Edition (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications)
Lawrence C. Washington
Manufacturer: Chapman & Hall/CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Average customer rating:

No Code Included With Purchse Of "New" Text From Amazon

accounting

Good for its purpose -- learning

Great Book for Non-Finance Managers

simple and easy understanding

Student Workbook to Accompany Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making
Paul D. Kimmel , Jerry J. Weygandt , and Donald E. Kieso
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Financial Accounting, Working Papers: Tools for Business Decision Making

Managerial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making

Managerial Accounting

Business: Its Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment

Organizational Behavior

ASIN: 0471371882

Book Description

This exciting, practical introduction arms readers with a practical set of tools, and the confidence to use those tools effectively in making business decisions. It begins with a macro view of accounting information by presenting real financial statements. The authors clearly establish how a financial statement communicates the financing, operating, and investing activities of a business.

Customer Reviews:

No Code Included With Purchse Of "New" Text From Amazon.......2007-08-30

Potential Buyers,

If you are a student who is taking an accounting course and your instructor requires you to use the accompanying Wiley Plus website, do not expect to get a Wiley Plus, registration code with this product.

I purchased the text "new" directly from Amazon for an accounting class I am taking and I assumed that I would recieve the registration code I needed; I assumed wrong as there was no registration code included with my book.

If you do need the code for class and you do choose to buy this book from Amazon, you'll be best off buying the cheapest, used edition and going to the Wiley Plus site directly to get a standard registration code for around $60 dollars. Of Course keep in mind shipping costs may eat up any savings you'd get buying from Amazon in the first place!

The 1 star review actually reflects my dissatisfaction with the description of this product on Amazon's site, and not the quality of the text.

Happy Shopping!

accounting.......2007-07-17

the book arrived a little later than i expected; but, it's a very helpful book if you want to go for accounting. the book's website is extremely useful.

Good for its purpose -- learning.......2007-05-28

The authors have put together a text that is long on examples. It might seem redundant to some, but I think this is the right way to teach a process discipline like accounting.

Much of the book is problem sets, in fact.

Let's see, the chapters begin with study objectives. Then there are highlighted "key points." Then at the end of each lesson, there are demonstration problems, self-study questions, questions, a set of brief exercises, exercises, then problem sets A and B.

I bought the 3rd edition, although the 4th is now available. The fourth edition has different problems in the first two chapters. In many instances, only the names of the company and an occasional number are different. It would matter if you are taking this for a class where the homework is graded. If your purpose is to learn the principles that underly financial accounting, though, you are as well served by the 3rd edition.

Great Book for Non-Finance Managers.......2007-02-24

This was a textbook used in my Managerial Finance class. It was easy to understand, aside from just a few concepts not explained as clearly as I would've liked. My background is engineering, however, I learned a great deal from this book. Great job Kimmel.

simple and easy understanding.......2007-01-05

the book provides examples and graphs to help demonstrate the text.

it has a lot of details and online reviews if u want to learn more and deeper

Student Workbook to Accompany Principles of Managerial Accounting for Non Business Majors ACG 3074 (Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making)

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Student Workbook to Accompany Principles of Managerial Accounting for Non Business Majors ACG 3074 (Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making)
Paul D. Kimmel
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0471708399

Student Workbook E-Book to Accompany Financial Acc Ounting: Tools for Business Decision Making, Secon D Edition

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Student Workbook E-Book to Accompany Financial Acc Ounting: Tools for Business Decision Making, Secon D Edition
Kimmel
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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CONSERVATION FOR SURVIVAL AN ECOLOGICAL STRATEGY

Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HZVLTM

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Conservation for Survival
Kai Curry-Lindahl
Manufacturer: Gollancz
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0575015497

Book Description

An update to a classic reference published fifteen years ago, this publication concerns the theoretical aspects of inductive electromagnetic methods applied in geophysical prospecting. From first principles, the electromagnetic responses of several models are derived and analysed in order to form a strong basis for understanding such phenomenon in practice. The original work has been extended by using modern 3-D modeling capabilities with a special emphasis on airborne applications.

Exploration and research geophysicists will appreciate the numerous closed-form and asymptotic electromagnetic expressions for spherical and clylindrical conductors contained within non-conductive and conductive hosts which are described in this volume. Responses based on such expressions are often presented in graphical and tabular form in order to help the reader visualise the significance of the results and in order to facilitate comparisons with physical and numerical modeling results.

In contrast to the first edition, key results are summarised at the end of each chapter and old material that has been retained in the new edition has been clarified and in many instances corrected.

A new chapter has been written in which an extensive evaluation of several different airborne electromagnetic systems is described. The evaluation was based on the utilization of an advanced 3-D modeling program to simulate complex geoelectrical situations that are of interest in exploration and in airborne resistivity mapping.

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hilarious

Laugh out loud funny.

Scathing, entertaining, and surprisingly, er, moving?

Writing Insulting to Readers

Writing Insulting to . . . Writing

Colors Insulting to Nature: A Novel
Cintra Wilson
Manufacturer: Fourth Estate
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Special Topics in Calamity Physics

ASIN: 0007154607
Release Date: 2004-08-10

Amazon.com

Authors who write about the entertainment industry often extend promises of wit and edginess to attract an audience. Colors Insulting to Nature, by Salon columnist Cintra Wilson, delivers these qualities because it enters the fray not with a forgettably likeable protagonist predestined for a happy ending, but with an axe to grind. The object of Wilson's loathing is the "ego-porn" Hollywood that turns out formulaic story lines, making hapless, mediocre talents believe that their dreams of fame can somehow come true.

The central mediocre talent in this book is Liza Normal, who first appears in the story as an adolescent auditioning for a spot in a commercial. Imagine the child version of the Bette Midler character in Beaches and you're about halfway to understanding the tragic gaudiness of Liza's persona--though of course she is a sweet girl underneath it all. The novel follows Liza into adulthood, bringing other vividly drawn characters, including her shut-in brother, Ned, her narcissistic, alcoholic mother, Peppy, and a sadomasochistic dwarf named DelVonn along for the ride. Liza's cringingly funny attempts to win fame as an actress-singer never stop--and neither does Wilson's railing against the logic-corrupting, "ultimately demoralizing" messages from film and television that Liza has ingested from infancy. Will our heroine ever turn her life around and figure out that The Media made her do it? Will Wilson succeed in breaking free of formulas, or end up undercutting her own message with a fairy-tale ending? Readers who are drawn to darker comedies will enjoy finding the answers, and find this novel impossible to put down. --Leah Weathersby

Book Description

Look deep into your heart, Gentle Reader. Deep, deep, deep; past your desire for true love, for inexhaustible riches or uncontested sexual championship, for the ability to fight crime and restore peace to a weary world. Underneath all this, if you are a true, red-blooded American, you'll find the throbbing desire to be famous.

Liza Normal wants fame worse than air, food, sleep, or self-preservation. Her talents are slim, but she's been raised on a crash diet of Hollywood "I-can-do-it!" mythology, game-show anthems, and Love's Baby Soft#150;scented teen dreams. According to the delusional logic inherent in these value-starved sources, the key to Making It Big as a pop star is to simply want it badly enough and Believe in Yourself (and to follow the B-movie template for becoming one of life's golden winners -- see page 20). And so, innocent Liza's disco-ball fantasies are bowled down the yellow brick road, on a direct collision course with that whirling hall of hammers: Reality. She endures a wretched series of mishaps on the road to failure: disastrous love affairs, scorching humiliations. But Liza, a far better human than the two-dimensional starlet she thinks she wants to be, is indestructible.

In Colors Insulting to Nature, Cintra Wilson has fused ahilarious yet strangely touching coming-of-age story with a blistering satire of our celebrity-debased culture. In a world where unknowns compete to wear their ethical pants around their ankles on TV, where actors become presidents and plucky American Idols claw their way to stardom over the corpses of the dreams of a million wishful losers, Colors Insulting to Nature shocks us into seeing ourselves as we truly are, not as we think we look when we make that French pout face in the mirror. Not since John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, Martin Amis's Money, or, yes, Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel has an antihero peeled away the lamination of our society with such savage glee and empathy. Laugh, cry, cringe with self-recognition: Colors Insulting to Nature is a brilliant achievement.

Customer Reviews:

hilarious.......2007-07-19

This writer has incredibly keen powers of observation and puts them to work carving up the quest for celebrity. As a social satire, it is biting, hilarious, dark, scathing and extremely well-written. My stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Favorite interlude? The decriptions of the 80's San Francisco scene with the vampires and elvenfolk. Not a gentle read, in fact it's more of a kick to the chest, but my gosh it's hilarious.

Laugh out loud funny........2006-06-26

This is one of those books that you get so into you laugh out loud because it is so funny and you don't care who hears you. They make think you're crazy for laughing while reading a book but you know different. This book was great.

Scathing, entertaining, and surprisingly, er, moving?.......2006-06-13

I knew I had to read "Colors Insulting to Nature" after digesting Cintra Wilson's "A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Reexamined as a Grotesque, Crippling Disease" (one of the top five best titles of all time, IMO). Now, no one is going to accuse Wilson of having written a "deep" book here, but hey, that's not her style, and this is a full-out satire and criticism of our fame-hungry society. Why do you think the main character's name is Liza Normal? Isn't it considered "normal" in America today to be absolutely fame-hungry? What got me, besides the laugh-out-loud moments, was the fact that Liza actually truly grew on me as a character. I got emotionally involved in her plight, and the spate of friends and enemies (including her outrageously selfish mom Peppy) she deals with grew on me too. Wilson is dead-on in her grasp of so many aspects of underground as well as mainstream culture, it's uncanny. What could make this a better book? It could be shorter. Wilson writes wonderfully but there were scenes I felt could have been excised. All in all a great and worthwhile read, if you're not in the mood for "War and Peace."

Writing Insulting to Readers.......2006-03-14

don't believe me? check out page 96, the bit in bold type at the top of the page. the author (term used loosely) feels obliged to remind us that we, as readers, are "a vast repository of stories," and that she need only "toss out a select handful of hoary chestnuts to suggest certain templates, and you will start filling in the blanks."

to which i can only reply: author vastly overamused by her own dubious wit.

Writing Insulting to . . . Writing.......2006-02-07

Oscar Wilde wrote that literature is unread and journalism is unreadable. Cintra Wilson, while aspiring toward the former, can't shake the fact that she's only good at the latter; however, defying Wilde's epigram, her journalism, when it's what she intends to write, is really good. That said, 'Colors Insulting to Nature' is one of the worst books I've ever read. How it got published is beyond me. It's the literary equivalent of cat art. This was a surprise to me because I've always enjoyed reading her columns, especially her post-Oscar ones, and I enjoyed her previous non-fiction book on celebrity culture. But this book is a travesty. It's an appalling mess, and I feel more duped for falling for the advance praise and other reader accolades on this site, than Oprah was by believing James Frey.

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