Cryptography Books

CISSP Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, 4th Ed. (All-in-One)

Shon Harris

Amazon Price: $50.39 List Price: $79.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media Amazon Marketplace: 60 new & used starting at $32.28

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Certification Central -> Publisher -> Osborne-McGraw-Hill

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

All-in-One is All You Need

Fully revised for the latest exam release, this authoritative volume offers thorough coverage of all the material on the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam. Written by a renowned security expert and CISSP, this guide features complete details on all 10 exam domains developed by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISCAndsup2;). Inside, youAnd#39;ll find learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, exam tips, practice questions, and in-depth explanations. CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Fourth Edition will not only help you pass the test, but also be your essential on-the-job reference.

Covers all 10 subject areas on the exam:

• Access control
• Application security
• Business continuity and disaster recovery planning
• Cryptography
• Information security and risk management
• Legal, regulations, compliance, and investigations
• Operations security
• Physical (environmental) security
• Security architecture and design
• Telecommunications and network security

The CD-ROM features:

• Simulated exam with practice questions and answers
• Video training from the author
• Complete electronic book

Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition

Jon Erickson

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Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Hacking is the art of creative problem solving, whether that means finding an unconventional solution to a difficult problem or exploiting holes in sloppy programming. Many people call themselves hackers, but few have the strong technical foundation needed to really push the envelope.

Rather than merely showing how to run existing exploits, author Jon Erickson explains how arcane hacking techniques actually work. To share the art and science of hacking in a way that is accessible to everyone, Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition introduces the fundamentals of C programming from a hacker's perspective.

The included LiveCD provides a complete Linux programming and debugging environment--all without modifying your current operating system. Use it to follow along with the book's examples as you fill gaps in your knowledge and explore hacking techniques on your own. Get your hands dirty debugging code, overflowing buffers, hijacking network communications, bypassing protections, exploiting cryptographic weaknesses, and perhaps even inventing new exploits. This book will teach you how to:

• Program computers using C, assembly language, and shell scripts
• Corrupt system memory to run arbitrary code using buffer overflows and format strings
• Inspect processor registers and system memory with a debugger to gain a real understanding of what is happening
• Outsmart common security measures like nonexecutable stacks and intrusion detection systems
• Gain access to a remote server using port-binding or connect-back shellcode, and alter a server's logging behavior to hide your presence
• Redirect network traffic, conceal open ports, and hijack TCP connections
• Crack encrypted wireless traffic using the FMS attack, and speed up brute-force attacks using a password probability matrix

Hackers are always pushing the boundaries, investigating the unknown, and evolving their art. Even if you don't already know how to program, Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition will give you a complete picture of programming, machine architecture, network communications, and existing hacking techniques. Combine this knowledge with the included Linux environment, and all you need is your own creativity.

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

Simon Singh

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 252 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

People love secrets. Ever since the first word was written, humans have sent coded messages to each other. In The Code Book, Simon Singh, author of the bestselling Fermat's Enigma, offers a peek into the world of cryptography and codes, from ancient texts through computer encryption. Singh's compelling history is woven through with stories of how codes and ciphers have played a vital role in warfare, politics, and royal intrigue. The major theme of The Code Book is what Singh calls "the ongoing evolutionary battle between codemakers and codebreakers," never more clear than in the chapters devoted to World War II. Cryptography came of age during that conflict, as secret communications became critical to both sides' success.

Confronted with the prospect of defeat, the Allied cryptanalysts had worked night and day to penetrate German ciphers. It would appear that fear was the main driving force, and that adversity is one of the foundations of successful codebreaking.

In the information age, the fear that drives cryptographic improvements is both capitalistic and libertarian--corporations need encryption to ensure that their secrets don't fall into the hands of competitors and regulators, and ordinary people need encryption to keep their everyday communications private in a free society. Similarly, the battles for greater decryption power come from said competitors and governments wary of insurrection.

The Code Book is an excellent primer for those wishing to understand how the human need for privacy has manifested itself through cryptography. Singh's accessible style and clear explanations of complex algorithms cut through the arcane mathematical details without oversimplifying. --Therese Littleton

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

Bruce Schneier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 99 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Dated but indespensible 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

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.

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 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.

Network Security with OpenSSL

John Viega, Matt Messier, Pravir Chandra

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Most applications these days are at least somewhat network aware, but how do you protect those applications against common network security threats? Many developers are turning to OpenSSL, an open source version of SSL/TLS, which is the most widely used protocol for secure network communications. The OpenSSL library is seeing widespread adoption for web sites that require cryptographic functions to protect a broad range of sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and other financial transactions. Traditionally, getting something simple done in OpenSSL could take weeks. Network Security with OpenSSL gives you guidance to avoid pitfalls, and allows you to take advantage of the library?s advanced features. And, instead of bogging you down in the technical details of how SSL works under the hood, this book provides only the information that is necessary to use OpenSSL safely and effectively. The book details the challenges in securing network communications, and shows you how to use OpenSSL tools to best meet those challenges.

Practical Cryptography

Niels Ferguson, Bruce Schneier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

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).

Cryptanalysis

Helen F. Gaines

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 By: Dover Publications Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $2.43

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Best Book for Manual Ciphers 5 out of 5 stars.
23 of 23 people found this review helpful.

As a former codebreaker with the ASA/NSA during the VN war, I often found it helpful to have a copy of Helen's book handy, and spent many enjoyable hours solving the sample ciphers provided. This valuable book not only describes many historically significant encipherment methods, but also goes into detail about how to break them. Afficianados of manual ciphers might also wish to contact others with similar interests and can do so through the American Cryptogram Association at www.cryptogram.org.

Best source for pre-computer decryption techniques. 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book over 40 years ago... It is, by far, the best book for pen-and-pencil cryptogram solving that I have found. It gives sufficient information to allow attacking any pen-and-pencil cryptogram. If it is followed by Bauer's "Decrypted Secrets," one would have a very thorough introduction to methods of solutions (Bauer is quite mathematical, but also recommended to the mathematically inclined). An excellent introduction with a great deal of useful information that is probably the best available source for pre-computer techniques.

Editorial Review:

Thorough, systematic introduction to serious cryptography, especially strong in modern forms of cipher solution used by experts. Nihilist, grille, U. S. Army, key-phrase, multiple-alphabet, Gronsfeld, Porta, Beaufort, periodic ciphers and more. Simple and advanced methods. 166 specimens to solve—with solutions.

Cryptography for Dummies

Chey Cobb

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Pretty Good Intro to Cryptography 4 out of 5 stars.
12 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I've stumbled across cryptography for about the past year, so recently I decided to go ahead and learn some basics (as I think the subject and InfoSec is really interesting). Most cryptography books out there are for the advanced and are mathematically rigorous. While I gladly welcome math, I needed an overview to bring me up to speed, prepping me for more intermediate (and eventually advanced) texts later.

I've never read a Dummies book dealing with computer technology before, because although they're written for absolute novices, the low-level writing style irritates me, usually takes too long to get to the "interesting stuff", and the "yippity-skippity!" attitude will eventually make me go seek a more advanced text. Basically, Dummies books "hold your hand", and if this is what you need, they're great! But if not, they can be rather slow for you (as for me).

However, Cryptography for Dummies is pretty good, aside from a few misses. By this being a Dummies book, the impression of this text being for complete neophytes is false - if you don't have any experience with basic computer science topics (e.g. binary, binary-to-decimal conversions, bits/bytes/words, etc.), the first couple chapters may be a little hard to understand, as the author assumes you at least know that stuff.

Aside from that, the author does a good job explaining the basic topics one needs to understand cryptography and its inner-workings. However, the author's writing style leaves much to be desired at times. At points, I found myself scratching my head, re-reading passages several times, trying to figure out what the author meant. At times when he should explain the nuances of something, he doesn't, leaving you to go, "HUH?" (A good example of this are the early parts where he talks about keys but doesn't explain what a key is or how they interact with other parts of a cryptographic system.)

There are other sections where the author leaves entire descriptions of things out, where you'll have to figure it out for yourself. Perhaps this is purposeful, so he won't get too far into the topic, as this book is basically an overview. Something else I noticed too is the vast amount of errors the book has! I'm not sure if Dummies has an 'Errata' section on its site.

While this book is by no means a complete text (probably not even a 1/3-complete text), overall, it's good for those who want an overview of the subject, and plan on venturing further, as I do.

Editorial Review:

• Cryptography is the most effective way to achieve data security and is essential to e-commerce activities such as online shopping, stock trading, and banking
• This invaluable introduction to the basics of encryption covers everything from the terminology used in the field to specific technologies to the pros and cons of different implementations
• Discusses specific technologies that incorporate cryptography in their design, such as authentication methods, wireless encryption, e-commerce, and smart cards
• Based entirely on real-world issues and situations, the material provides instructions for already available technologies that readers can put to work immediately
• Expert author Chey Cobb is retired from the NRO, where she held a Top Secret security clearance, instructed employees of the CIA and NSA on computer security and helped develop the computer security policies used by all U.S. intelligence agencies

Cryptography Decrypted

H. X. Mel, Doris M. Baker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Cryptography is at the heart of computer security: without it, secure e-commerce and Internet communications would be impossible. Decision-makers and sophisticated computer users need to understand cryptography -- but most explanations are highly mathematical and technical. Cryptography Decrypted explains cryptography in "plain English" -- and is authoritative and thorough enough to address the needs of professionals. It explains the processes step-by-step, with extensive visuals. The authors present the elements of cryptography systems; public key infrastructure (PKI); and the IPSec standard for virtual private network security; then review real-world systems and their applications. They show how real-world systems are attacked, and how to protect them; introduce essential cryptographic terms; and present the fascinating history of cryptography through sidebars highlighting its important events, people, and breakthroughs. For every decision-maker and computer user who needs to understand cryptography, this book is also ideal for security pros who need to educate management about cryptography.

Schneier's Cryptography Classics Library: Applied Cryptography, Secrets and Lies, and Practical Cryptography

Bruce Schneier

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Editorial Review:

* Cryptography is the study of message secrecy and is used in fields such as computer science, computer and network security, and even in instances of everyday life, such as ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic commerce. Thanks to his innovative and ingenious books on the subject of cryptography, Bruce Schneier has become the world's most famous security expert. Now, his trio of revolutionary titles can be found in this unprecedented, value-priced collection.
* Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, Second Edition: This seminal encyclopedic reference provides readers with a comprehensive survey of modern cryptography. It describes dozens of cryptography algorithms, offers practical advice on how to implement them into cryptographic software, and shows how they can be used to solve security problems.
* Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World: This narrative, straight-talking bestseller explains how to achieve security throughout computer networks. Schneier examines exactly what cryptography can and cannot do for the technical and business community.
* Practical Cryptography: As the ideal guide for an engineer, systems engineer or technology professional who wants to learn how to actually incorporate cryptography into a product, this book bridges the gap between textbook cryptography and cryptography in the real world.