Books

  • Applied Cryptography, by Bruce Schneier. This has become a standard work for anyone interested in Cryptography or in writing cryptographic software. Mr. Schneier discusses privacy, anonymity, digital cash, voting schemes, etc. and provides source code.
  • The Codebreakers; The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet, by David Kahn. This is the "Bible" of modern cryptography. Historical rather than technical, it discusses the strengths and weaknesses of cryptosystems throughout history, reinforcing the fact that the "unbreakable cipher" is a myth. Very readable.
  • Cryptography: Theory and Practice, by Doug Stinson. More mathematically oriented than Schneier's book, Stinson covers modern cryptography in great detail with lots and lots of exercises. This will give you a solid grasp of encryption, but won't particularly help you write cryptographic software.
  • Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson's whodunit thriller. Cool crypto plays a big role, including the Solitaire algorithm. Solitaire was specially designed by Bruce Schneier for this book; it's the only algorithm I know of which doesn't require a computer, yet is probably strong enough for actual use.

FAQs

  • The sci.crypt FAQ answers Frequently Asked Questions in the newsgroup sci.crypt. This may be the most complete treatment of Cryptography on the net, and is somewhat mathematically intensive at times. This link points to an HTML index of the FAQ, but the FAQ itself is flat text (identical to the periodic posting in sci.crypt).
  • Snake Oil Warning Signs, the cryptographic snake-oil FAQ. An entertaining read, and educational, too! It discusses the self-promoting claims of folks with a product but no real qualifications, who try to peddle their "eyes-only, super-secret patent-pending" software. This document equips a non-technical reader to spot phonies (say in sci.crypt) without actually understanding the nonsense they spout. A great time saver.
  • The RSA FAQ maintained by RSA Laboratories. Not surprisingly, this document concentrates on public-key cryptography. It's a little light on technical content, but offers reasonable answers to basic questions.

PGP

Other Crypto Software

 

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Len Budney
lbudney@pobox.com
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