Customer Reviews

Cryptography & Network Security (McGraw-Hill Forouzan Networking)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book has many errors, as you read though it. This can mix you up when you need to see corrected samples to find out what the book is telling you. there is a correction PDF file at the web link that is provided but then it's to much going back and this book you need alot of time to read it carfully. If you don't have to buy this book, then don't.

NOTE: This book more or less assumes that you are either:

A Computer Science Graduate with a MAJOR interest in encoding and encryption.

A math major who would rather discuss the virtues of MOD % in C# or C++ as a past time.

In my opinion, you might wish to be BOTH the above if you intend to make real use of the material. A solid foundation in encoding and encryption at the encoding level (as it assumes you know DISCRETE MATH, and made it through Differenctial Calculus and know a significant amount about a variety of programming languages)

It's loaded with errors and errata and lacks any consise+clear examples; Im not speaking of slight errors either, these are formula errors which can throw a 100 step problem right into the circular file in due time. The problem is, you dont find out until hours later that there WAS an issue. I worked on a DES problem for several hours by hand as required before I found the mistake within the 'example' in the book only to find out I ran out of time and STILL had to the problem for my class.

Heres a link to the publisher's site for the errata if you'd like to see for yourself... [...]

The examples in the book are at best piecemeal in design with very few (if any) clear step by step instructions but instead refers to elements from other piecemeal examples previously presented and you end up chasing your tail and wasting your valuable time.

Again - IF you are a MATH MAJOR and a PROGRAMMING whiz AND College level AND while Im at it... possess an IQ above 140 this is an awesome book full of brevity and pseudo shortcuts to 100 step Department of Defense level encryption problems like Triple DES and AES ( assuming you knew them in the first place) this book is for you.

IF you are a student trying to get thru a class or would like to know more about how encryption works... consider an alternative manual/textbook.

PS - One more thing; the chapter review questions in the manual do not have an answer key in the back of the book so you are on your own in that respect.

The textbook was okay. I purchased it for a grad class. However, we found that it needed an appendix due to incorrect information originally printed in this edition.

I teach an introductory cryptography class at the University of Denver. I have been seeking a good text for six years, but I have been disappointed with all that I have tried. Forouzan's book is the answer to my dreams.

It is neither over-simplified nor overly rigorous. Theorem proofs are saved for an appendix, so students don't get bogged down in the math before they have had a chance to assimilate the cryptographic concepts. Copious illustrations help with the most complex topics. Practice problems provide an opportunity for students to test their mastery and for the instructor to measure their progress.

The primary focus of the text is network security - specifically, e-mail, SSL and IPsec. (Esoteric protocols such as secure elections and digital cash are not discussed at all.) This text, in essence, is an elaboration of the final part of Forouzan's TCP/IP text. As such, it is extremely useful to those who are looking for skills that are immediately applicable to the work environment.

This book provides a nice look into cryptography and network security. I was already familiar with both concepts and this helped me to expand my knowledge.

I bought this book after wanting to do an implementation of AES. I still haven't finished it, since I decided to do an implementation of DES at chapter 6. One of the reasons I'm writing this is in chapter 6 there is some errata in the text concerning the DES expansion table, and I'm pretty sure the trace data for table 6.15 is incorrect. I would definitely get the table data from the specification for those needing to implement anything.

This is a true textbook and you probably won't need much more of a reference for the subject. It does present the math in a pretty good way as to leaving most questions answered. It does help to have done some bitwise math and of course algebra beforehand of course. I think the diagrams for the encryption algorithms are very helpful. I'm actually excited about learning the rest of the material which does seem to cover most network security methods with a consistent quality. Hope this helps, I will update this review later if necessary.