Introduction to Modern Cryptography: Principles and Protocols (Chapman & Hall/CRC Cryptography and Network Security Series) [Hardcover]

Jonathan Katz (Author), Yehuda Lindell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1584885513 | ISBN-13: 978-1584885511 | Edition: 1

Cryptography plays a key role in ensuring the privacy and integrity of data and the security of computer networks. Introduction to Modern Cryptography provides a rigorous yet accessible treatment of modern cryptography, with a focus on formal definitions, precise assumptions, and rigorous proofs.

The authors introduce the core principles of modern cryptography, including the modern, computational approach to security that overcomes the limitations of perfect secrecy. An extensive treatment of private-key encryption and message authentication follows. The authors also illustrate design principles for block ciphers, such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES) and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and present provably secure constructions of block ciphers from lower-level primitives. The second half of the book focuses on public-key cryptography, beginning with a self-contained introduction to the number theory needed to understand the RSA, Diffie-Hellman, El Gamal, and other cryptosystems. After exploring public-key encryption and digital signatures, the book concludes with a discussion of the random oracle model and its applications.

Serving as a textbook, a reference, or for self-study, Introduction to Modern Cryptography presents the necessary tools to fully understand this fascinating subject.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is a comprehensive, rigorous introduction to what the authors name ‘modern’ cryptography … a novel approach to how cryptography is taught, replacing the older, construction-based approach. … The concepts are clearly stated, both in an intuitive fashion and formally. … I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in cryptography. … the exercises are challenging and interesting, and can benefit readers of all academic levels. …
—IACR book reviews, January 2010

Over the past 30 years, cryptography has been transformed from a mysterious art into a mathematically rigorous science. The textbook by Jonathan Katz and Yehuda Lindell finally makes this modern approach to cryptography accessible to a broad audience. Readers of this text will learn how to think precisely about the security of protocols against arbitrary attacks, a skill that will remain relevant and useful regardless of how technology and cryptography standards change. The book uses just enough formalism to maintain precision and rigor without obscuring the development of ideas. It manages to convey both the theory's conceptual beauty and its relevance to practice. I plan to use it every time I teach an undergraduate course in cryptography.
—Salil Vadhan, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

… the greatest attribute is the fact that the material is presented in such a unified way. These are not just a collection of topics from cryptography, thrown together at random. One topic leads effortlessly to the next. As such, this is a virtually indispensible resource for modern cryptography.
—Donald L. Vestal, South Dakota State University, MAA Online, July 2008

… gives an excellent introduction to the theoretical background of cryptography. It would be a fine textbook for an advanced undergraduate (or graduate) course in theoretical computer science for students who have already seen the rudiments of cryptography. It will be a valuable reference for researchers in the field …
—Steven D. Galbraith, Mathematical Reviews, 2009b

The book is highly recommended as a textbook in cryptography courses at graduate or advanced undergraduate levels … covers in a splendid way the main notions of current cryptography from the point of view of information-theoretical security. This corresponds indeed to a modern cryptography approach.
—Guillermo Morales-Luna, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1143

About the Author

University of Maryland, College Park, USA Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

Product Details

• Hardcover: 552 pages
• Publisher: Chapman and Hall/CRC; 1 edition (August 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584885513
• ISBN-13: 978-1584885511
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Computers & Technology > Certification > CompTIA
  • #27 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Algorithms > Cryptography
  • #46 in Books > Computers & Technology > Security & Encryption > Encryption

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive guide to Cryptography September 25, 2007

By Vincenzo Iovino

Format:Hardcover

I used this book for a course on modern cryptography held by Prof. Persiano of the University of Salerno, Italy.
I read, consulted, and studied other books about cryptography, but 'INTRODUCTION TO MODERN CRYPTOGRAPHY' by Katz and Lindell is in my humble opinion THE BEST.
The book has a theoretical flavor, it is mathematically rigorous, but it is very readable and fluent, and presents the motivating discussions beneath each topic.
The book is fully self-contained, and gives the necessary background for each topic (for example there is a lot of basic computational number theory necessary for introducing the topic of 'public key').
The beauty of the book is in that the authors don't present a collection of protocols, with no links each other, but the flow is sequential and motivated (in contrast to books which present topics only for filling the pages).
All the theorems are proved and the treatment is rigorous, but the theory is developed from scratch, and the book is oriented to beginner students, though it presents also advanced stuff and is one of the most advanced book for beginners.
The main contents of the book are:

1) Perfect security and Shannon's theorem (information theoretic security)
2) Computational security, indistinguishability, CPA
3) Pseudorandomness
4) One-way functions, hard-core predicate, Levin's theorem
5) Message Authentication Codes
6) Costructions of Pseudorandom objects, AES, Substitution-Permutation networks
7) Relation between Private-Key, one-way functions and pseudrandomness.
8) Number theory for the cryptography
9) Computational number theory, factorization, square roots,discrete log,diffie-hellman problems
10) Public key, goldwasser-micali, el gamal, pallier, hybrid encryption, encryption schemes based on trapdoor permutations
11)Digital Signature Schemes
I wrote only some topics of the book following my taste, but the books contains much more.
The exercises left to the end of each chapters are good, and vary from easy to hard.
The book i read was in draft form, 320 pages long, but the final edition is about 500 pages long, cause addictional sections have been added.
Indeed in the introduction of my book the authors write that their planned to add to the final edition the following:

Elliptic curves
Sub-exponential factoring algorithms
The random oracle model and efficient cryptographic constructions
Protocols

Given that the final edition is 200 pages longer that my draft i think that these sections have been added.

I advice this book to everyone who wants start the study of modern cryptography from a theoretic and rigorous point of view.
After you read Katz and Lindell i suggest you to read "Foundations of Cryptography" by Goldreich, but it is too advanced and its reading requires you already read Katz and Lindell.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction November 7, 2012

By PST

Format:Hardcover

The book offers a clear understanding, what cryptography means, and what the issues involved are.
Once this is understood, and once one has understood the numerous (obviously necessary!) definitons the mathematics involved becomes a bit boring.
None of the proofs would possibly qualify for "The Book" of Paul Erdos, they are just too boring.....
( As this was my first book on the subject, I cannot judge whether this is intrinsically so, or whether the authors, in their attempt to keep the math at a very low level, chose such proofs)

The mathematical prerequisites are minimal. I guess that a good grasp of high school math would be sufficient.

Overall this is an excellent introduction to the principles of cryptography - but once this is understood, the book becomes a bit boring.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars IMHO Best Book on Cryptography April 19, 2009

By tech book reader

Format:Hardcover

This is a fantastic book, it was mandatory reading as part of my Masters in Information Security. I found it invaluable in understanding this seemingly 'mind-bending' subject.

I've bought numerous books on Crypto - however, this is the only one I've found that gets the balance between the maths and core principles/motivations spot on! I can't recommend this book enough, IMHO it's essential reading if you're pursuing a career in Information Security.