SSL and Tls: Theory and Practice (Artech House Information Security and Privacy) [Hardcover]

Rolf Oppliger (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1596934476 | ISBN-13: 978-1596934474 | Publication Date: September 2009

SSL (secure socket layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) are widely deployed security protocols that are used in all kinds of web-based e-commerce and e-business applications and are part of most contemporary security systems available today. This practical book provides a comprehensive introduction to these protocols, offering you a solid understanding of their design. Practitioners find discussions on the advantages and disadvantages of using SSL/TLS protocols compared to other Internet security protocols. This authoritative resource shows how to properly employ SSL and TLS and configure security solutions that are based on the use of the SSL/TLS protocols.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rolf Oppliger is the founder and owner of eSECURITY Technologies, works for the Swiss federal administration, and teaches at the University of Zurich. He is also the author of Contemporary Cryptography, Security Technologies for the World Wide Web, Second Edition, Internet and Intranet Security, Second Edition and Secure Messaging with PGP and S/MIME (Artech House 2005, 2003, 2002, 2001) among other titles. Dr. Oppliger received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Berne, Switzerland, and the Venia Legendi in Computer Science from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 257 pages
• Publisher: Artech House Publishers (September 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596934476
• ISBN-13: 978-1596934474
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rolf Oppliger studied computer science, mathematics, and economics at the University of Berne, Switzerland, where he received M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science in 1991 and 1993, respectively. In 1999, he received the venia legendi for computer science, and in 2007 he was appointed adjunct professor at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. The focus of his professional activities is information technology (IT) security in general, and network security in particular. He has authored more than ten books, including, for example, Contemporary Cryptography (Artech House, 2005) and SSL and TLS: Theory and Practice (Artech House, 2009), frequently speaks at security-related conferences, and regularly publishes papers and articles in scientific magazines and journals. He's the founder and owner of eSECURITY Technologies Rolf Oppliger (http://www.esecurity.ch), works for the Swiss Federal Strategy Unit for Information Technology (FSUIT), teaches at the University of Zürich, and serves as editor for the Artech House information security and privacy (former computer security) series. He is a senior member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and a member of the IEEE Computer Society and the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR). He also served as vice-chair of the IFIP TC 11 working group on network security.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading, November 28, 2011

By 

Murdoch (Alaska) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SSL and Tls: Theory and Practice (Artech House Information Security and Privacy) (Hardcover)

Definitely worth reading, but you should be aware precisely what it is you are buying. This is an in-depth look at the SSL and TLS protocols -- their history, ideology, and function. Related topics are discussed only briefly. For example, if you are buying this book because you want to be an expert on SSL certificates, you may be slightly disappointed to learn that the subject is treated in only one chapter, at the end of the book. You will get a good foundational understanding of why certificates are important, and some details about how they work, but little will be said about practical subjects, such as how you create them, where you get them signed, what products are the best, and so forth. Likewise, the book purposefully avoids discussing details about specific implementations of SSL; so you won't learn much, for example, about the capabilities of various Web browsers, or how to set up OpenSSL on your Linux server.

Having said that, this book provides a very detailed description of the protocols, so you will gain a good working knowledge of all the terminology, as well as what happens during the actual encryption and authentication. This will give you a good conceptual context for reading elsewhere about subjects such as encryption cyphers, authentication procedures, HTTPS security, and SSL exploits.

The buyer should be aware that the author has a rather dry and condensed writing style, and that a lot of material in the book is couched in mathematical language. In chapter 2 especially, the basics of cryptography are explained almost entirely in set notation and are illustrated with austere block diagrams that really do not illustrate much. The author is also fond of overusing a number of quaint phrases: for example, he will frequently write "It goes without saying..." completed by some statement that you would never have known if he had not said it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to security, November 16, 2011

By 

David Barri - See all my reviews
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This review is from: SSL and Tls: Theory and Practice (Artech House Information Security and Privacy) (Hardcover)

This book was pretty good. I knew next to nothing about cryptography or security when I started and now I feel I could implement SSL, TLS and half the crypto algorithms from scratch if I wanted to (albeit with wikipedia as a reference).

The good:
* It gives a good overview on the theoretical side and an insight into the minds of people who focus on security primarily (as opposed to techies like me who thought security summed up to picking an encryption method and off you go). This new perspective will change the way I do future designs.
* Great introduction into the world of cryptography. Covers many popular algorithms in use today.
* Covered SSL and TLS well and in detail.
* Practical examples with real data! Interesting algorithms are walked through step-by-step with real numbers. The raw bytes of an SSL conversation are demonstrated and dissected. Brilliant!

The bad:
* Most concepts and terms are covered before being used but there a handful that are explained chapters after being used, or just not explained (I noted 6 that stumped me).
* Presentation is a little odd and confusing at times. Diagrams in the wrong sections etc.
* Too much of a good thing with detail. I skimmed a lot of Ch 5 for example because it got to the point where it's stuff you only need to know if you're going to implement TLS from scratch, and a lot of information is repeated from ch 4.

Overall, great read. Served me well.

1 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful technical survey any programmer's library needs, April 19, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SSL and Tls: Theory and Practice (Artech House Information Security and Privacy) (Hardcover)

SSL and TLS Theory and Practice is a pick for any college-level computer library strong in Internet security. It provides a basic and thorough introduction to SSL and TLS protocols, covering their design, development, and comparing them to other Internet security protocols. Tips on how to employ these and configure security solutions make for a powerful technical survey any programmer's library needs.