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Practical Cryptography (Paperback)

by Niels Ferguson (Author), Bruce Schneier (Author) "This book is about security: about how to build secure cryptographic systems..." (more)
Key Phrases: key negotiation protocol, real random data, ideal block cipher, Alice Bob, Chinese Remainder Theorem, Applied Cryptography (more...)

4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Review
"...the insight into the world of security that is offered here makes for an interesting read...any readers who are responsible for network and data security will find plenty of valuable pointers..." (PC Utilities, June 2003)

"...absolutely brilliantly written.... I loved the chapters on PKI...a must read!..." (Information Security Bulletin, July 2003) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
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).

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Product Details

Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (March 28, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0471223573
ISBN-13: 978-0471223573
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,326 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

#7 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Algorithms > Cryptography
#73 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Business & Culture > Privacy
#100 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Networking > Network Security

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
This book is about security: about how to build secure cryptographic systems. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
key negotiation protocol, real random data, ideal block cipher, implementing cryptographic systems, transient secrets, block cipher security, key stream blocks, new root certificate, seed file, paranoia model, large integer arithmetic, unique nonce, ideal hash function, delegation language, current patent system, pseudorandom data, ideal cipher, collision attacks, block cipher mode, secure token, key server, practical cryptography, birthday attack, ciphertext blocks, hash computations

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Alice Bob, Chinese Remainder Theorem, Applied Cryptography, Horton Principle, Involving Experts, Firth of Forth

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 7 books:

Handbook of Applied Cryptography (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications) by Alfred Menezes on page 20, and Back Matter
Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carrol on page 142, and Back Matter
Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems by Ross J. Anderson in Back Matter
Computer Science: A Breadth-First Approach with C by John Impagliazzo in Back Matter
Secrets and Lies by Bruce Schneier in Back Matter

See all 7 books this book cites

22 books cite this book:

Microsoft Windows Server(TM) 2003 PKI and Certificate Security (Pro - One-Offs) by Brian Komar on page 3, and page 16
Java Cryptography Extensions: Practical Guide for Programmers (The Practical Guides) by Jason Weiss on page 71, and Back Matter
A Classical Introduction to Cryptography: Applications for Communications Security by Serge Vaudenay in Front Matter, and Back Matter
Guide to Elliptic Curve Cryptography (Springer Professional Computing) by Darrel Hankerson in Back Matter
Malicious Cryptography: Exposing Cryptovirology by Adam Young in Back Matter

See all 22 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Applied Cryptography by Bruce Schneier

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Information Security by Mark Stamp

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Beginning Cryptography with Java by David Hook

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Computer Security by Dieter Gollmann

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	59% buy the item featured on this page: Practical Cryptography 4.1 out of 5 stars (16) $31.50
	20% buy Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, Second Edition 4.6 out of 5 stars (101) $37.80
	10% buy Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World 4.4 out of 5 stars (127) $12.21
	6% buy The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography 4.8 out of 5 stars (259) $10.85

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
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Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A practical (bit boring) executive summary of AC, April 16, 2003

By	Hiroo Yamagata (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those of you (including myself) who were expecting an updated version of the Applied Cryptography, this book is NOT it. Based on the pre-publication blurbs here and there, I thought it may be a simple how-to book without too much theory. The book didn't turn out to be that sort of thing either.

This book is, sort of an executive summary of Applied Cryptography (AC), with some updates. It touches upon the insights that Scheneier mentioned in Secret and Lies (like crypto is the easy part and that won't solve security). It mentions some newer material, notably AES related stuff. The description is, in effect, a simplified version of AC. Also, it doesn't try to cover everything, and yes, some explanations about the practical applications are stressed slightly more than in AC.

So if you want to be practical, just go over the essential and latest stuff, this is a good book to read. But I must say that it's not as fun to read as AC. Not as many jokes, and absolutely no crazy stuff (like bio-computing and the significance of dark matters). Oh well, maybe that's what being practical means... But it doesn't give you the feeling of throughness that AC gave. Maybe this comes from my reading AC too much in detail (I actually translated the whole book into Japanese), but I think it is inherent in the book itself. In trying to cover as much ground as possible, the book hurries a lot.

So if you are in a hurry to cover just enough important stuff, get this book. And if you need some explanation on the newer stuff, get this. But I also recommend getting AC as well.

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39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concrete presentation of a difficult subject, December 10, 2003

By	Eric Hopper "Omnifarious" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've read a large number of cryptography books. Very few of them come down to brass tacks. They give you a description of a few algorithms, their strengths and weaknesses, and leave it at that. Either that, or they describe in lovingly complex detail the implementation of a particular protocol, one usually so fraught with options and details that you wonder how, at the end of it, that anybody writes a conforming implementation.

Practical Cryptography does neither of these things. It presents algorithm classes, why they exist, and what the best known algorithms are in each class. It explains how the various strengths and weaknesses of algorithms in each class combine to make a cryptosystem weaker or stronger. Then it goes on to show you how to use that information to build working cryptosystems.

This book is NOT a careful discussion of the implementation details or plusses and minuses of particular algorithms. They give detailed implementation instructions and advice for some algorithms (such as RSA or Diffie-Hellman) that tend to end up being misunderstood or implemented poorly, but the main focus of the book is about putting all the information together to build a real system. This is something that I feel is sorely lacking in the field of cryptography as it stands in 2005 (when I last updated this review).

The book does have a flaw. The authors present several algorithms and techniques that they recently invented and are not 'tried-and-true'. They present good arguments as to why they're secure. But the only real test of such things is lots of peer review and real-world testing. And, since they're new, they haven't been tested in that way.

People have complained about the book's seeming schizophrenia. On one hand, the authors are trying to show you how to build a secure cryptosystem. On the other, they're telling you how hopeless a task it is to build one that has no vulnerabilities, even if you're an expert in such things.

This can be annoying, but I more find it refreshing. Writing a secure cryptosystem is very hard. People should be aware that it is hard, and they are likely to make mistakes. It isn't something that should be attempted lightly. The current state of computer security is depressingly abysmal. People should be encouraged, as much as possible, to not contribute to the problem.

I'm not following my own advice, and I am building a new cryptosystem. I have found this book a more valuable resource than any other book on cryptography that I have yet read. Even if you aren't building your own cryptosystem, I think you will find the insights this book has into complexity and design to be useful tools in evaluating other cryptosystems.

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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Must be used with Applied Cryptography, August 20, 2004

By	E. Krinker (Germantown, md United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As one other reader pointed out this book can be called Applied Cryptography Light. It is true, it gives you more theory and very little math. I did not like this book by itself since I was interested in actual implementation and i wanted to see full algorithms and math. I did end up buying Applied Cryptography and those 2 books combined provide an excellent reference. I was not able to give more than 3 stars since I did not feel i got any knowledge out of this book to be able to apply it in real life except reading: "Cryptography is hard, you might need to hire an expert..." while I want to become an expert myself one day!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
I received it within short time, like 3 to 5 days. it was fast.

the quality of book was very good. no damage whatsoever on the book. Read more

Published 6 months ago by M. VYAS

5.0 out of 5 stars Cryptography Explained for the Practical Implementation
Guru Bruce Schneier teams with fellow guru Niels Ferguson to explain the practical implementaion of cryptography. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Bradley Jamison Conte

5.0 out of 5 stars If you write software this book will help you understand cryptography
This book really does explain the practical side of cryptography and writing cryptographic software. Read more

Published on January 14, 2007 by David Cullen

3.0 out of 5 stars Biased to Schneier's algorithms
This can be an annoying book for a serious developer, but I do know Writing a secure cryptosystem is very hard. Read more

Published on March 10, 2006 by Jonathan Smith

3.0 out of 5 stars Self contradictory and self lauding
From the very first pages, authors emphasize the need for public algorithms and peer review. Yet, the book is full of suggestions that appear first time in the book. Read more

Published on July 19, 2005 by Jean Val Jean

1.0 out of 5 stars this book has no substance
The authors spend far too much time preaching that cryptography is only a small (albeit important) part of security. This is not a new revelation. Read more

Published on December 23, 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars this is applied crypro lite
If you liked Applied Cryptography, but were turned off by all the math, get this book.

It is Applied Cryptography Light. Read more

Published on September 6, 2003 by Eric Kent

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent cryptography resource
Classic books are often by definition, boring. Moby Dick is an American classic, and an insomniacs delight. Read more

Published on August 31, 2003 by Ben Rothke

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply excellent!
The combination Schneier - Ferguson invites to travel the basic aspects of the cryptography and inclusive it proposes the best queries of what one has learned and we should learn... Read more

Published on July 31, 2003 by 0x070b

5.0 out of 5 stars Trust Schneier & Ferguson, they know their security
If you want an honest and extremely realistic analysis of security and encryption in general, this is the book for you. Read more

Published on June 1, 2003 by B. Hodson

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