Understanding Cryptography: A Textbook for Students and Practitioners

by Bart Preneel, Jan Pelzl, Bart Preneel (Foreword)

Cryptography is now ubiquitous – moving beyond the traditional environments, such as government communications and banking systems, we see cryptographic techniques realized in Web browsers, e-mail programs, cell phones, manufacturing systems, embedded software, smart buildings, cars, and even medical implants. Today's designers need a comprehensive understanding of applied cryptography. After an introduction to cryptography and data security, the authors explain the main techniques in modern cryptography, with chapters addressing stream ciphers, the Data Encryption Standard (DES) and 3DES, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), block ciphers, the RSA cryptosystem, public-key cryptosystems based on the discrete logarithm problem, elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC), digital signatures, hash functions, Message Authentication Codes (MACs), and methods for key establishment, including certificates and public-key infrastructure (PKI). Throughout the book, the authors focus on communicating the essentials and keeping the mathematics to a minimum, and they move quickly from explaining the foundations to describing practical implementations, including recent topics such as lightweight ciphers for RFIDs and mobile devices, and current key-length recommendations. The authors have considerable experience teaching applied cryptography to engineering and computer science students and to professionals, and they make extensive use of examples, problems, and chapter reviews, while the book’s website offers slides, projects and links to further resources. This is a suitable textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses and also for self-study by engineers.

Genres: Computer Science, Programming, Nonfiction, Science, Mathematics, Textbooks, Technology

392 pages, Hardcover

First published December 10, 2009

Reviews

[Areej M.]

you can watch a lecture of Prof. paar based on this book on you tube : introduction to cryptography (24 lecture / 1.30 h)

[Aventinus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικά γραμμένο.

Αρκετά από τα κεφάλαια τα γνώριζα ήδη, για αυτό η ανάγνωσή μου ήταν επιλεκτική και κυρίως αφορούσε τα σημεία που ήθελα φρεσκάρω. Παρόλα αυτά δεν δυσκολεύομαι να πω πως το βιβλίο έχει καταπληκτική δομή, απλή γλώσσα και αποφεύγει τα πολλά μαθηματικά, όπως ακριβώς θα έπρεπε να είναι ένα εισαγωγικό βιβλίο κρυπτογραφίας.

Σίγουρα θα το επισκεπτώ ξανά όταν χρειαστεί να θυμηθώ κάποιο συγκεκριμένο κεφάλαιο και το προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα σε όποιον ξεκινάει την ενασχόληση του με την κρυπτογραφία.

Από όσα βιβλία κρυπτογραφίας έχω πιάσει στα χέρια μου, το Understanding Cryptography: Textbook for Students and Practitioners είναι με διαφορά το πιο φιλικό και ευανάγνωστο.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this as a companion to the author's 2-semester lecture series, which is freely available on YouTube or on the book's own website: http://www.crypto-textbook.com. I found it very useful for brushing up on some topics in some more detail after watching the lectures. In general this is a very practical introduction to the topic of cryptography that doesn't shy away from the maths but also does not require any prior knowledge of any of the advanced mathematical topics.

[Brian Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy and topical introduction to the core primatives of modern cryptography: block and stream ciphers, public key algorithms, digital signatures, hash functions, and message authentication codes. Block ciphers are introduced via excellent chapters on DES and AES: the algorithms are described in depth, security issues are discussed, and design principals are elucidated. This seems like an appropriate text for people seeing much of this stuff for the first time, like advanced undergraduates: it is self-contained, focused, and fits easily into a bag. Despite the title, it does not seem thorough or careful enough to serve practitioners or researchers unless, of course, they are practitioners or researchers in an entirely different field.

[Alexander Damian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

[Dzung Pham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear, concise and thorough introduction to cryptography

[Kamal · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a awesome book for learning cryptography I highly recommend this book to everyone that wants to start learning cryptography and L also recommend to watch prof. Christof Paar's course in youtube based on this book.

[Karima Hussein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a subject in my last semester this year
the professor's lectures are amazing.
I really enjoyed the subject -which was surprising-

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I was much better prepared to read this the second time, not only in terms of understanding some prerequisite CS concepts, but just being in a better place mentally to tackle this. Last time my eyes glazed over and I just skimmed for the larger concepts.

I have a much more thorough understanding of modern algorithms, their strengths and weaknesses, and the theory behind things like asymmetric/public key encryption.

This doesn't assume you already know everything going in, but it also doesn't treat you like an idiot, which is rare. I was not a fan of some of the mathematical formalism, as the notation used here (unsure if it's just he author or the convention for the field) is abysmal. The fact that the little circle operator thing can be EITHER multiplication or addition, depending on context, is absolutely insane to me. You can still have a generalized formal presentation of the theory without that sort of nonsense, don't introduce confusion out of laziness.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-written and comprehensive book of cryptography. This book covers a wide array of topics from stream ciphers to block ciphers, asymmetric cryptosystems, hash functions, MACs, and key establishment. A good read for those looking to better understand the underlying functions and processes of all the systems we use on a day-to-day basis. Though a bit math intensive, you can still get a lot out of this book without fully understanding all of the formulas and concepts. However, I definitely would recommend having at the minimum a slight understanding of matrix theory and modular operations.

All of the figures were fairly straightforward, though I wish there was a little more information added to them. Overall an excellent book for those looking for a wide breadth of understanding in this field.

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only book on the subject I actually read, from cover to cover. Parts of it were tough sledding, especially the stuff about Galois Fields (aka Finite Fields). Galois was an interesting, but profoundly tragic guy. He certainly didn't live long. His work didn't gain prominence or recognition til the 20th century. There is a book on his life, but I already know how it ends. There it was... the familiar twang of irony.

[Ro Givens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a good foundation for my cryptography class, although a few points about ciphers used are now a bit out of date. Some of the math is a little advanced for undergraduate computer science students, but general ideas can be gleaned about ciphers requiring Galois theory or elliptic curves, for instance, without formally covering those topics. Overall I enjoyed reading and using this book for my class.

[محمد هِج‌هاگ · Rating 3 out of 5]

دنبال یه کتاب ساده و کم‌حجم بودم و نمی‌خواستم جزئیات فنی و محاسبات رو بخونم. کتابی با اون ویژگی‌ پیدا نکردم. از طریق کامنت‌های ردیت با این کتاب آشنا شدم. اگرچه محاسبات داشت ولی کم‌حجم‌تر از بقیه تکست‌ها به نظر می‌رسید. حدود یک پنجم از متن کتاب رو که بیشتر توضیحات توصیفی و توصیه‌های کاربردی بود، خوندم. نکته برداری کردم‌. تقریبا هدف من رو برآورده کرد. از کیفیت توضیحات فنی و محاسباتی الگوریتم‌ها توی این کتاب اطلاعی ندارم.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book for an introduction to cryptography. Very reasonable and explains what is necessary about ciphers. The practice problems are pretty elementary, but can help you feel good about yourself. I wish there was more depth into working through some of the proofs, or giving problem solving techniques, but otherwise the content was good.

[Kadir Korkmaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It contains all fundamental concepts related to cryptography. Essential mathematical concepts are introduced (without details). At the end of each chapter, there is a reading list for the interested reader.

I think it is a good book to learn the fundamentals of applied cryptography.

[Anthony O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid practical introduction to Cryptography.
It gives most of the algorithms in detail. Clear and easy to read. Could have used a little more theoretical background - clearly avoided by design. But there is nothing so practical as a good theory. As the old saying goes.

[Alan Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cryptography looks harder than it actually is.

[Nasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and concise. To the point. Beautifully structured. Helped me tremendously with my cryptography course in uni.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating overview, although I couldn't follow all of the math

[Christopher King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dry, as one might expect, but enormously informative

[Beqa Abuladze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool stuff together with the lecture videos on YouTube. I've done many cryptography courses but this one was the most fun by far

[Sonia Arora · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the best book on cryptography for non-engineers for beginning

[Adarsh Khare]

This is a very good book that covers all important symmetric key, asymmetric key algorithms with basic mathematical fundamentals just enough to understand the strength and weakness of the algorithm. You can also watch free online video lectures from Professor Paar as supplement of the book. If you want to read one book on cryptography as a first time learner or brush up your knowledge this is a good read. Last three chapters on Digital signature, Hash function, MAC code calculation, and key establishment algorithm also cover number of real world cryptography applications.

[Amelia Treader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book from my alternative reality (i.e. what I do to eat) has sneaked in. One of the better expositions, though not quite as broad-based as it could be. Thorough, correct and comprehensible. It's hard to expect much more from a book.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting introduction, with a good balance between mathematical aspects and practical protocols.

[Ro Drop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Watched videos of his class too. Videos definitely helped with understanding the math and processes. His lectures are on youtube.

[Annapurna · Rating 3 out of 5]

please add ebook to read for free

[Fabio Utzig · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I want to point out that this book is not what I was looking for. My main interest was on how to use crypto primitives to achieve secure protocols. This book actually goes into the implementation of the primitives, eg how DES/AES/DH/etc work internally. And with lots of math (which I actually enjoyed)!

Given that, I still found it a really great read. It goes into the symmetric/public crypto, hashing, MACs, KDF and even some PKI stuff. Great stuff!