BLU Keysigning Party - FOLLOWUP - Links on Crypto History talk

[dsr-mzpnVDyJpH4k7aNtvndDlA at public.gmane.org (Dan Ritter)]

On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 08:36:40PM -0400, Bill Ricker wrote:
> Applied Cryptography by Bruce Schneier
> A comprehensive tutorial and reference but a little light on
> mathematical theory.
> http://www.schneier.com/book-applied.html


It should probably be noted that Schneier himself says, in
discussing criticism of the book:

  I agree. And, to his credit, Viega points out that I agree:

     But in the introduction to Bruce Schneier's book, Practical
     Cryptography, he himself says that the world is filled with
     broken systems built from his earlier book. In fact, he wrote
     Practical Cryptography in hopes of rectifying the problem.

  This is all true.

  Designing a cryptosystem is hard. Just as you wouldn't give a
  person -- even a doctor -- a brain-surgery instruction manual
  and then expect him to operate on live patients, you shouldn't
  give an engineer a cryptography book and then expect him to
  design and implement a cryptosystem. The patient is unlikely to
  survive, and the cryptosystem is unlikely to be secure.

So by all means, read _Applied Cryptography_ -- but also read
_Practical Cryptography_.

-dsr-




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