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Encryption Security

Handbook of Applied Cryptography 35

Posted by michael from the complete-from-adelman-to-zimmerman dept.
cconnell writes "The Handbook of Applied Cryptography is now available free (for personal use) on the Internet. This is a $100 book. Note also the companion C source code for most of the crypto algorithms, written by James Pate Williams. There is some very cool code here!"
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Handbook of Applied Cryptography More

Handbook of Applied Cryptography

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  • It's encrypted. (Score:3, Funny)

    by undeg chwech ( 589211 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2002 @11:31AM (#4238230) Homepage
    They've released a $100 book electronically? It must be encrypted.
  • This permission does not extend to binding multiple chapters of the book...

    I think that's a rather harsh, and practically unenforcable, restruction.

    • Not just harsh and unenforcable, but not legally binding. Copyright over material gives you rights as to how that material is copied. An author has no authority over whether you stack books on a shelf, burn them in a fire, or bind pages together.

      But if lawyers write it down enough times without objection, it has the same effect as law. That's why they're starting now.
      • The limitation on resale is probably bogus as well. If that were legally binding, then you wouldn't be able to sell a computer that contained the downloaded pdf's on its hard drive. Gotta love digital rights (as a seperate category from analog rights).
      • Perhaps it's not enforceable, and perhaps it's not even legal -- but that's not the point. Why not respect the wishes of the authors who have been good enough to make the content available for free?
        • Because they didn't say 'Please.'

          They lied, pretending it was against the law. That fucking annoys me.
        • Why not respect the wishes of the authors who have been good enough to make the content available for free?

          That is a good question. And indeed, this is a very generous offering (though I wonder if the authors still retain the copyright, or if it was assigned to CRC Press).

          While the restrictions on redistribution, and personal use are reasonable in this context, it strikes me as rather absurd that I can't print out the chapters on individual sheets of paper, and place them in a single binder.

          Perhaps, "binding" is meant in the traditional book-printing business, with sections, glue, and covers -- the idea being that if I want a book, I should buy the book. And, a professionally bound book suggests a strong intent to redistribute, in the same way that having multiple printed copies around might.

          However, if the intent is to restrict holding the pages together in a manner that one might wish to do with other closely related pieces of paper that were otherwise obtained seperately (i.e. with a three ring-binder, or cheesy "do-it-yourself" plastic cover and hot glue binding), I think that is unreasonable, and as other have pointed out, probably not enforcable at law.

  • It's been available for years (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Online, free, for years.

    Really. This is not news.
  • I've had the PDFs for this lying on a my disk for about a year now. Good book, but I don't see what's new - I found it from a "free books on the Internet" link over a year ago (and yes, I actually read most of it, I'm not just hoarding).
  • Well, well, this comes to me as a surprise. Isn't CRC press the same company that screwed Eric Weisstein over his online math resource (a must, although I find it a bit too sinthetic sometimes)

    There must be powerful 'tectonic drift' stresses in those corporate offices ;-) but at least we know there are some 'good guys' trying to play fair and confronting the rapacious faction.

    Ciao,
    Edo

    • Re:Hmmm, the same people that screwed E.W. (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Well, well, this comes to me as a surprise. Isn't CRC press the same company that screwed Eric Weisstein over his online math resource

      Yes it was. Actually, I'm quite sure HAC was online for free well before that whole thing with the math site (or at least before I heard about it). I remember about 3 years ago, around half of the book was available online. Maybe 1.5 - 2 years, the whole thing went up.

      The only thing I'm suprised about is that this got posted. Sheesh. I'm pretty sure anyone who cared already knew.

  • hardcopy worth buying (Score:5, Funny)

    by selectspec ( 74651 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2002 @01:25PM (#4239117)
    The ink cartridges required to print out the some odd 800 pages are worth $100.

    For an online resource this is great in case I'm travelling or my hardcopy is unavailable.

    However, I still want my bible in print.
  • Great, and I just bought this too.

  • It's been free (Score:4, Informative)

    by DeadSea ( 69598 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2002 @02:29PM (#4239643) Homepage Journal
    It's been free for some time now. I downloaded it and read it about a year and a half ago.

    The first chapter is great. It gives a general overview of how cryptograhy works and how it can be defeated. It is somewhat technical, but it doesn't use formulas so it reads easily. If you don't know why security certificates on web sites need to be signed, or why accepting an unsigned certificate could be bad, I would highly recommend reading it. It also shows how different cryptography methods work in general and gives the stengths and weaknesses of each.

    Beyond the first chapter things get a little bit hairy. I have a degree in computer science with a minor in mathematics and much of the math is over my head, or at the very least required several reads. If you are implementing cryptography algorithms I'm sure it is a must read, but for somebody, like me, who is more interested in applications of cryptography, I'd recommend skipping.

    • Re:It's been free (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      If you are implementing cryptography algorithms I'm sure it is a must read, but for somebody, like me, who is more interested in applications of cryptography, I'd recommend skipping.

      Chapter 14 is the best thing I have seen (modulo a few papers printed in things like the IBM Systems Journal, which can be impossible to find sometimes), for explaining how to do fast arithmetic for things like RSA. And yup, it's pretty nasty at points. There are still several algorithms listed in Chapter 14 in particular that I don't understand, this is after 3 or 4 reads at least.

      It always cracked me up that Schnier's Applied Cryptography claimed to help people write strong crypto and yet never gave even the slightest mention to how to actually implement RSA. In particular because all of his 'real working code' examples just used ints. Great if you're doing RSA with 32 bit keys, but...
  • I'd far prefer to have this available in a printed/bound copy, but the pdf will make for good reading on those long winter nights.

    In any case, this is an excellent book, a fun read and well worth buying or downloading. Start with Schneier's "Applied Cryptography" and continue with this. There is a fair amount of mathematics which may seem intimidating at first glance, but which is relatively accessible with a bit of work.

    If you're at all interested in cryptography - read this.

  • A must-have. (Score:4, Informative)

    by rjh ( 40933 ) <rjh@sixdemonbag.org> on Wednesday September 11, 2002 @07:29PM (#4241748)
    I work in the information security field--or, rather, don't work since I'm unemployed in the tech downturn--and I'm looking at the Handbook of Applied Cryptography right now. It's a pale green tome, a little larger than Schneier's Applied Cryptography (which is standing behind it on the bookshelf). Here's how I would rate the two:
    • AC is by far more readable; HoAC is by far more correct and information-dense.
    • AC gives a very superficial coverage of the material; HoAC could be used as a textbook for a college math course. When I need a quick reminder of what some common RSA exponents are, I pull down AC. When I need in-depth information, I pull down HoAC.
    • AC is easier to navigate.
    • AC makes better leisure reading; HoAC is extremely dry and terse.
    Short answer: if you think you know beans about crypto just because you've read through Applied Cryptography... well, you don't. Read through the Handbook until you can understand and follow all the math that they use, and then you can honestly call yourself a cryptonerd. :)
    • Another must-have: Cryptography: Theory and Practice by Stinson. Far more in-depth than Applied Cryptography, with real math (you'll need some higher-level college mathematics to get anything out of it), but doesn't read like a reference manual (which is really what the Handbook is). Great crypto book for those with math and theoretical CS backgrounds who don't do daily work in crypto.

      Along the same lines, I found Feller's Introduction to Probability Theory and its Applications extremely useful when trying to grok this stuff.

      Unfortunately, I've never really found a good book on abstract algebra. Recommendations, anyone?

    • HoAC is a great book, and I really wish it had been used for a textbook.

      $100 seems to most people like a lot for a book, but math majors routinely pay that much for much smaller and less interesting books in high level courses.

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