Good suggestions all, but don't forget "Network Security Private Communication in a PUBLIC World" by Kaufman, Perlman and Speciner. This book covers a lot of great stuff. It doesn't use complicated math when not required, and explains the math very clearly when it's needed. It explains DES and IDEA well enough in plain language that you can understand how to implement them. While I love Bruce's book, it's much harder to understand than NSPC. I highly recommend this book to everyone. I don't think any crypto library would be complete without it. It's in contention for the official bible of crypto along with Bruce's book. Patrick
From: "Dana W. Albrecht" <dwa@corsair.com>
I also suggest "A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography, 2nd Edition" by Neal Koblitz, published by Springer Verlag.
"Applied Cryptography" is certainly the book of choice, but Koblitz is an excellent secondary reference for covering a lot of the relevant mathematics in more depth.
In my opinion, "Applied Cryptography" was written from the perspective of computer science, "The Codebreakers" was written from the perspective of history, and Koblitz's book was written from the perspective of mathematics.
They are all nicely complementary.
Dana W. Albrecht dwa@corsair.com
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