[lug] Boulder Linux Users Group - January 11, 2001 Meeting Summary

[Tkil]

Here are some of the references that I was spouting off about:

Bruce Schneier:
   http://www.counterpane.com/schneier.html

Books by him and his company:
   http://www.counterpane.com/orderac2.html

As you can probably tell, his company is Counterpane Internet
Security, Inc, and their web page is:
   http://www.counterpane.com/

His "Crypto-gram" newsletter, released on the 15th of every month:
   http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram.html

Regarding _Applied Cryptography_ (2nd ed) having "intimidating" math,
a quick glance through the intro and the first chapter shows nothing
more complex than XOR, 2 and 10 raised to various powers, and "n"
raised to low integer exponents.  There certainly is hairier math in
this book; Chapter 11 is entitled "Mathematical Background", and is a
whirlwind tour of Information Theory, Complexity Theory, and Number
Theory.  I found it all to be presented in a very clear manner, and
with a lot of "if you didn't understand the details, here's the
essence that you need to apply here" padding.  Finally, there are
copious (1600+!) references for people who want to read further.

(Of course, I *do* have a BS in Mathematics, so my definition of
"simple" might not be exactly what you have in mind...)

Needless to say, I'm a great fan of this book, and I strongly
recommend it to anyone who wants to do any encryption of any sort.
If nothing else, it is effectively the book that sets the [civilian]
standard for much of the terminology used to discuss crypto; so if you
want to understand to others, and be understood by them, this is
almost a prerequisite.

t.