Applied Cryptography
"...the best introduction to cryptography I've ever seen....The book the National Security Agency wanted never to be published...." -Wired Magazine "...monumental... fascinating... comprehensive... the definitive work on cryptography for computer programmers..." -Dr. Dobb's Journal "...easily ranks as one of the most authoritative in its field." -PC Magazine "...the bible of code hackers." -The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog This new edition of the cryptography classic provides you with a comprehensive survey of modern cryptography. The book details how programmers and electronic communications professionals can use cryptography-the technique of enciphering and deciphering messages-to maintain the privacy of computer data. It describes dozens of cryptography algorithms, gives practical advice on how to implement them into cryptographic software, and shows how they can be used to solve security problems. Covering the latest developments in practical cryptographic techniques, this new edition shows programmers who design computer applications, networks, and storage systems how they can build security into their software and systems. What's new in the Second Edition?
Stats for nerds
76recommend
258mentions
189people
2008–2026years
33% recommend52% neutral14% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I love Schneier and his legacy of activism, and I read _Applied Cryptography_ on my own in high school, with great relish.
Yet this article specifically is a tone deaf piece by someone who still subconsciously believes we are in the late nineties, with a contiguous and coherent "public interest," and culture wars as sideshow rather than main event.
As it actually stands, any nationalized AI product would be the ultimate battlespace. What it could and could not say would change with the administration.
Imagine if your chatbot therapist, powered by nationalized AI, suddenly became an abortion snitch, for example.
What Schneier actually does do here, albeit unsuccessfully, is surface the actual problem, which is that we might not agree with each other enough to make AI economically feasible, if indeed OpenAI and Anthropic do not work as for-profit corporations.
- Back in the day, I read Applied Cryptography (by Schneier) and clarity rained upon many things.
- A book featured on HN several times before is "The Joy of Cryptography" [1]
There's also "A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography" [2]
- I see it the same way I see 'Applied Cryptography'. It’s old C code, but it helps you understand how things work under the hood far better than a modern black box ever could. And in the end, you become better at cryptography than you would by only reading modern, abstracted code.
- It looks more suitable for those who are into mathematics. "Applied Cryptography", by Bruce Schneier, is also good for those who, like myself, do not need all the mathematical details behind cryptography.
- I wonder if Cryptography Engineering, while updated, is a good book as Applied Cryptography, that really was a pretty inspired one.
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