Serious Cryptography: A Practical Introduction to Modern Encryption

This practical guide to modern encryption breaks down the fundamental mathematical concepts at the heart of cryptography without shying away from meaty discussions of how they work. You’ll learn about authenticated encryption, secure randomness, hash functions, block ciphers, and public-key techniques such as RSA and elliptic curve cryptography.

You’ll also learn:

• Key concepts in cryptography, such as computational security, attacker models, and forward secrecy
• The strengths and limitations of the TLS protocol behind HTTPS secure websites
• Quantum computation and post-quantum cryptography
• About various vulnerabilities by examining numerous code examples and use cases
• How to choose the best algorithm or protocol and ask vendors the right questions

Each chapter includes a discussion of common implementation mistakes using real-world examples and details what could go wrong and how to avoid these pitfalls.

Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or a beginner looking to dive into the field, Serious Cryptography will provide a complete survey of modern encryption and its applications.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Encryption
Chapter 2: Randomness
Chapter 3: Cryptographic Security
Chapter 4: Block Ciphers
Chapter 5: Stream Ciphers
Chapter 6: Hash Functions
Chapter 7: Keyed Hashing
Chapter 8: Authenticated Encryption
Chapter 9: Hard Problems
Chapter 10: RSA
Chapter 11: Diffie–Hellman
Chapter 12: Elliptic Curves
Chapter 13: TLS
Chapter 14: Quantum and Post-Quantum