Once and for all, there's a book that collects the history and truth about data encryption and presents it in no-bullshit, easy-to-understand English. It's the book that the National Security Agency wanted never to be published.
Author Bruce Schneier's premise is a simple one: Good encryption should be available to all. Just as people have the right to hide their letters in whatever kind of vault they wish, he reasons, so too should they have the right to protect their digital information with the most impenetrable cryptography. The federal government certainly isn't going to provide citizens with strong encryption tools (the Clipper chip fracas proves that), so Schneier felt a duty to provide a single sourcebook of useful algorithms for people who wish to keep their private business private.
The first hundred pages of Applied Cryptography contain the best introduction to cryptography I've ever seen. Part two teaches the techniques and tricks necessary to tell a good crypto system from a bad one. Part three is the down-and-dirty description of each algorithm. And part four covers political issues.
Roughly a hundred pages of the book is devoted to source code for the most important crypto systems. Anybody seriously interested in cryptography, though, should get the two-disk set for $30 and save all that typing.
Because we have a First Amendment in this country, Schneier's book can be printed and exported, despite how the National Security Agency might feel. But, incredibly, since the First Amendment doesn't cover books on floppy disks, it's a federal crime for Schneier to mail source code on his floppies outside the US. Go figure.
Applied Cryptography, by Bruce Schneier, US$44.95. John Wiley & Sons: +1 (212) 850 6000.
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