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Reviewer: Ernst L. Leiss

Cryptography is an area of steadily increasing commercial importance in computing, especially in data transmission and storage. Because of its obvious military interest (witness, for instance, that the US government considers cryptographic methods to be “munitions” and attempts to subject them to severe and highly unrealistic export restrictions), few books cover the subject from a practical point of view, and even fewer provide source code for some of the more important algorithms. Schneier's book, now in its second edition, does all this and more. It gives a useful overview of the theory underlying the methods and provides concrete hints that improve security. While much of this could be found elsewhere, it would not be in one place or in as readable a form. Equally important, the book discusses many of the legal and ethical issues surrounding cryptographic methods and schemes, some of which have recently attracted a good deal of public attention, much of it negative (such as the Clipper chip proposal). Finally, the C source code for some algorithms (whose publication in this book is protected by the First Amendment and is thus not subject to export restrictions pertaining to munitions) should prove useful in custom programs. While the book is much too comprehensive to be used as an introduction to cryptography, it should serve nicely as an indispensable encyclopedia on the subject. Moreover, it is written in an accessible style. This second edition incorporates recent information on cryptographic methods and protocols, and more details on key management.