Re: Cryptanalysis

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 2:37 AM 3/10/96, Adam Shostack wrote:
>Timothy C. May wrote:
>
>| cryptanalysis. (Not to sound harsh to Allen, but why would anyone ask here
>| on the list for recommendations to such a standard subject when Schneier,
>| Garfinkel, Denning, etc. all have books listed?)
>
>        Niether Schneier nor Garfinkel really talk about analysis.
>The only book I can think of is Biham's "Cryptanalysis of the DES,"
>and thats on a single technique.

I said "....all have books listed," not that they are textbooks on
cryptanalyis. My point was that Schneier, for example, has extensive
bibliographic pointers. For example, and relevant to another recent thread,
Ref. 355 (1st Ed.) is to Friedman's "The Index of Coincidence and Its
Applications in Cryptography," 1920. And more Friedman, and Biham, and even
reference to our very own Bob Baldwin's Crypt Breakers Workbench (dare I
point out that this is probably a very educational tool for those seeking
to play with cryptanalysis?).

Likewise, Garfinkel gives a bunch of pointers. (Not that I hold it out as a
textbook on crypto, but it's one of several recent semi-popular crypto
books.)

(And in recent days there have been pointers to the Aegean Park Press
series of books, available at "Computer Literacy"
(http://www.clbooks.com/), and the database may be browsed, books ordered,
etc.)

(One more note. The question that came up recently about "does anyone know
what the "index of coincidence" is?" is readily answered with Alta Vista.
More than two dozen hits, including definitions, papers, homework
assignments, etc. The point being that between the Web, search engines,
archives, FAQs, searchable library catalogs and retail bookstore databases,
and the many hundreds of books and papers listed in Schneier, there is no
reason people need to say they "can't find anything.")

>        I don't know of any books on 'applied cryptanalysis.'  The
>public knowledge is all in the heads of a few practitioners, and the
>papers they've written.
>

I think there's no single book on cryptanalysis for the various reasons
I've mentioned recently.

--Tim May


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