BKCRNTSC.RVW   981010

"Cryptography and Network Security", William Stallings, 1999,
0-13-869017-0
%A   William Stallings ws@shore.net
%C   One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ   07458
%D   1999
%G   0-13-869017-0
%I   Prentice Hall
%O   +1-201-236-7139 fax: +1-201-236-7131 betsy_carey@prenhall.com
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0138690170/robsladesinterne
%P   569 p.
%T   "Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice
      2nd edition"

This book is intended to serve both as a textbook for an academic
course of study, and as a self-study and reference guide for
practicing professionals.  The material has been extended to emphasize
encryption and its central position in network protection.  The
structure and flow have been reorganized with both classroom use and
solo instruction in mind, and additional teaching material, such as
additional problems, have been added.

Chapter one is an introduction to the topics to be covered.  In a
practical way it outlines the concerns involved in the phrase computer
security, and the priorities occasioned by the networked nature of
modern computing.  There is also an outline of the chapters and
sequence in the rest of the book.  While the text does note that
cryptographic techniques underlie most of current security
technologies this is only done briefly.  Examples in the major
categories listed would help explain this primary position.

Part one deals with conventional, symmetric, encryption and the
various methods of attacking it.  Chapter two covers the historical
substitution and transposition ciphers.  Symmetric block ciphers are
discussed in chapter three, illustrated by an explanation of DES (Data
Encryption Standard).  The additional conventional algorithms of
triple DES, IDEA (International Data Encryption Algorithm), and RC5
are reviewed in chapter four.  The use of conventional encryption for
confidentiality is outlined in chapter five.

Part three looks at public-key encryption and hash functions.  Chapter
six introduces public-key encryption and its uses in confidentiality,
authentication, and key management and exchange.  Number theory is the
basis of these modern algorithms, so some basic mathematical concepts
are outlined in chapter seven.  Digital signatures and message
authentication is introduced in some detail in chapter eight.  The
algorithms themselves are explained in chapter nine, including MD5
(Message Digest algorithm), SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm), and others. 
Protocols using digital signatures are described in chapter ten.

Part three takes this background material and relates its use in
security practice.  Chapter eleven looks at authentication,
concentrating on Kerberos and X.509.  The examples of email security
systems given in chapter twelve are PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and
S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension).  Security
provisions for the Internet Protocol (IP) itself are reviewed in
chapter thirteen.  Web security, in chapter fourteen, again
concentrates on protocol level matters, but also discusses the SET
(Secure Electronic Transaction) standard at the application level.

Part four outlines general system security.  To the general public the
primary concern of security is to deal with intruders and malicious
software, so it may seem odd to the uninitiated to find that both of
these subjects are lumped together in chapter fifteen.  Chapter
sixteen finishes off the book with a description of firewalls and the
concept of trusted systems that they rely on.

Each chapter ends with a set of recommended readings and problems. 
Many chapters also have appendices giving additional details of
specific topics related to the subject just discussed.

For the instructor, student, and professional, this work provides
thorough coverage, clear explanations, and solid information.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKCRNTSC.RVW   981010