Serious Cryptography

A Practical Introduction to Modern Encryption

by Jean-Philippe Aumasson

November 2017, 312 pp.

ISBN-13:

9781593278267

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.

Author Bio

Jean-Philippe (JP) Aumasson is the Chief Security Officer and cofounder of Taurus Group, a Swiss financial tech company specializing in digital assets infrastructure. Since 2006, he has authored more than 60 research articles in the field of cryptography and designed the widely used hash functions BLAKE2 and SipHash. He speaks regularly at information security conferences and has presented at Black Hat, DEF CON, Troopers, and Infiltrate.

Table of contents

Foreword by Matthew D. Green
Preface
Abbreviations
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

View the detailed Table of Contents
View the Index

Reviews

Featured in Tripwire VERT.

“A superb introduction to modern encryption and cryptography. For those looking to quickly get up to speed on the topics, this makes for an excellent go-to guide.”
—Ben Rothke, RSA Conference

“It's really a love letter to cryptography.”
—Nadim Kobeissi

“For those who really want to understand how cryptography works, and who need to use it in practice, I thoroughly recommend Serious Cryptography.”
—Martijn Grooten, Virus Bulletin

“Impressive in its breadth...the state of the art in applied cryptography is distilled here in a mere 282 pages.”
—Federico Lucifredi, The Hub

“Aumasson successfully ensures that the reader has a strong understanding of cryptography’s core ideas... Serious Cryptography is a must read for anyone wanting to enter cryptographic engineering.”
—Infosecurity Magazine

“Each chapter not only explains concepts and key implementation details, but also highlights possible pitfalls, common mistakes, and finishes with a list of recommended materials.”
—Artificial Truth

"Jean-Philippe Aumasson's Serious Cryptography is a classic (and serious) introduction to the field."
—Mary Branscombe, ZDNet

"It's advanced but the best book I've ever read for PKI is Serious Cryptography by Aumasson. Probably don't want to start with it but if you get serious you'll want to read it."
—Chris Sandvick, @ChrisSandvick

"My favorite reference."
—Colin O'Flynn, Circuit Cellar

"For those wanting to go beyond the basics of cryptography in the blockchain, 'Serious Cryptography' by Jean-Philippe Aumasson is an invaluable resource."
—Halborn Security

Updates

View the latest errata.