CLASSICAL CRYPTOLOGY: Ancient Roots. Monalphabetic Substitution Ciphers, or MASCs: Disguises for Messages. Simple Progression to an Unbreakable Cipher. Transposition Ciphers. Shakespeare, Jefferson, and JFK. World War I and Herbert O. Yardley. Matrix Encryption. World War II: The Enigma of Germany. Cryptologic War against Japan. MODERN CRYPTOLOGY: Claude Shannon. National Security Agency. Data Encryption Standard. Birth of Public Key Cryptography. Attacking RSA. Primality Testing and Complexity Theory. Authenticity. Pretty Good Privacy. Stream Ciphers. Suite B All-Stars. Possible Futures. Index.
Craig P. Bauer is an associate professor of mathematics at York College of Pennsylvania and the editor-in-chief of Cryptologia. He was the 2011-2012 Scholar-in-Residence at the National Security Agency (NSA) Center for Cryptologic History, where he wrote several papers for NSA journals, gave a large number of lectures, and made substantial progress on a second book focused on unsolved codes and ciphers. He earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from North Carolina State University.
"Secret History is a highly recommended purchase to be considered
by those with a serious interest in both the history and the ‘nuts
and bolts’ of modem-day codes and ciphers. lt is both a work of
pedagogy, along with its various exercises linked to individual
chapters accessible via a linked website, and an interesting and
exciting ‘read’ for anyone with a serious interest in the subject
of today’s cryptology and its history."
—The Cryptogram, 2014"The book presents a wonderful story of the
development of this field. It is written more like a novel than
like your traditional textbook, but it contains all the necessary
material to also serve as a textbook. In fact, the author has
created a companion website that provides sample syllabi and
problems if the book is to be used in the classroom. … This book is
enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning
more about the topic of cryptology. It is especially interesting to
someone like me, an algebraist who uses cryptology as a meaningful
response to why topics in pure mathematics that do not seem to have
obvious applications are still very important to study."
—MAA Reviews, August 2014"Every once and a while a book appears
that has a significant impact on the field of cryptologic history.
David Kahn’s The Codebreakers and F.L. Bauer’s Decrypted Secrets
are two such books. Secret History now joins that collection. …
Secret History could be used as a textbook for a general education
class that explores the history of cryptology (and ignores many of
the mathematical sections) or for an upper-division class for
mathematics or computer science majors that follows the historical
evolution of cryptology (and pays attention to the mathematical
sections). … What would appeal to a general audience is the
engaging writing that reflects Bauer’s interest in and enthusiasm
for all aspects of cryptology. … Bauer has merged cryptologic
history with the mathematical foundations of cryptology in a
correct, understandable, and enthusiastic presentation. Secret
History is an excellent choice for a historian of cryptology, a
teacher of cryptology, or anyone who wants to get a glimpse of
cryptology."
—Chris Christensen, Cryptologia"… fascinating read that provides a
combination of cryptographic history and the underlying mathematics
behind it. … For those looking for a comprehensive and decipherable
text on the history of cryptography, this is one of the best on the
topic in many years. Kahn’s book laid the groundwork that made a
book like this possible and Secret History: The Story of Cryptology
is a worthy follow-up to that legendary text."
—Ben Rothke, Slashdot.org, 2013"… one of the most engaging
storytelling adventures on the evolution of secret keeping. In the
first part of the book, Bauer (York College of Pennsylvania;
formerly, scholar-in-residence, National Security Agency) discusses
the inception of secret codes in Viking messages and substitution
ciphers in the era of Caesar, as well as cryptography in works of
fiction such as Edgar Allen Poe’s short story "The Gold Bug." Of
course, Bauer also covers the famous Bletchley Park and its
enigmatic star, Alan Turing. The second part focuses on current
uses of cryptography and ends with a discussion of quantum
cryptography. The book will challenge anyone with even a passing
interest in cryptography to try to resist developing an intense
passion for it. The math behind the systems described, while
present, is never obscured by the fascinating setting in which it
was developed. This is the way in which cryptography, one of the
most difficult applications of discrete mathematics, was meant to
be learned, with real-life cloak-and-dagger intrigue. Summing Up:
Highly recommended. All levels/libraries."
—T.D. Richardson, CHOICE, Vol. 51, 2013"… looking at the table of
contents it appears EXCELLENT. The field is covered thoroughly and
comprehensively and in a very up-to-date manner. It is by far the
clearest and most comprehensive of the books dealing with the new
cryptology, including of course the classic ciphers and some of the
important historical ones such as Enigma and Purple, but also the
newer systems such as DES and public-key cryptography. The history
seems accurate and the book provides what I was unable to give
cryptology—a mathematical underpinning to it all. … All of us in
the cryptology community are grateful to you for it."
—David Kahn, historian, and author of The Codebreakers
"Secret History is a highly recommended purchase to be considered
by those with a serious interest in both the history and the ‘nuts
and bolts’ of modem-day codes and ciphers. lt is both a work of
pedagogy, along with its various exercises linked to individual
chapters accessible via a linked website, and an interesting and
exciting ‘read’ for anyone with a serious interest in the subject
of today’s cryptology and its history."
—The Cryptogram, 2014"The book presents a wonderful story of the
development of this field. It is written more like a novel than
like your traditional textbook, but it contains all the necessary
material to also serve as a textbook. In fact, the author has
created a companion website that provides sample syllabi and
problems if the book is to be used in the classroom. … This book is
enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning
more about the topic of cryptology. It is especially interesting to
someone like me, an algebraist who uses cryptology as a meaningful
response to why topics in pure mathematics that do not seem to have
obvious applications are still very important to study."
—MAA Reviews, August 2014"Every once and a while a book appears
that has a significant impact on the field of cryptologic history.
David Kahn’s The Codebreakers and F.L. Bauer’s Decrypted Secrets
are two such books. Secret History now joins that collection. …
Secret History could be used as a textbook for a general education
class that explores the history of cryptology (and ignores many of
the mathematical sections) or for an upper-division class for
mathematics or computer science majors that follows the historical
evolution of cryptology (and pays attention to the mathematical
sections). … What would appeal to a general audience is the
engaging writing that reflects Bauer’s interest in and enthusiasm
for all aspects of cryptology. … Bauer has merged cryptologic
history with the mathematical foundations of cryptology in a
correct, understandable, and enthusiastic presentation. Secret
History is an excellent choice for a historian of cryptology, a
teacher of cryptology, or anyone who wants to get a glimpse of
cryptology."
—Chris Christensen, Cryptologia"… fascinating read that provides a
combination of cryptographic history and the underlying mathematics
behind it. … For those looking for a comprehensive and decipherable
text on the history of cryptography, this is one of the best on the
topic in many years. Kahn’s book laid the groundwork that made a
book like this possible and Secret History: The Story of Cryptology
is a worthy follow-up to that legendary text."
—Ben Rothke, Slashdot.org, 2013"… one of the most engaging
storytelling adventures on the evolution of secret keeping. In the
first part of the book, Bauer (York College of Pennsylvania;
formerly, scholar-in-residence, National Security Agency) discusses
the inception of secret codes in Viking messages and substitution
ciphers in the era of Caesar, as well as cryptography in works of
fiction such as Edgar Allen Poe’s short story "The Gold Bug." Of
course, Bauer also covers the famous Bletchley Park and its
enigmatic star, Alan Turing. The second part focuses on current
uses of cryptography and ends with a discussion of quantum
cryptography. The book will challenge anyone with even a passing
interest in cryptography to try to resist developing an intense
passion for it. The math behind the systems described, while
present, is never obscured by the fascinating setting in which it
was developed. This is the way in which cryptography, one of the
most difficult applications of discrete mathematics, was meant to
be learned, with real-life cloak-and-dagger intrigue. Summing Up:
Highly recommended. All levels/libraries."
—T.D. Richardson, CHOICE, Vol. 51, 2013"… looking at the table of
contents it appears EXCELLENT. The field is covered thoroughly and
comprehensively and in a very up-to-date manner. It is by far the
clearest and most comprehensive of the books dealing with the new
cryptology, including of course the classic ciphers and some of the
important historical ones such as Enigma and Purple, but also the
newer systems such as DES and public-key cryptography. The history
seems accurate and the book provides what I was unable to give
cryptology—a mathematical underpinning to it all. … All of us in
the cryptology community are grateful to you for it."
—David Kahn, historian, and author of The Codebreakers"There have
been plenty of 'light reading' books covering the history and
mechanics of cryptology - this isn't one of them. Most focus on
light math concepts and/or history - this isn't one of them.
Instead, it covers both but provides much more depth and detail,
surveying the political side of cryptology's developments, the use
of codes in crime, music and literature, and considering how
classical cryptology grew from Greek to modern times. It provides
close examination of the groundbreaking works of cryptologists and
considers specific algorithms and their functions, and it provides
charts, graphs and calculations to show exactly how cryptology
works. Any with more than a casual interest in the topic will find
this a solid reference."
—California Bookwatch, January 2014
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