[H-GEN] File system encryption

[Paul Gearon]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and     ]
[ Unix-related topics. Posts from non-subscribed addresses will vanish. ]

On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, Jason Parker-Burlingham wrote:

> Paul Gearon <pag at PISoftware.com> writes:
> > Paul "Having fun with Ferguson and Schneier's new cryptography book" Gearon
>
> This wouldn't be "Practical Cryptography", would it?

It would indeed.

> What's it like?

Hmmmm. Well I'm only halfway through, but here goes...

If you've read "Applied Cryptography" (AC) then it will seem a little
light and fluffy, though still useful.  There's no number theory for
instance, and instead of describing every type of block cypher
implementation known to man (like AC did), it sticks to just a few.

There's a little bit of new stuff, and in particular, it describes which
systems are good to use and why.  It then describes which systems are NOT
good to use, and why.  There was none of that in AC (beyond saying that
XOR and rot13 are a really bad idea).  :-)

However, I really get the impression that this is the book for people who
picked up AC and said, "Whoa!  I just need to encrypt some data!  I don't
need all that!"  It doesn't have as much detail as AC, but it's more
practical, and it has some updated info (I found the description of the
different AES candidates to be quite interesting).

Regards,
Paul Gearon

Software Engineer                Telephone:   +61 7 3876 2188
Plugged In Software              Fax:         +61 7 3876 4899
http://www.PIsoftware.com        PGP Key available via finger

Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum
immane mittam.
(Translation from latin: "I have a catapult. Give me all the money,
or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.")



--
* This is list (humbug) general handled by majordomo at lists.humbug.org.au .
* Postings to this list are only accepted from subscribed addresses of
* lists 'general' or 'general-post'.  See http://www.humbug.org.au/