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Stealth Ciphers

by Laith Saadi

224 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); illustrated; catalogue #04-0237; ISBN 1-4120-2409-9; US$35.50, C$44.50, EUR28.99, £19.99

The book is aimed at those interested in cryptography and algorithms. It unravels all the myths of widely used algorithmic techniques, both in classic and modern ciphers.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

The book discusses the encryption process that modifies information in a way that makes original data unreadable until the exact same process is reversed.

The book takes into account the historical uses of ciphers from the ancient to the modern times. It guides the reader through the fundamental concepts of algorithms, running time, efficiency and most of the important encryption techniques and standards as well as the concept of the use of keys in cryptography.

The book leads the reader gradually to the most significant open mathematical questions, which up to this date have not been answered and to the alternatives as in quantum computing to solve such problems. The answers for these unsolved problems would give us a distinct advantage in the current digital warfare of the 21st Century and for future generations.

This is an excellent, up-to-date and easy-to-use text on classical and modern ciphers that is intended for undergraduates in computer science and information science. The book contains many examples and diagrams. Whenever appropriate, program codes are included to facilitate learning.

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About the Author

Laith Saadi started to learn computer programming from the age of fourteen on a very early Z-80 MSX machine. His interest in computers and programming helped him to receive his honors degree in 1997 in Mathematics and Engineering Mechanics from Strathclyde University in Glasgow. He has worked on various projects related to recruitment software design and analysis.

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Excerpts

Introduction

There is always a mystery when the word 'Cryptography' is mentioned out in a conversation and this is usually discussed in details among the technical professionals and the elites in the IT community. Not any more as the Internet is becoming part of our communications and well integrated into our homes and work places, understanding cryptography gets you more pay and praise not only that but it enables you to keep your communication channels confidential and secure so that casual snoopers or hackers do not have access to information you may disclose or publish.

This book is really for those who probably wondered about Cryptography, but never captured the real essence of it and it's relevance in today's age of technology.

The title of this book was inspired by the increasing proliferation of stealth technology in many areas of communications for the benefit of the public, government and businesses as in copyright protection, network and online security, software protection, anti virus software, etc.

Like all technologies, Stealth is not infallible. Better ways to detect stealth technology are being developed. Stealth technology, however, is not standing still, it will keep evolving, getting even stealthier.

Did you know that "The bible Code" by Michael Dresnin & Theomantics by Jerry Lucas have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Bible contains numeric encryptions.

Throughout the 1990s, computer scientists and academics sparred with the authorities over proposed requirements that any software using encryption should also use a database holding predefined decryption keys. Exporting cryptographic tools from the United States was restricted. Some programs were even classified as munitions.

But the government had to retreat from some of its stands, in part because of international commercial pressure. During the Clinton administration, the US government substantially relaxed but did not remove regulations controlling the overseas shipments of encryption hardware and software, such as Web browsers or Eudora PGP plug-ins.

The Sept. 11 attacks have put an emotional edge on the struggle between law enforcement (the government) and civil liberties groups over an obscure methods inside e-mail, music, and photo files on the Internet and reopened the debate on the subject of the terrorist use of the Internet and encryption.

Steganography has been widely used in historical times, especially before cryptographical systems were developed. Modern steganographers have far-more-powerful tools.

Newspapers such as 'USA Today' had reported that bin Laden and others 'are hiding maps and photographs of terrorist targets and posting instructions for terrorist activities on sports chat rooms, pornographic bulletin boards and other websites, U.S. and foreign officials say.'

In the digital battlefield of the 21st Century the attention to steganography is imperative. Denying adversaries like Bin Laden the opportunity to use cheap and reliable covert communication channels will be crucial to protecting what we all hold dear.

Today, many publicly available 'crypto' and 'stego' programs are now available for download from a variety of worldwide sources.

Some experts have raised a provocative scenario: could terrorists be communicating with each other worldwide by means of the encryption?

Some administration critics think the FBI and CIA are using potential terrorist attacks as an attempt to justify expensive new proposals such as the National Homeland Security Agency or further restrictions on encryption and steganography programs.

If you want to live your life free from oppression then read 'Stealth Ciphers', and find out how to secure your data from prying eyes and protect our collective freedom. Or you might just be curious... various types of encryption algorithms are explained in the book in terms of their operation and security.

In general most algorithms available today are considered to be safe. However even ciphers immune to complicated forms of attack are still vulnerable to a 'brute force' attack, in which every possible key is tried against the cipher-text until something meaningful is revealed.

Find out more about the best techniques of how to guard against such forms of attack without compromising the cryptosystem in use. There is a misconception about making keys as long as possible to secure our data ... read on.

Back in the 20th century, battles were fought for the right of everyone to live in a democratic society, free from the oppressive regimes envisioned by German leaders. And democracy won. But now in the digital communications age (in which everything we say and do is monitored, watched, recorded), governments from all over the globe have declared war again, this time on members and groups of terrorist organizations that threaten our basic democratic rights - freedom of information.

Until we live in world of peace, where different societies abide and conform to a strict model of international law and order. It's time to fight back. By encrypting all the data we send down our phones and store on our hard drives we can lessen the terrorist's abilities to monitor us. Even if they can break our encryption, just by generating such a large amount of encrypted data it will take them a lot of effort to find anything of consequence.

This way we can protect out fundamental rights to privacy and transgression because without them we aren't free at all.

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Catalogue Information

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