CRYPTO FOUNDATIONS

Cryptologia, Jan 2005 by Kruh, Louis

CRYPTO FOUNDATIONS Goldreich, Oded. Foundations of Cryptography: Volume II: Basic Applications. Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th Street, New York NY 10011-4211 USA. 2004. 798 pp. $75.00.

Cryptography is concerned with the conceptualization, definition, and construction of computing systems that address security concerns. The design of cryptographic systems must be based on firm foundations. This book presents a rigorous and systematic treatment of foundational issues: defining cryptographic tasks and solving new cryptographic problems using existing tools. The emphasis is on the clarification of fundamental issues: defining cryptographic tasks and solving new cryptographic problems using existing tools. The emphasis is on the clarification of fundamental concepts and on demonstrating the feasibility of solving several central cryptographic problems, as opposed to describing ad hoc approaches.

This second volume contains a rigorous treatment of three basic applications: encryption, signatures, and general cryptographic protocols. It builds on the previous volume, which provides a treatment of one-way functions, pseudorandomness, and zero-knowledge proofs. It is suitable for use in a graduate course on cryptography and as a reference book for experts. The author assumes basic familiarity with the design and analysis of algorithms; some knowledge of complexity theory and probability is also useful.

Professor Oded Goldreich, Professor of Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, is considered to be one of the world's leading experts in the area and his book is highly recommended.