Reddit reviews The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet
We found 13 Reddit comments about The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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Actually, it was David Kahn's The Codebreakers that was going to reveal the UKUSA agreement when is was first published in 1967, which would have revealed the way the US and UK could spy on their domestic populations by swapping data. The NSA persuaded the publisher to strike that page from the finished product, the first time that the US ever pre-censored a civilian publication. Technically "legal" in that the publisher did it "voluntarily" rather than coerced.
In 1983 James Bamford reproduced the missing page in The Puzzle Palace. At this point it was now formally known that the US and UK could spy on anyone, anywhere in the world, and get away with it. (Each organization can spy on everything-minus-their-own-country. All it takes is two countries to agree to fill in the holes for each other and both can "legally" know everything.)
NSA has been doing this for over 50 years. It has been known to those who cared to look for over 30 years. Snowden really only revealed their tactics and technology, not their strategy or goals. Their goal has always been Total Information Awareness.
If you want the background, I'd recommend three sources:
Here are some resources I've found especially helpful for my own puzzle-making and codebreaking endeavors.
General Overviews and Websites for Getting Started:
Basic Cryptanalytic Techniques:
Beginner Hand-cracking Tutorials:
Tools for Creating and Cracking Codes Quickly:
Interesting Cryptographic Puzzles/Methods for Inspiration:
Books for Learning:
Books for Puzzle Solving:
Games:
EDIT: Fixed a link and made a couple minor touch-ups.
If you haven't read it already, you might want to check out David Kahn's The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet.
He's not joking when he says it's comprehensive: it's 1200 pages. Absolutely fascinating if you're at all into the history of crypto; it goes into a lot of detail about not only how historical cryptosystems worked, what were their weaknesses and how they were cryptanalyzed etc., but also the historical context in which the systems were used and developed.
Edit: Just realized the Colossus book I was thinking of was this. I'll have to check out the one you linked to
You mention a diverse set of topics, and you're probably not going to find any one book that covers all of them.
For algorithms for cryptography, signatures, protocols, etc. the definitive go to (last I checked) was still Schneier's Applied Cryptography.
For a history of cryptography, I'm fond of Kahn's The Codebreakers, but be forewarned that it is a large book.
For Network Security and Information Assurance concepts, I like Anderson's Security Engineering, but the state of the art changes so rapidly that it's difficult to recommend a book.
Suggest to the guy to read "The Codebreakers" by David Kahn (that's Kahn, not Khan).
Strongly recommended for anyone interested in ciphers and cryptology. If it's over his head, start with any kid's level book on ciphers and work your way up.
https://www.amazon.com/Codebreakers-Comprehensive-History-Communication-Internet/dp/0684831309?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0684831309
The Billion Dollar Spy is a fascinating story of how the CIA ran a Soviet spy while he was working at an advanced radar facility. It is estimated that the intelligence he passed to America ended up being worth nearly one billion dollars.
First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror is about the first Americans to land in Afghanistan in the weeks after 9/11
The Code Breakers One of the most comprehensive anthologies on all forms of cryptology of the past 5,000 years.
Real accounting work has a lot to do with tax so they probably don't do that kind of work. Criminal betting pools definitely do have record systems and police sometimes discover them.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Codebreakers-Comprehensive-History-Communication-Internet/dp/0684831309
not trying to pimp Amazon, but this is what I found.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0722151462/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1502395685&sr=1-2
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0684831309/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1502395685&sr=1-1
My library had The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet when I was a kid and I may have forgotten to bring it back in the past twenty years.
It's partly a historical book (and was originally written in the 60's), but it's insightful on what you're looking for. Extremely interesting if you're into this kind of thing.
Bear in mind that book doesn't really go into base64 or anything like that that can only be done with computers, because these things simply weren't around in the 60's. But in terms of ciphers and human encryption it's a great historical resource and can give a lot of insight into how this stuff works.
The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet by David Khan Amazon . If you want a synopsis you could read Simon Singh's "The Code Book". Maybe not mind blowing in the metaphysical sense but it certainly is in-depth and informative.
Also, "Tom Crean: Unsung Hero of the Scott and Shackleton Antarctic Expeditions" by Micheal Smith. Any time I get a bit uppity, thinking about Crean puts me back in my box. He was as hard as nails.
"On Communications Security: Cryptography, Cryptanalaysis, Codes, and Ciphers in War from (time) to (time)".
Hopefully, one of your sources is David Kahn's The Codebreakers. http://www.amazon.com/Codebreakers-Comprehensive-History-Communication-Internet/dp/0684831309/
That book is not as good as this one