With ever more of our commercial and personal lives occurring electronically, network security is vital. When networks don’t have secure foundations, malware steals from us, invades our privacy, and threatens our safety. This guide uncovers the technology behind network security: its strengths, weaknesses, past, and future. It answers fundamental questions like: How do you identify yourself and prevent others from impersonating you? How do you communicate with others? How do you maintain your privacy? How do you buy and sell things? As a tutorial, it explains sophisticated concepts in a friendly and intuitive manner. As a reference, it covers concepts and techniques rigorously and in depth.

The authors cover a wide spectrum of topics essential for securing web-based transactions, including public and secret key cryptography, hashes/message digests, signatures, authentication, blockchains, electronic money, secret sharing, and multiparty computation. They also address exciting emerging issues such as quantum computing, post-quantum algorithms, homomorphic encryption, and secure multiparty computation.

Wherever math beyond high school algebra is needed, Network Security, 3rd Edition covers what students and other readers need to know, making it a self-contained solution suitable for undergraduate students, graduate students, and working engineers alike. To support learning and mastery, it also includes extensive homework problems, fully updated to reflect current concepts and technologies.