Foundations of Cryptography
by Oded Goldreich · first published 2001
78% recommend22% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Rigorous, theory-first treatment of cryptography, used in graduate courses; suits readers with a math or CS background who want foundations rather than applied recipes, and who want to design and analyze protocols.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…when I say that the text is well worth the price if you ever find yourself needing a good cryptography reference. Some other good references are Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Katz and Lindell, Foundations of Cryptography by Goldreich (both volumes), and The Codebreakers by Kahn (for history of cryptography). There are other good references, of course, but I find myself referring to the ones above the most. However, I…
on “Handbook of Applied Cryptography (2001)” ↗If you want a more "theoretical" look at the theory, Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Jon Katz and Yehuda Lindell is a great book. Also good (but my copy had many printing errors) is Foundations of Cryptography by Oded Goldreich.
on “So, you want to crypto” ↗…— to which I can say that I know researchers in the space and even a simple run rate calculations indicates this will be feasible soon... I wonder whether your stance would update if you were to read Foundations of Cryptography by Oded Goldreich?
on “Scaling: Ethereum’s make or break challenge [video]” ↗…Supplement: Take Jonathan Katz' and Dan Boneh's MOOCS (links in post) To get to the point where you can "design/analyze crypto protocols" (and maybe know what you're doing): * Read Oded Goldreich's Foundations of Cryptography (Volumes 1&2) * Try to have quasi-intelligent conversations with real cryptographers (advice for this in blog post) * Get a PhD somewhere with a good crypto program edit: formatting
on “How Not to Learn Cryptography (2014)” ↗…good. The classical "applied" work is Schneier's Applied Cryptography", but note there are a lot of issues with that work. His newer book, "Cryptography Engineering", is supposedly better. Goldreich's Foundations of Cryptography is quite solid, but requires quite a bit of background and is very theoretical.
on “Cloud password-cracking tool requires only 20 minutes to crack passwords.” ↗…recommendation for those who are serious about cryptography but have had relatively little exposure to it. It also doesn't assume the reader is an expert in all things computer science, which is nice. Goldreich's Foundations of Cryptography is more of a treatise on theoretical cryptography... it goes much deeper and starts out assuming the reader is pretty familiar with concepts from theoretical computer science and probability theory. The…
on “So, you want to crypto” ↗Oded Goldreich's "Foundations of Cryptography" books are the rigorous, theoretical oriented books used in many grad-level crypto courses: https://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~oded/foc-book.html Neil Koblitz has "A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography",…
on “Ask HN: Best book on modern cryptography?” ↗…van Loan. The latter is much more of a reference text. 2. Cryptography You haven't specified what you're looking for here, but given the mathematical bent of your question I'd recommend Goldreich's Foundations of Cryptography (two volumes). Be forewarned: cryptography is a subfield of complexity theory. You should have a strong understanding of complexity theory before embarking on Goldreich's Foundations. If you really want…
on “Ask HN: Mathematicians, what textbooks are best for learning these math topics?” ↗I think there is some typo in your comment - because otherwise - do you mean that permissionless DLT was obvious (as in anyone who read Foundations of Cryptography by Oded Goldreich could create it) and bitcoin was not a breakthrough?
on “Scaling: Ethereum’s make or break challenge [video]” ↗…some application still thrown in, this is a good choice. For a deep theoretical treatment, requiring an already-built background in theoretical computer science and probability theory, see Goldreich's Foundations of Cryptography volumes. They are very dense, very dry works, but packed with information. For a specific focus on elliptic curve cryptography, Menezes et al. have published Guide to Elliptic Curve Cryptography, though…
on “Mathematical Cryptology [pdf]” ↗…definition and discussion of the field using notions such as confidentiality, integrity, authentication, non-repudiation, etc. These are all correct, but I prefer Oded Goldreich’s definition, from his Foundations of Cryptography: Cryptography is concerned with any problem in which one wishes to limit the effects of dishonest users. In an abstract sense, cryptography has a direct mapping from game theory, and can be considered…
on “A beginner’s guide to getting started in the cryptocurrency world” ↗