Links and Books

This list contains only a small selection of sites about cryptography within the Internet.

Further links are contained within the download programs of CrypTool and within the book delivered with CrypTool. We appreciate your advice on further interesting links.

 

Primes, Number Theory and Cryptology (Links and Books)

Web sites (and teaching projects)

• The website of Bill Buchanan, a Professor at the Edinburgh Napier University is one of the most extensive web sites for practically learning encryption methods.

  • https://asecuritysite.com/encryption – Crypto material with interactive parts and code in JS and Python 2
  • https://asecuritysite.com/challenges – Several codes and ciphers as small challenge
  • https://asecuritysite.com/encryption/ctf – Classical printable forms used for a cipher CTF generator
  • https://asecuritysite.com/csn11117 – A number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules

• The Kryptologikum is a collection of KIT with many historical exhibits in display cabinets, plus many hands-on experiments, where everyone can learn in a playful way about the principles of modern cryptography. http://kryptologikum.de/index.html

• Emma's blog with a 1-page overview about crypto resources. This blog at Norton360Online is educational, and avoids – to our knowledge – any 'marketing'. https://www.nortonsecurityonline.com/security-center/cryptography-resource-guide.html

• Website by Joerg Drobick with nearly all codes and encryption mechanisms used in the GDR – (only German) http://scz.bplaced.net

• Good reading introductionary paper by Scott Aaronson: "The Prime Facts: From Euclid to AKS" http://www.scottaaronson.com/writings/prime.pdf

• The Prime Pages by Chris Caldwell http://www.utm.edu/research/primes

• GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne-Prime Search) http://www.mersenne.org

• The Spy Camp ("Spioncamp") – (German only) https://ddi.uni-wuppertal.de/website/index-ddi.html

  The "Spy Camp" of the University of Wuppertal offers learning stations for cryptography and cryptology. These include ready-made station sheets, worksheets, solutions and templates for printing, which teachers and pupils can use to start immediately. It is primarily intended for Sek I, but parts can also be used in the lower school and in Sek II (High school level classes and Junior high school level classes).

• Educational project: "Zahlentheorie in der Schule – Von Primzahlen zur Verschlüsselung mit RSA" – (German only) http://www.hydrargyrum.de/kryptographie

• Teaching series: E-mail (only?) for you (Gramm et al., 2011)

  Main link: http://www.informatik-im-kontext.de

  More links in German:

  • http://it-lehren.de/asym
  • http://it-lehren.de/asym/Vertraulichkeit-durch-asymmetrische-Kryptografie-herstellen.html
  • http://it-lehren.de/asym/Vertraulichkeit-durch-asymmetrische-Kryptografie-herstellen-nur-Zahlen.html

  Here, the topic of encryption is dealt with in the context of "electronic mail". The aim of the teaching unit is to enable students to deal consciously and securely with the medium of e-mail. The principle of RSA encryption is made plausible to the learners at secondary level I with a minimum of mathematics. The means for this are on the one hand an animation on asymmetric encryption (see link) and the RSA demo from CrypTool 1.4.30.

• The Mathematical Atlas (index using mathematics subject classification), Number Theory (Wayback Archive 2015) http://www.math-atlas.org/welcome.html

• +Plus, an internet magazine produced by the Millennium Mathematics Project at the University of Cambridge http://plus.maths.org

• Randall K. Nichols (Lanaki): "Classical Cryptography Course vol 1+2", 1995 http://www.apprendre-en-ligne.net/crypto/bibliotheque/lanaki/lesson1.htm

• John Savard: "A Cryptographic Compendium". This web site features an extensive section concerning cryptography, especially about Rijndael. Website seemingly no longer updated since 1999. http://www.quadibloc.com/crypto/jscrypt.htm

• Wonderful Cryptography – topics for a motivational 'Introduction to Cryptography', lecture by Eran Tromer http://www.tromer.org/wondercrypt

• Josh Lake: "What is steganography and how does it differ from cryptography?" An exhaustive guide to steganography. https://www.comparitech.com/blog/information-security/what-is-steganography

• Gary C. Kessler: "An Overview of Cryptography". Modern and practical paper explaining the concepts behind basic cryptographic methods and providing some real examples. http://www.garykessler.net/common/crypto.html

 

Books

• Craig P. Bauer: "Secret History: The Story of Cryptology", 1st edition, 2013, CRC Press.

• Johannes Buchmann: "Introduction to Cryptography", 2nd ed, 2004, Springer.

• Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh: "Codebreaking: A Practical Guide", 2020, London, Robinson.

• Claudia Eckert: "IT-Sicherheit Konzepte - Verfahren - Protokolle", 10th edition, 2018, Oldenbourg – (German only) https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/530046

• Bernhard Esslinger: "Learning and Experiencing Cryptography with CrypTool and SageMath", Artech House, 2024 https://www.cryptool.org/en/ctbook/

• Bernhard Esslinger et al.: "Kryptologie für Jedermann", SAP pocket seminar produced within the governmental initiative "Deutschland – Sicher im Netz", 2007 – (German only)

• Keith M. Martin: "Everyday Cryptography – Fundamental Principles and Applications", March 2012, Oxford University Press

• Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot and Scott A. Vanstone: "Handbook of Applied Cryptography", 1997, CRC Press http://www.cacr.math.uwaterloo.ca/hac/index.html

• Rolf Oppliger: "Contemporary Cryptography, Second Edition", 2011, Artech House http://books.esecurity.ch/cryptography2e.html

• Christof Paar and Jan Pelzl: "Understanding Cryptography – A Textbook for Students and Practioners", December 2009, Springer This is pedagogically one of the best crypto books currently available. It describes all crypto schemes of practical relevance while avoiding to be shallow. The companion website has extensive PowerPoint slides for teachers, links to further information and videos of 28 lecturers (in German only). http://www.crypto-textbook.com

• Klaus Schmeh: "Kryptografie – Verfahren, Protokolle, Infrastrukturen", 6th edition, 2016, dpunkt – (German only). This is a comprehensive and easy to read book. http://www.dpunkt.de/buecher/3316/kryptografie.html

• Klaus Schmeh: "Codeknacker gegen Codemacher. Die faszinierende Geschichte der Verschlüsselung", 2nd edition, 2007, W3L – (German only) This is most current among the books dealing in a comprehensive manner with the history of cryptology. It contains a small collection of solved and unsolved crypto riddles.

• Victor Shoup: "A Computational Introduction to Number Theory and Algebra", Second Edition, 2008, Cambridge University Press http://shoup.net/ntb

• William Stallings: "Cryptography and Network Security", 2006, Prentice Hall http://williamstallings.com

• Mark Stamp and Richard M. Low: "Applied Cryptanalysis: Breaking Ciphers in the Real World", 2007, Wiley-Interscience The according website has a lot of powerpoint slides and challenge problems. http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/~stamp/crypto

• Mark Stamp: "Information Security: Principles and Practice", 2nd edition, 2011, Wiley It is a comprehensive book divided into four main themes Cryptography, Access Control, Protocols, and Software. Throughout the book the author included frequent "humorous" footnotes. The according website offers a wealth of additional, free material: http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/~stamp/infosec

• The CryptoBooks page offers a bibliography with more than 500 books about cryptology from the 15th century until now, presented in a very attractive GUI. From many of the old books there are high-quality photos available. https://cryptobooks.org

 

More link lists

• Cryptography and Security by Ron Rivest (website seemingly no longer updated) http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/crypto-security.html

• The PKI page by Stefan Kelm http://www.pki-page.info

• Simon Singh's Webpage, author of "The Codebook" http://simonsingh.net/cryptography

At the bottom of the History of Cryptography page you will find links and books with a historical focus.

 

More information

• The DECRYPT Project: Automatic Decryption of Historical Manuscripts https://de-crypt.org

• The Portal of Historical Ciphers (HCPortal) contains a database of cryptograms and useful tools for historical ciphers. https://hcportal.eu

• heise Security – computer security news – (German only) http://www.heise.de/security

• heise article about recommendation for crypto methods used in IT security – (German only) Kryptografie in der IT – Empfehlungen zu Verschlüsselung und Verfahren

• German federal ministries page about Internet and Computer security – (German only) https://www.bsi-fuer-buerger.de

• Computer Security Resource Center and AES page at NIST http://www.nist.gov

• Cryptome archives http://cryptome.org

• ACA (The American Cryptogram Association) is dedicated to promoting the hobby and art of cryptanalysis. You have to become a member (subscription) to get the 2-monthly issue of "The Cryptogram". http://www.cryptogram.org

• CryptoPrograms is a site by Phil Pilcrow to create and solve classical ciphers online. It can create 61 different classical cipher types and solve 45 cipher types including some used during World Wars 1 and 2. http://www.cryptoprograms.com

• Dirk Rijmenants' Cipher Machines and Cryptology Historical and technical information about WW2 crypto machines and some nice according free software simulators. https://www.ciphermachinesandcryptology.com/index.htm

• The Crypto Museum website is a virtual museum in The Netherlands. https://www.cryptomuseum.com/index.htm

• International Conference on Cryptologic History (ICCH), a website for crypto history enthusiasts and crypto device collectors. https://www.cryptologichistory.org

• Geoff's Crypto page A page under (permanent) construction with WW2 crypto messages and historic cipher machine simulators. http://www.hut-six.co.uk

• A web site with a concise summary of the basics of cryptography and cryptanalysis. In addition there is also a glossary and a list of influential figures in the field of cryptography. – (German only) http://www.kryptowissen.de

• CryptoCrack – A very good Windows program by Phil Pilcrow for solving a whole bunch of classical ciphers with various options. https://sites.google.com/site/cryptocrackprogram

• The CrypTool project on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrypTool