Computer Security and the Internet: Tools and Jewels from Malware to Bitcoin 2nd ed. 2021 Edition

“I can vouch to the accuracy and clarity found in Van Oorschot’s latest book, and can recommend it to those serious about getting introduced to security. The topic is very broad, as evidenced by the number of important security conferences and the hundreds of papers published every year, not to mention the billions made selling security products and services.” (Rik Farrow, usenix.org, April 8, 2022)
“The book is a technical tour de force and is a helpful reference. … the book has its primary audience in students in a one-term or two-term, third- or fourth-year undergraduate course in computer science, those in the corporate world looking for a highly technical reference will find the book to be quite valuable. … As a first-rate computer scientist and writer, van Oorschot has written a book that will make you a much smarter and better information security professional.” (Ben Rothke, rsaconference.com, April 7, 2022)

“[This] book identifies ten relatively self-contained structural areas of widespread concern, each of which is probed with detail sufficient to establish relatively accessible groundwork for the primary concepts. The book makes considerable headway into underlying realities that otherwise tend to make things difficult to understand, to design, and to implement correctly. It provides collected wisdom on how to overcome complexity in many critical areas, and forms a sound basis for many of the necessary fundamental com­ponents and concepts. Also, much of what is described here is well chosen, because it has survived the test of time … Understanding everything in this book is an essential precursor to achieving meaningfully trustworthy systems … Paul’s realistic approach and structural organization in this book are likely to provide a very useful early step – particularly for students and emerging practitioners, but also for computer users interested in a better understanding of what attaining security might entail.” [Peter G. Neumann, SRI International]

“This is THE textbook we’ve been waiting for when redesigning our introductory computer security course! Well-balanced emphasis on the right issues, getting to the bone where necessary. Paul’s book filled in the gap we identified quite some time ago.” [Vashek Matyáš, Masaryk University]

“Extremely clear and well-organized. The best introduction to the field.” [Cormac Herley, Microsoft Research]

“This book’s combination of grounding and theory addresses an important gap, and will serve new stu­dents well!” [Adam Shostack, author of “Threat Modeling: Designing for Security”]

“Paul’s book does an amazing job of distilling the chaotic panoply of the security world into a remarkably coherent, principled, and (crucially) accessible form. It’s a wonderful gift to the security field, especially those tasked with teaching security to up-and-coming developers, engineers, and researchers. I’m excited to already be using it in my class.” [Bryan Parno, Carnegie Mellon University]

“The only book I could previously recommend as a textbook for introductory security classes was pub­lished in 2002 and outdated in multiple ways. I have been looking for a new textbook for years, but I could not find a book that covered the topics I was going to cover. [This] book, not long, yet remarkably com­prehensive, put an end to my search.” [Kemal Bıçakcı, TOBB University of Economics and Technology]

“I have been teaching Computer Security for 25 years, and I have finally found the perfect text for my computer security course! Paul Van Oorschot has once again written a game changing book. His previous work, the Handbook of Applied Cryptography in 1997 was my go-to reference for anything crypto related. In this book he has done for applied network security what he previously accomplished for cryptography. This is an accessible, must have book that can serve as a textbook for an introductory college course, or as the perfect read for anyone wanting to master Internet security.” [Avi Rubin, Johns Hopkins University]

“This book is a fantastic introduction to computer and Internet security concepts. Not only is it accessible to those new to the field, but it also manages to present a thorough treatment of the subject matter com­plete with rich real-world examples and helpful exercises. As a security practitioner, I consider this book not only suitable as a trusted reference in an academic setting but also for those actually working in the computer security field. In fact, this text has quickly become an essential (and well used) part of my team’s reference material.” [David Whyte, Cyber Resilience Coordination Centre, Bank for International Settlements]

“This book is perfect for my foundational security course. Its relatively short length (which makes it appro­priate for a one semester course) is misleading: the book is rich with material, presented in a manner such that every word counts. It is sufficiently comprehensive to be used as a reference, yet clear enough to be used as a teaching text. Protocols, practices, and concepts are not just presented, but also motivated, often with historical background. I will be using it, and my students will have a much more comprehensive under­standing of security because of it.” [Douglas Szajda, University of Richmond, Virginia]