Why read Crypto?

Book cover of Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government--Saving Privacy in the Digital Age

Book description

If you've ever made a secure purchase with your credit card over the Internet, then you have seen cryptography, or "crypto", in action. From Stephen Levy the author who made "hackers" a household word comes this account of a revolution that is already affecting every citizen in the twenty-first century.…

Explore

Topics

Genres

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Crypto as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Keith M. Martin

Author

I always knew cryptography was political, but I had no idea how political until I read this book. Seeing the subject I am so fascinated by through the words of a political journalist was truly eye-opening. Steven Levy navigates a deeply fascinating period in modern technological history – the late twentieth-century battles between governments trying to maintain power and control over communications, and technologists who saw the fledgling internet as an opportunity to build a new world. Cryptography, which protects digital communications, sat plum on the frontline between these two communities, hence battles over cryptography turned into so-called 'crypto wars’…

From Keith's list on The best books about cryptography and how we secure the digital world.