Security is the number one concern for businesses worldwide. Thegold standard for attaining security is cryptography because itprovides the most reliable tools for storing or transmittingdigital information. Written by Niels Ferguson, lead cryptographerfor Counterpane, Bruce Schneier's security company, and BruceSchneier himself, this is the much anticipated follow-up book toSchneier's seminal encyclopedic reference, Applied Cryptography,Second Edition (0-471-11709-9), which has sold more than 150,000copies. Niels Ferguson (Amsterdam, Netherlands) is a cryptographic engineerand consultant at Counterpane Internet Security. He has extensiveexperience in the creation and design of security algorithms,protocols, and multinational security infrastructures. Previously,Ferguson was a cryptographer for DigiCash and CWI. At CWI hedeveloped the first generation of off-line payment protocols. Hehas published numerous scientific papers. Bruce Schneier (Minneapolis, MN) is Founder and Chief TechnicalOfficer at Counterpane Internet Security, a managed-securitymonitoring company. He is also the author of Secrets and Lies:Digital Security in a Networked World (0-471-25311-1).