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Question

I'm looking for a good place to start in cryptography and places to go to get free books etc on the topic.

I have been looking online but I always get stuck at some point or another. I need something that covers the basics better or a good explanation on how to understand the expressions/notation. It seems far from regular algebra.

I have always had a liking towards the idea of hashing as well.

I've closed this as being a list-of question, which we generally don't allow here. That said, I've mentioned this to other moderators in chat, as we persistently get these questions (our first was one) and we've debated allowing them before, so this could be re-opened (and you can still see the answers given anyway). — , Jun 24 '12 at 18:19
@Matteo well... the official answer is that we should use tag wikis like this one. As mods, we can create community wiki posts, and we've had a bit of a debate on that already. I like the idea conceptually, but I've seen it work out... badly. There's been requests to make tag wikis better too. Feel free to raise a meta post arguing your case... — , Jun 26 '12 at 07:52
Related: Which area of Maths should I pursue? & Is it a requirement to understand mathematics when implementing (or breaking) cryptography? & Recommended skills for a job in cryptology & What is the lowest level of mathematics required in order to understand how encryption algorithms work? & Is being cryptanalyst synonymous with being a code breaker? etc. Hope that helps. — e-sushi, Jul 11 '17 at 10:19

Matteo · Answer 1 · 2012-06-24T13:50:51.093

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Handbook of Applied Cryptography

Free as free beer!

Practical Cryptography

Another interesting Link

edited Jun 24 '12 at 13:50

answered Jun 23 '12 at 07:33

Matteo

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wth this is legally free? – Pacerier Jan 18 '14 at 02:37
@Pacerier - yep, the link is sponsored by the Center for applied cryptographic research of the university of waterloo, where the authors work. – Matteo Jan 18 '14 at 03:09
Any more legally free (yet good) resources on cryptography that you may know of? – Pacerier Jan 18 '14 at 03:10
@Pacerier - nope... – Matteo Jan 18 '14 at 03:11
btw isn't Applied Cryptography abit old and outdated? It's published like 20 years ago and I can see alot of facts gone wrong.... any news on the new version? – Pacerier Jan 18 '14 at 07:41

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:48

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List questions are really off topic here, but since the question hasn't been closed yet:

Dan Boneh's Free Online Course
Introduction to Mathematical Cryptography
This website when you have questions (see the FAQ before posting)

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:48

Community

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answered Jun 23 '12 at 22:59

mikeazo

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Where should I have posted? Just wondering as I'm fairly new to this topic and site. Can I get it moved? – Joe Jun 24 '12 at 03:06
@Joe, the chat room is a good place to discuss this sort of stuff. That said, hopefully the material posted thus far is helpful. – mikeazo Jun 24 '12 at 10:01

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 24 '12 at 16:21

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Udacity online course CS387 by David Evans (the professor, not the guitarist) is a good one.

answered Jun 24 '12 at 16:21

SquareRootOfTwentyThree

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