The Bottom Line
“A must read book for anyone who uses a networked computer,
particularly those creating programs that will be used in that
environment.”
The Review
Many people have commented already about Bruce Schneier’s
epiphany that cryptography will not, in and of itself, make the
computing world a safe place, and that we’re still at the mercy of
the all-too-fallible human beings running systems and writing
programs. In particular, some people have taken great pleasure in
quoting the beginning of the Preface, where Schneier says he wrote
Secrets & Lies (hereafter SL) to correct a
mistake, namely his prior statements about the role cryptography
would play in security. Whether you think Schneier’s observation is
nothing more than his coming around to what everyone has known for
years, or a hallmark of a genuine sea change in attitudes towards
security, is largely irrelevant. The core issue is that he’s right,
and SL is an excellent book on the subject.