Cryptography : Theory and Practice

Cryptography is an outstanding book that covers all the major areas of cryptography in a readable, mathematically precise form. Several chapters deal with especially active areas of research and give the reader a quick introduction and overview of the basic results in the area.
Cryptography provides the mathematical theory that is necessary in order to understand how the various systems work. Most algorithms are presented in the form of pseudocode, together with examples and informal discussion of the underlying ideas. The book gives careful and comprehensive treatment of all the essential core areas of cryptography. Also, several chapters present recent topics that have not received thorough treatment in previous textbooks. Such topics include authentication codes, secret sharing schemes, identification schemes, and key distribution.

Douglas R. Stinson's Cryptography: Theory and Practice is a mathematically intensive examination of cryptography, including ciphers, the Data Encryption Standard (DES), public key cryptography, one-way hash functions, and digital signatures. Stinson's explication of "zero-sum proofs"--a process by which one person lets another person know that he or she has a password without actually revealing any information--is especially good.

If you are new to the math behind cryptography but want to tackle it, the author covers all of the required background to understand the real mathematics here. Cryptography includes extensive exercises with each chapter and makes an ideal introduction for any math-literate person willing to get acquainted with this material.