About The Author
I’ve got nearly 20 years of experience in information security, including extensive work in industry and government. My work experience includes more than seven years at the National Security Agency followed by two years at a Silicon Valley startup company. While I can’t say too much about my work at NSA, I can tell you that my job title was Cryptologic Mathematician. In industry I helped design and develop a digital rights management security product. This real-world work was sandwiched between academic jobs. While in academia, my research interests have included a wide variety of security topics.
When I returned to academia in 2002, it seemed to me that none of the available security textbooks had much connection with the real world. I felt that I could write an information security book that would fill this gap, while also containing information that would be useful to working IT professionals. Based on the feedback I’ve received, the first edition was apparently a success.
I believe that this second edition will prove even more valuable in its dual role as a textbook and as a resource for working professionals, but then I’m biased. I can say that many of my former students who are now at leading Silicon Valley technology companies tell me that the information they learned in my courses has been useful to them. And I certainly wish that a book like this had been available when I worked in industry, since my colleagues and I would have benefitted from it.
