The Block Cipher Companion (Information Security and Cryptography)

This book provides a fantastic introduction to block ciphers and cryptanalysis. The book is reasonably short (just over 200 pages) and provides the right amount of coverage for its topics. It fully explains DES and AES and provides a lesser amount of detail for many other block ciphers. It provides sufficient coverage of major cryptographic attacks to allow the reader to understand them while also providing extensive references for interested readers who may want to implement these attacks or conduct further research. One chapter is also devoted to implementation issues such as modes and padding.The book includes over 700 references in total and ends each chapter with a categorized list of references relevant to the topic at hand. If you want to conduct research and/or study cryptography in grad school, this is a must.I'd recommend this book to graduate students in cryptography, software/security engineers working with block cipher implementaiton, or as a second book in cryptography for any curious reader interested in learning more about block ciphers.

A truly excellent book for those who are serious about cryptography. Among other things, it clearly explains modes of operations and, most importantly, it provides the clearest explanation of liner and deferential cryptanalysis I have seen. Perhaps first read Understanding Cryptography (C. Paar and J. Pelzl) before this one if you are not confident about cryptography, but DO own this book if you want to understand cryptography a little more deeply.