reviewed by Fabio Martinelli, IIT-CNR
Computer and information security is a growing area of scientific and cultural interest. Several books have been published in the area and “A multidisciplinary Introduction to Information Security” is a recently published one authored by Prof. Stig F. Mjølsnes. The book is derived from the significant experience of the author and his contributors on running a successful master-level course at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology on the subject. The main stated intention is to provide an interdisciplinary view in this wide and exciting area that is information security. The book keeps this promise.
The book illustrates several research topics, by providing from mandatory information on each topic till appropriate references for further reading. The scope ranges from hardware security and cryptography till public key infrastructures and cryptographic protocol analysis. Interestingly, from these initial building blocks, the narration goes towards more complex scenarios, dealing with quantum cryptography, addressing mobile device and software security, and reaching system level treatment as IT security certification, ICT forensic and risk management. The topics selected represent a truly interdisciplinary picture of the area covering all the necessary aspects.
Reading the book is both very pleasant and informative. On the one end, even if an experienced reader may find the introductory level too simple on certain topics, the variety of such topics allows one to find always useful information, on the other one the contributors successfully manage to nicely present intriguing aspects of the described topics, going always quickly towards the point and stimulating the reader for further reading. The capability to attract the reader attention is a very peculiar aspect of this book, that is particularly appreciated.
While the variety of topics and size of the book necessarily limits the depth of the analysis, the contributors of the book successfully identify the key aspects of each topic and present them in an intriguing way. They present them at the proper level of detail still keeping the necessary scientific rigor.
I definitely recommend the book both for beginners and as a quick reference of the areas of interest in information security. The topics could also represent (as the authors) a nice syllabus for a mater-level course. I warmly recommend the reading of this book. It is a mandatory choice for anyone willing to get quickly exposed to the variety of the information security field.
2011 by Chapman and Hall/CRC Press - 348 Pages, ISBN 9781420085907
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