REVIEW: "Understanding PKI", Carlisle Adams/Steve Lloyd

From: Rob Slade, doting grandpa of Ryan and Trevor (rslade_at_sprint.ca)
Date: 01/08/04

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    BKUNDPKI.RVW 20031107

    "Understanding PKI", Carlisle Adams/Steve Lloyd, 2003, 0-672-32391-5,
    U$49.99/C$77.99
    %A Carlisle Adams
    %A Steve Lloyd
    %C P.O. Box 520, 26 Prince Andrew Place, Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8
    %D 2003
    %G 0-672-32391-5
    %I Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
    %O U$49.99/C$77.99 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948
    %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672323915/robsladesinterne
      http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672323915/robsladesinte-21
    %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672323915/robsladesin03-20
    %P 322 p.
    %T "Understanding PKI"

    Part one is about concepts. Chapter one (and the first chapter of
    every section) is an outline of the contents of this part of the book.
    A simple introduction to symmetric cryptography, and the basics of
    asymmetric, is provided in chapter two. The purpose and components of
    a public key infrastructure (PKI) is reviewed in chapter three.
    Chapter four relates core PKI to the standard security model of
    confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Some extension of the
    basic services is given in chapter five (although there is no mention
    of the most common hybrid form of encryption). Certificates and some
    fundamentals of certification are in chapter six. Chapter seven looks
    at key and certificate management. Certificate revocation, in chapter
    eight, is oddly undetailed in comparison to the previous material.
    Chapters nine to thirteen cover, in short order, trust models,
    certificate and information dissemination, operational factors, and
    digital signature legislation. What PKI does, and doesn't, do is
    presented in chapter fourteen, which probably should have come earlier
    in the book. Chapter fifteen speculates on the future of PKI.
    Chapter sixteen, and the last chapter of every part, outlines
    conclusions and further reading. The material is very terse: in this
    case, only two pages.

    Part two is entitled standards. There is the introduction, and then
    chapter eighteen lists major standards. The status of some of those
    standards is discussed in chapter nineteen. Chapter twenty provides
    examples of the piloting of standards, and points out that the
    standards do not always confer interoperability. The reading list in
    chapter twenty one is a bit bigger than that in sixteen.

    Part three concerns deployment. There is a generic cost/benefit
    argument in chapter twenty three. Chapters twenty four and twenty
    five basically reiterate earlier material in regard to deployment.
    Some specific issues are mentioned in regard to the business models
    discussed in chapter twenty six. There are almost no conclusions and
    suggestions for further reading in chapter twenty seven.

    This book does cover many issues associated with PKI, but in a very
    pedestrian fashion. There is nothing here that is not covered by many
    volumes dealing with cryptography as a general topic, such as
    Schneier's "Applied Cryptography" (cf. BKAPCRYP.RVW) or the simpler
    works like Mel and Baker's "Cryptography Decrypted" (cf.BKCRPDEC.RVW).
    Indeed, any number of general security texts provide as much detail on
    PKI as does this book.

    copyright Robert M. Slade, 2003 BKUNDPKI.RVW 20031107 

    -- 
====================== 
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