Cryptography, the ancient science behind information security, is ever-evolving, and perhaps more relevant today than ever before. Real World Cryptography, by well-known cryptography expert David Wong, demystifies this science—also considered an art form by some—cutting right to what you need to know in the here and now. To offer you a glimpse into the cryptography we encounter every day, we’ve selected two chapters from this illuminating book to feature in this free mini ebook.

The first chapter explores the hash function, ubiquitous in cryptography and one of the most important pieces of its foundation. You’ll dive deep into how it works, its input and output, and its security properties and considerations. You’ll also take a close look at widely adopted hash functions in use today as well as some functions that extend them.

The second chapter examines Message Authentication Codes. Unlike hash functions, MACs protect the integrity of data without requiring a secure channel. But just like hash functions, MACs have their own security properties and pitfalls. You’ll take a look at them in this chapter as well as the MAC standards that are most widely used in our modern world.

We hope that these chapters whet your appetite for the fascinating, highly relevant, and enduring science of cryptography. We highly recommend you check out Real-World Cryptography in its entirety to “decrypt” much more on this ever-green subject!

Thanks for reading!