Schneier on Security

The rapid growth of computer technology, especially the Internet, as the preferred method of transferring information has lead to a sudden increase in public awareness of the need for privacy and secrecy. In just a few years, we have moved from having to safeguard physical materials (e.g., checks, ledgers, currency, and gold bullion) to needing to protect electronic signals that not only travel on many unguarded public wires but can be detected as they escape from the confines of our computers into the ether. Security is no longer a matter of installing a sufficiently strong safe and entrusting the keys to a faithful armed guard. Security in the information age has become a matter of scrambling data in such a way that prevents unauthorized recipients from understanding it, yet allows authorized receivers to make use of it…