Knowledge of number theory and abstract algebra are pre-requisites for any engineer designing a secure internet-based system.However, most of the books currently available on the subject are aimed at practitioners who just want to know how the various tools available on the market work and what level of security they impart. These books traditionally deal with the science and mathematics only in so far as they are necessary to understand how the tools work.Internet Security differs by its assertion that cryptography is the single most important technology for securing the Internet. To quote one reviewer "if every one of your communication partners were using a secure system based on encryption, viruses, worms and hackers would have a very hard t...