Security Through the Eyes of a Cryptographer

Author, security technologist, blogger, food reviewer and chief security technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet Security, Inc. In short, you could say that Bruce Schneier is an all-rounder. But this security guru is so fond of cryptography that he has been mentioned in The Da Vinci Code book.

Some have even associated Schneier with cryptography, as Linus Torvalds is to Linux.

Schneier has two open source encryption algorithms under his belt, publishes monthly security newsletters and blogs about security when he is away from his day job at http://www.schneier.com/blog/. He regularly touches on security on the computer and also in the United States.

Among the two standards Schneier developed are Blowfish, and the more secure TwoFish encryption algorithm, which remains unpatented and in the public domain, which is free for anyone to use and implement. Schneier designed the algorithms as a replacement for the aging and classified Data Encryption Standard algorithm. Many of his works on encryption have also been published.

"There is a mathematical imbalance that favors the defender than the attacker," he says. So it will take more effort for a brute force attack decryption than encrypting the data.

Schneier uses Windows with encryption through PGP Disk.

"You can steal my notebook but I can rest easy in knowing that my data is safe," he says.