An Excellent Companion to Bishops Book

While Matt Bishop's book (Computer Security, Art and Science) is considered the standard by many professors, I think students will find that Mark Stamp's book provides much more practical utility. Here's what Stamp has that Bishop doesn't:

1.) More readable writing style.

2.) Non-essential theory and rigor removed.

3.) Some less traditional but interesting topics (ex: CAPTCHAs, DRM).

A few things that Bishop has that Stamp doesn't:

1.) Broader range of topics covered.

2.) Classic proofs and theory that Stamp omits for succinctness.

Let's be clear though. One text is not better than the other-- the authors simply have different aims. I suggest that a student use Stamp's book to ease into Information Security, and then to go Bishop when more information is required. For example, in my introductory course to Information Assurance, I used Stamp's book to answer 90% of all questions quickly and completely and Bishop's book to tackle the remaining 10%. If I ever get into the theory side of IA, I'll probably have to use Bishop more, but Stamp works great in most situations.

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