Fundamentals of Computer Security Technology

This is a mathematical treatment of security. As such, it is probably of interest to students and security professionals.

This is a dull, boring, and frustrating book. It's not the math; most of that is just set theory and you can probably follow it with only the dimmest memories of high school. It is rather the style: 1950's text book, plodding, painful,completely devoid of emotion.

More than once, I found myself muttering "Get on with it" as Professor Amoroso droned through a lengthy explanation of some rather obvious point. Any person who would be able to digest the rest of the book couldn't possibly need all of this pedantry.

However, it's not all bad. Certainly there are people who prefer this sort of approach, and may even find this easier to absorb than some of the more wordy alternatives. Formal definitions are exciting stuff for some, if not for me. There is good information here (though highly dated: this was published in 1994), but it is, by design, a text book.