Welcome to CryptoCorner, where I will try to give you as much information on the subject of Cryptography! My method of madness is to list websites and books that I found to be really informative and insightful for a person who wants to learn about Cryptography. I am beginning to learn about the subject myself, so this can be a learning experience for the both of us!

The level of difficulty will be marked from easy to hard. Here are my definition of easy, medium and hard:
Easy: A rating of easy means a person can look at the material and be able to get a good insight of what the subject was about.
Medium: A rating of medium means that a person will have to come in with some knowledge about the subject before reading the material. Some examples might be: Math knowledge, or Computer Science knowledge.
Hard: A rating of hard means that a person will have to come in with a very good knowledge of the subject before reading the material.

So let's get started!
1. Website: Analysis of Criminal Codes and Ciphers by Daniel Olson, Cryptanalyst Forensic Examiner, Rating: Easy This website was very helpful because Mr. Olson showed common ciphers such as substitution ciphers and other ciphers such as keyword ciphers that criminals use. This website gives the reader another look of how cryptography can be used to solve crimes as opposed to keeping secrets.

2. Website: Cryptography FAQ 01-10 by the secret: Crypt Cabal who serve the National Security Agnency. Rating: Medium This was a very informative website, but in my opinion you need to come in with general knowledge of cryptography. It's a newsgroup, which I found to be interesting, but most of all there was a LOT of information on cryptography.

3. Website: Cryptography and Network Security, Third Edition by: William Stallings (author). Rating: Easy-Hard. I really liked this website because it provided a lot of information on Cryptography. Ranging from Computer Resource page from NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) as well as Security Focus. This seems like a good website to dive into the subject. Plus if you like Mr. Stallings book then you can order it from his website. (:

4. Website: Crypto Corner by Simon Singh. Rating: Easy-Hard. This website is from Simon SIngh who wrote, "The Code Book" which is looked as one of the books to jumpstart your career in Cryptography. Having said that, before diving in this book it is assumed that you have good math skills. I went to this website, and noticed that Mr. Singh has posted sample cryptography questions ranging from easy to hard, that someone can download onto a CD and do them at their leisure. I foudn this to be very helpful!

5. Website: Key Authentication Rating: Easy-Medium. I liked how the sit was laid out in layman's terms. I know that some people have problems with Wikipedia because they feel that their information is not 100% accurate, but I found this to be correct and very easy to understand.

6. Website: Computer Security Rating: Easy-Medium. Great website! Allows user to go in many different directions depending on where they want to go. I know speaking for myself, I love variety!

7. Website: Digital Signatures Rating: Easy-Medium. Another great page! I am interested in digital signatures, and I posted this hoping that others will find this interesting. This site has pictues and the author(s) really went into detail about digital signatures, which was helpful!

8. Website: Security Engineering Rating: Easy-Medium. I think people should read look at this page to get a handle on computer security and other types of security. This website was helpful because it showed real life examples, about how people are not on the same page at a corporation. What would you do if someone called asking for a person's username and password claiming that they were the person, but they lost it? This question along with others are explored on this website.

9. Website: SSH: Support-Cryptography Rating: Easy-Medium. I found this website to be insight to give a general overview of cryptography. The information was presented that a person who didn't know much about cryptography would be able to understand it.

10. Book: "Cryptography for Dummies" by Chey Cobb. Rating: Easy-Medium. I know that most people don't like the Dummies series but I actually like this book. Ms Cobb wrote this book for people who are not heavy in mathematics. I think it's a great start for a person to learn about cryprography. I do have some problems with it. First it was written in 2004 so it could be used as a reference. Also Ms. Cobb discuss a chapter about costs of cryptography, if I was working as security expert I woudl find that chapter to be extremely useful, but since I am reading the book to get more information about cryptography I found the chapter to not apply to me. Besides that minor issue, the book is very good. Ms. Cobb is very knowledgeable about computer security and cryptography. She was employed at NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) which is more secretive than NSA (National Security Agency). Ms. Cobb was employed as a technical security officer with NRO, and also reviewed cryptosystems for other government agencies.

I hope these website(s) and book will give you a place to start. Good luck!