Dr. Seth Nielson Publishes First Book: Practical Cryptography in Python

AUSTIN, TX - Crimson Vista announces the publication of Dr. Nielson’s first book: Practical Cryptography in Python: Learning Correct Cryptography by Example, First Edition.

Demystifying Cryptography

Dr. Nielson’s new book teaches the basics of writing cryptographic algorithms in Python. It also demystifies cryptographic internals and demonstrates common ways cryptography is used incorrectly. This book is for IT administrators and software developers familiar with Python. While some readers may have a cursory knowledge of cryptography, the book assumes that the reader is starting from scratch.

What You’ll Learn

Things the reader will learn:

• Understand where cryptography is used, why, and how it gets misused
• Know what secure hashing is used for and its basic properties
• Get up to speed on algorithms and modes for block ciphers such as AES, and see how bad configurations break
• Use message integrity and/or digital signatures to protect messages
• Utilize modern symmetric ciphers such as AES-GCM and CHACHA
• Practice the basics of public key cryptography, including ECDSA signatures
• Discover how RSA encryption can be broken if insecure padding is used
• Employ TLS connections for secure communications
• Find out how certificates work and modern improvements such as certificate pinning and certificate transparency (CT) logs

Learning Through Breaking

“Cryptography is very easy to get wrong and very hard to get right,” said Dr. Seth Nielson, CEO of Crimson Vista. “This book takes advantage of the easy-to-use Python programming language to walk through a wide range of examples where the reader gets to experiment with both the right and wrong uses of cryptography. In seeing how things break, the reader will get a better intuition for using cryptography.”

Who This Book Is For

Target Audience:

• IT Administrators managing secure systems
• Software Developers implementing cryptographic solutions
• Security Engineers building secure applications
• Students learning cryptography fundamentals
• Anyone interested in understanding how cryptography works in practice

Hands-On Approach

The book features:

• Practical Python Examples - Real code you can run and experiment with
• Common Mistakes - Learn by seeing how things break
• Modern Algorithms - Coverage of current industry-standard cryptography
• Security Best Practices - Guidance on correct implementation
• Step-by-Step Tutorials - Build understanding incrementally

About the Author

Dr. Seth Nielson founded Crimson Vista in 2016 after more than a decade of broad industry practice in cybersecurity. His expertise spans academia, government, commercial businesses, and non-profits, with successful projects for startups, SMBs, and Fortune 100 companies.

About Crimson Vista

Founded by Dr. Seth Nielson in 2016, Crimson Vista, Inc. is a specialized engineering firm providing high-tech analysis, integration, and support especially in critical areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and wireless communication. After more than a decade of broad industry practice in cybersecurity, Dr. Nielson’s goal in launching Crimson Vista was to bridge security gaps in an industry driven by technology silos and over-specialization. The firm’s focus is on multi-domain solutions that factor in business objectives, legal and regulatory considerations, advanced technologies as well as human psychology. The team at Crimson Vista has experience working in academia, government, commercial businesses, and non-profits. Successful projects have been developed for start-ups, SMBs, and Fortune 100 companies. Learn more at: www.crimsonvista.com.

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For more information about Dr. Nielson’s publications and Crimson Vista’s cryptography services, contact us at info@crimsonvista.com.