Levy vs. Mitnick

Both Crypto and The Art of Deception expand on the issue of public privacy and security. The writing style and approach of the author’s differ. In Crypto, Levy focuses mainly on the development of encryption and it’s development over time. His work seems to be targeting an audience with some background knowledge on technological systems relating to encryption. This makes is somewhat difficult for someone like myself to follow. In contrast, Mitnick, author of The Art of Deception, presents ways to protect privacy and gives examples from a business perspective that freely connect to personal privacy and security.

Levy presents the struggle between the government and cryptographers on keeping information secure and anonymous. When Levy poses the question, “But what if governments were not the only beneficiaries of cryptography?,” he presents the idea that the general population could benefit, which is most definitely true. This book does relate to people in general, but the narrative expands on very specific details relating to the history of cryptography. From my perspective, I prefer a book that gives current examples and implications with a focus on how it affects me directly. At times Levy does point out specific implications such as those who could wrongly benefit from the transfer of anonymous information, “Kidnappers, child pornographers, and terrorists, whose lives would be made much simpler and more secure with such tools.” One could say this book goes “behind the scenes”, detailing the conflicts.

The organization and writing style of Mitnick’s work, The Art of Deception, is easier to follow. Mitnick focuses on the charisma and intelligence of social engineers to manipulate people. Though the focus is on the business world, Mitnick’s ideas and suggestions can benefit anyone living in our current world filled with electronic transactions, both online and in person. He presents his ideas by stating, “Security is not a technology problem—it’s a people and management problem.” Mintick’s style is more engaging because of the analysis of this management and the incorporation of possible solutions. He includes, from a business perspective, that it is a high priority to have a security policy and proper education and training for employees (p. 27). Like the business environment, people in general must be educated about security and privacy and understand the implications. We must also make it a priority on ourselves to think through our actions when it comes to the exchange of information. The Art of Deception presents a perspective in a meaningful manner with explicit examples and solutions.    

References

Levy, S. (2001). Crypto: How the code rebels beat the government -saving privacy in the digital age. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Mitnick, K. (2002). The art of deception. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.