This issue features an interesting book review by Richard Austin, an announcement about another algorithm competition sponsored by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and some news of the IEEE Computer Society.

This newsletter is an activity of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Security and Privacy (TCSP), and the Computer Society holds organizational meetings to which we (the TCSP) have an opportunity to send a representive. I attended the meetings this November, and I got meet other committee representatives and members of the Computer Society's staff. It's interesting to learn more about how the organization functions, and I have a brief report on the activities and benefits of membership.

The calendar of events notes that the Financial Cryptography conference meets in January of 2008, and the conference has free day care arrangements for attendees bringing children and some stipends for primary caregivers who need financial help in meeting their care obligations. This seems like a great idea, and I encourage all conference organizaters and conference sponsors to give the idea serious consideration in planning their next events.

Hilarie Orman
Cipher Editor