RSA 2005 Bruce Schneier experiences after writing the last seven pages of Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon have prompted the noted cryptographic expert to consider a radical change of career. Schneier's books on information security sell well, but his eyes were opened at a joint book-signing session with Stephenson.

"Cyberpunk authors get better groupies," he joked. To date, Schneier's published works have evolved from discussions about cryptography to network security to security's role in society in general with his last book Beyond Fear. His next (as yet unnamed) book will focus on the social effects of security issues rather than technology.

Schneier made his comments during a book-signing session at the RSA 2005 conference in San Francisco yesterday. ®

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