Rating: 
Summary: Great book.
Review: I just finished going through the entire book line by line. I am extreemly new to Linux and security, and this book made it all very clear. I only wish I realized that there was a second edition out when I bought this one. Everything in this original edition was still completely correct and appropriate, three years later.
Rating:
Summary: Truly superb
Review: I read a review of this book on slashdot and went out to the bookstore that day to check it out. I was planning on skimming through at the store to make sure it was worth buying, but ended up reading four chapters on the floor in the isle because I was unable to tear myself away. Needless to say, I bought a copy. Although I thought I'd done a good job securing my machines, I find that I had a number of things still left open and potentially vulnerable. I'm now working through the book chapter by chapter while I sit at my Linux machine fixing things. I highly recommend this book, especially to folks like me who think they have already done a good job protecting their machines to make sure you haven't missed anything.
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Summary: This helped me clean up my machine
Review: I started reading this as soon as i got it. The first chapter tells you why a hacker might want your machine even if it dosn't have anything interesting on it. They explained how you might notice that you've been hacked, and the things they said were just what was happening on my machine!I'd suspected that someone had broken in, but this book showed me exactly what I needed to do to kick the hacker off and take back my machine.So for me, the real world value of this book is immeasureable.
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Summary: More detailed than I'd imagined.
Review: I was beefing up my outdated security bookshelf, and thought I'd snag the latest in the Hacking Exposed series. I figured that since it was only covering one OS it would be able to have more depth, one of the chief failings of Hacking Exposed.Well, I was not disapointed. This book covered aspects of Linux and network security that I had not ever thought of. It makes very appropriate use of source code to illustrate problems, and shows you the attacks in both manual and automated forms so you can actually see what's going on, rather than just saying "run the blah program" as so many other books do. This book has information that will be useful for the newbie, but excells in including detail appropriate for all audiences. In that respect, this book almost reads like a textbook on how to hack and secure. If you're a new Linux user, you'll find good starter information, and want to come back to this periodically as you learn more. If you think you know Linux security, then this is the book against which you should test yourself. I doubt most folks have tried half the things listed in chapter 10.
Rating:
Summary: Buy two of these
Review: I wasn't a fan of Hacking Exposed, largely because its Unix section was a mere 50 pages of superficial, outdated, and obvious fluff. Hacking Linux Exposed makes up for that lack by digging into Unix in much more depth.Though it is modeled after the attack/countermeasure style of the original HE, this book includes a whole chapter of security measures at the beginning that you can implement instantly to get your machine locked down before getting into the nitty-gritty detail about other things in the hacker's arsenal.I was particularly enthralled with chapter 10, which talks about what the hacker will do after they have gained root access, from simple things like adding accounts to complicated issues like kernel modules, complete with source code. Chapter 7 includes some really wonderful examples of how the hacker can abuse networking protocols themselves, something I haven't seen covered in such depth before.The book is logically organized. The first part covers the way the hackers find and probe your machine. The second talks about getting in from the outside, be it network or physical. The third part talks about gaining additional priveleges, and the last part of the book is dedicated to mail, ftp, web, and firewalls. The appendicies are actually useful. They seem to have dropped the small 1-page case studies from the original book and replaced them with longer hacker-eye-views of real attacks which are an interesting read, and really tie the book together.This book is Linux specific in it's countermeasures, but I'd recommend this to any unix user. They do a good job of discussing differences between Linux variants as well, they don't just assume everyone has a RedHat box on their desk. Very refreshing.This book is great for both the theory and practical uses. I could spend weeks implementing all the suggestions they have, but they seem to have thought of this because their risk ratings let you know where you should concentrate as you secure your systems.Like Hacking Exposed, this book also has a website, (...) but it seems more up-to-date -- for example when the ptrace bug in older kernels came out, they posted a kernel module you could compile to protect your system until you could upgrade -- and includes all the source code contained in the book.I bought two of these, one for home and one for the office, and I suggest you do the same.
Rating:
Summary: Don't have this book? You're BEGGING for trouble...
Review: I'm a big fan of the Hacking Exposed style of writing. All offensive theory is backed up by command line examples, followed by defensive countermeasures. Hacking Exposed: Linux, 2nd Ed (HE:L2E) follows this tradition, updating the content of the first edition and adding 200 pages of new content. Although I reviewed the first edition in Sep 01, reading the second edition reminded me of the challenges posed by securely configuring and deploying Linux systems.
The best way to learn while reading HE:L2E is to try the sample commands. I also recommend visiting the links mentioned and installing many of the tools described by the authors. I found programs like raccess, nsat (ch. 3), sslsniff (ch. 7), nstx, and httptunnel (ch. 15) particularly interesting from an attacker's point of view. From a system administration standpoint, coverage of passlogd (ch. 2), lilo and grub (ch. 5), and X (ch. 6) were very helpful. The authors share many novel ways to abuse Linux systems, but counter those exploits with little-known features or third-party tools. I never knew I could use bash's HISTCONTROL feature to selectively remove entries from shell history files. HE:L2E goes the extra mile to help secure your system, such as including sample C code in ch. 13 to allow one to compile TCP Wrappers support into one's own programs. Other clear, concise defensive measures were introduced in excellent chapters on keeping the kernel and packages current (appendix B) and pro-active security measures (ch. 2). The last appendix gives a short yet powerful description of the damage an intruder can perform, showing how he hid unauthorized programs and how those programs were discovered.
If you use Linux, you'll find HE:L2E indispensable. I even applied many of the tools and techniques to my FreeBSD system, showing that that good security advice can be a cross-platform endeavor.
Rating:
Summary: The best hands-on Linux security book just got better
Review: I'm a big fan of the Hacking Exposed style of writing. All offensive theory is backed up by command line examples, followed by defensive countermeasures. Hacking Exposed: Linux, 2nd Ed (HE:L2E) follows this tradition, updating the content of the first edition and adding 200 pages of new content. Although I reviewed the first edition in Sep 01, reading the second edition reminded me of the challenges posed by securely configuring and deploying Linux systems.
The best way to learn while reading HE:L2E is to try the sample commands. I also recommend visiting the links mentioned and installing many of the tools described by the authors. I found programs like raccess, nsat (ch. 3), sslsniff (ch. 7), nstx, and httptunnel (ch. 15) particularly interesting from an attacker's point of view. From a system administration standpoint, coverage of passlogd (ch. 2), lilo and grub (ch. 5), and X (ch. 6) were very helpful. The authors share many novel ways to abuse Linux systems, but counter those exploits with little-known features or third-party tools. I never knew I could use bash's HISTCONTROL feature to selectively remove entries from shell history files. HE:L2E goes the extra mile to help secure your system, such as including sample C code in ch. 13 to allow one to compile TCP Wrappers support into one's own programs. Other clear, concise defensive measures were introduced in excellent chapters on keeping the kernel and packages current (appendix B) and pro-active security measures (ch. 2). The last appendix gives a short yet powerful description of the damage an intruder can perform, showing how he hid unauthorized programs and how those programs were discovered.
If you use Linux, you'll find HE:L2E indispensable. I even applied many of the tools and techniques to my FreeBSD system, showing that that good security advice can be a cross-platform endeavor.
Rating:
Summary: Frequent Reference
Review: I've had this book since early 2001, and use it at least once a week. I use it for both security information, as well as a reference for good programming style and tricks. I really want to buy the second edition, but don't have the cash right now. But I can promise that this first edition is still completely useful today as the day it was released.
Rating:
Summary: Learning? You need this one.
Review: If you are new to Linux or responsible for Linux infrastructure security this book is for you. Good detail and really essential detail that you can't pick up in your Linux how to and installation books.
Rating:
Summary: Full Disclosure at it's best
Review: If you're looking for a book that doesn't hold it's punches, this is the one. These chapters are filled with tricks that can be used for good or ill. I'd love to know the ratio of white to black hats that read this book. But, for all the ideas it may give to the bad guys, it shows exactly what you need to do to keep those bad guys out of your machine. Get it before they do.
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