Rating: 
Summary: Computer security by one of the best!
Review: "Hackers Beware" provides a solid introduction to the basics of computer security. I have attended several of the SANS sessions and Eric Cole has always impressed me as one of the fields best teachers.While this book is mainly for those newly introduced to the field of network security, "Hackers Beware" does offer quite abit for the more experienced system administrators. However, those of you who have been in the field for a while will find several areas that can be glossed over in favor of the more advanced sections. "Hackers Beware" could have benefited from a more through editing job to cut down on the amount of repetitive material, but overall this is a great reference for any security professional's bookshelf. (Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publisher.)
Rating:
Summary: Computer security by one of the best!
Review: "Hackers Beware" provides a solid introduction to the basics of computer security. I have attended several of the SANS sessions and Eric Cole has always impressed me as one of the fields best teachers. While this book is mainly for those newly introduced to the field of network security, "Hackers Beware" does offer quite abit for the more experienced system administrators. However, those of you who have been in the field for a while will find several areas that can be glossed over in favor of the more advanced sections. "Hackers Beware" could have benefited from a more through editing job to cut down on the amount of repetitive material, but overall this is a great reference for any security professional's bookshelf. (Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publisher.)
Rating:
Summary: Great Starting Point
Review: Although this book is useful to both beginners and security administrators, it is written so beginners can get a great understanding of what hacking is about and how to protect against it. The examples are thorough and provide step-by-step screen shots as to what happens during a certain exploit. It also tells the counter measures for each attack therefore enabling you to combat such an attack. This book is a definate "must read" for anyone currently involved in or who wants to be involved in computer/network security.
Rating: 
Summary: Valuable info & an easy read
Review: As someone who has been impressed with your level of knowledge and your lively and effective teaching style, I was waiting for my copy of 'Hackers Beware' to arrive. It has held up to my expectations, and then some. This book is as informative and interesting as your live instruction. Thank you for this contribution to the security community.
Rating:
Summary: A must for your library
Review: Eric's book is the first one I reach for when I need a reference. I have purchased many of the other "Hacker" references and they have all come up short. Hackers Beware is a well-written source to understand how your potential enemies think and what tools they may use against you. As a former student of Eric, I can tell you that he is a treasure chest of practical information. He expertly transferred his real world knowledge into the classroom. Now that knowledge is on my bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Good Reference
Review: Hackers Beware is a good reference for individuals who are new to the information security field or managers who need to have some understanding of information security. It discusses in basic terms the general issues that affect network security. Technical issues are discussed in a manner that allows non-technical individuals to understand the severity of the vulnerabilities, attacks, and exploits.
Rating:
Summary: Good Reference
Review: Hackers Beware is a good reference for individuals who are new to the information security field or managers who need to have some understanding of information security. It discusses in basic terms the general issues that affect network security. Technical issues are discussed in a manner that allows non-technical individuals to understand the severity of the vulnerabilities, attacks, and exploits.
Rating:
Summary: An expert's look at the state of the security arena
Review: I am a senior engineer for network security operations. I have attended Eric Cole's excellent SANS classes and consider him a professional acquaintance. "Hackers Beware" is a welcome contribution to the security community. Although some of the material is redundant, you're bound to gain new insights on network intrusions by reading this book. The message of "Hackers Beware" is clear: prevention is preferred, but detection is mandatory. To discover intrusions, one must understand the tools and tactics of the adversary. To this end, "Hackers Beware" devotes chapters to information gathering, spoofing, session hijacking, denial of service, buffer overflows, password security, access preservation, and log cleaning. Some of the material in these chapters is based on the "practicum" required of SANS students. My favorite section, without doubt, was chapter 17: "Other Types of Attacks." It features many valuable essays by SANS students on BIND NXT exploitation, cookie-based overflows, SNMP enumeration, and other topics. Publishing student material has its drawbacks, however. "Hackers Beware" is repetitive, a sin given the book's page count (778). Why include yet another explanation of buffer overflows in chapter 14, for example, when a whole chapter (7) already discusses them? (Actually, Brent Hughes' work in chapter 14 is more enlightening!) Furthermore, the "fundamentals" of UNIX and NT chapters are much less informative compared to Ed Skoudis' chapters in "Counter Hack." I also recommend New Riders help the author overcome his addiction to "three phrase sentences," such as "Now the Internet is very popular, and everyone is using Linux because it is powerful and inexpensive, so the number of people beating on the system is very high." (p. 480.) Future editions should reduce the number of vulnerabilities described in favor of more thorough explanations of sample exploits. For example, a virtual reprint of cDc's advisory on a NetMeeting weakness teaches me very little; providing background on the coding, system calls, and principles of this exploit is more useful. I would also pare the student-based material down to the essential core, removing generic material discussed elsewhere. I'd almost buy "Hackers Beware" for chapter 17 alone, so I'm sure security professionals will find many reasons to enjoy this book. (Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publisher.)
Rating:
Summary: An expert's look at the state of the security arena
Review: I am a senior engineer for network security operations. I have attended Eric Cole's excellent SANS classes and consider him a professional acquaintance. "Hackers Beware" is a welcome contribution to the security community. Although some of the material is redundant, you're bound to gain new insights on network intrusions by reading this book. The message of "Hackers Beware" is clear: prevention is preferred, but detection is mandatory. To discover intrusions, one must understand the tools and tactics of the adversary. To this end, "Hackers Beware" devotes chapters to information gathering, spoofing, session hijacking, denial of service, buffer overflows, password security, access preservation, and log cleaning. Some of the material in these chapters is based on the "practicum" required of SANS students. My favorite section, without doubt, was chapter 17: "Other Types of Attacks." It features many valuable essays by SANS students on BIND NXT exploitation, cookie-based overflows, SNMP enumeration, and other topics. Publishing student material has its drawbacks, however. "Hackers Beware" is repetitive, a sin given the book's page count (778). Why include yet another explanation of buffer overflows in chapter 14, for example, when a whole chapter (7) already discusses them? (Actually, Brent Hughes' work in chapter 14 is more enlightening!) Furthermore, the "fundamentals" of UNIX and NT chapters are much less informative compared to Ed Skoudis' chapters in "Counter Hack." I also recommend New Riders help the author overcome his addiction to "three phrase sentences," such as "Now the Internet is very popular, and everyone is using Linux because it is powerful and inexpensive, so the number of people beating on the system is very high." (p. 480.) Future editions should reduce the number of vulnerabilities described in favor of more thorough explanations of sample exploits. For example, a virtual reprint of cDc's advisory on a NetMeeting weakness teaches me very little; providing background on the coding, system calls, and principles of this exploit is more useful. I would also pare the student-based material down to the essential core, removing generic material discussed elsewhere. I'd almost buy "Hackers Beware" for chapter 17 alone, so I'm sure security professionals will find many reasons to enjoy this book. (Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publisher.)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent security information resource
Review: I am not a system admin nor do I play one on TV. However being a computer professional, I have an interest in the topic of network security, and how crackers and "script kiddies" infiltrate network systems. This book offers a wealth of network security information that even "novices" like myself can easily follow. And in some of the examples Cole discusses, it's almost scary to discover how easy it is for someone with even a little bit of knowledge to infiltrate a computer network. Cole's book while dauntingly large contains a wealth of information that any security professional should know about. One of my sys admin friends was commenting to me that books like Cole's allow the "script kiddies" to learn about exploits without doing any of the work that a "black hat (cracker)" or "white hat (hacker)" might do to exploit a system. However big a risk that may possibly be, I still feel it's best for any security professional to be informed about all the various types of exploits they may deal with. And with a book of this size, there are obviously lots of them to discuss. Cole discusses exploits against Linux, UNIX, Windows, and Windows NT and the myriad of programs (password crackers, network sniffers, back door programs, etc.) designed to break into other people's systems. Each program is described in full and what it does. Cole also offers suggestions and solutions in various chapters to keep unauthorized users from accessing various systems. While you will never be 100% safe from an "attack," Cole's book offers ways to keep your system from being attacked or ensure that the chances of it actually happening remain remote, or the "damage" from such attacks stays minimal.
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