Rating: 
Summary: A great book for securing your network
Review: I've read "Maximum Security: A Hacker's Guide" and have to say I like this book better. A Hacker's Guide is great if you are a script kiddie looking to infiltrate or crash other people's systems. This book however is for the rest of us who need to secure those systems from being compromised. The focus of this book is on securing networks, not launching exploits. The content and quality is excellent. The text is extremely easy to follow.
Rating:
Summary: What a great resource!
Review: Its amazing just how vulnerable you network can be even if you keep up with all of the latest patches. I really liked the focus on being able to secure a network using free or existing hardware and software. Chris Brenton does a great job of explaining how each piece of the network can be used to enhance overall security.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to Network Security
Review: Mr. Brenton does a good job of giving the uninitiated a good starting point in network security. The majority of his examples are NT-based (which is good because the majority of the people reading this are going to be NT-centric as well) but he also gives some excellent insight into NetWare and UNIX/LINUX as well. Although I was looking for something a bit more advanced, I thought that this book was an excellent book to begin the long road of network security with.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost Master Network Security
Review: Overall this text is slightly better than good. After reading almost the whole book I found that for someone interested in theory and not so much in technique, this is a good read. It does go over some good points about planning your security model and gives good advice on how to approach security in your organization. It even goes through a basic install of CheckPoint FW-1 for NT. Topics including policy, legal issues and the user's ability to comply with policy are interesting but not why I bought this book. I thought Chris put some good information in this text but the title doesn't accurately match the content.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Master Network Security
Review: Overall this text is slightly better than good. After reading almost the whole book I found that for someone interested in theory and not so much in technique, this is a good read. It does go over some good points about planning your security model and gives good advice on how to approach security in your organization. It even goes through a basic install of CheckPoint FW-1 for NT. Topics including policy, legal issues and the user's ability to comply with policy are interesting but not why I bought this book. I thought Chris put some good information in this text but the title doesn't accurately match the content.
Rating: 
Summary: A practical security guide for the network or system admin
Review: Security has become a major concern for every network and system administrator. Nearly every day, we are bombarded with news articles describing how yet another high-profile company has fallen prey to a network-based attack. In addition, we hear about new viruses that have been found "in the wild" or about additional software vulnerabilities that someone has figured out how to exploit for personal gain. To make matters even worse, network and system administrators are expected to take on additional tasks. Gone are the days when the knowledge of a single network operating system will let you get the job done. The modern network administrator typically has three or more network operating systems to manage, as well as switches, routers, firewalls, and a host of other connectivity devices. With so much technology to deal with, how can you hope to secure your environment? This book is designed to be a practical guide to assist the network or system administrator in securing the modern network environment. Subject matter includes:
Identifying potential attackers
Risk assessment: How much security do you need?
Writing network usage and security policies
Understanding network communications
Topology security
Networking hardware: Building a secure infrastructure
Packet filters and firewalls
Building Cisco access lists
Installing and configuring FireWall-1
Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS)
Installing and configuring ISS's RealSecure
Authentication and encryption
Virtual Private Networking (VPN)
Viruses, Trojans, and Worms
Disaster prevention and recovery
Securing Windows NT
Securing NetWare
Securing UNIX
The anatomy of an attack: A step-by-step attack example
Performing a security audit
Security resources on the Internet In addition, the included CD has trial versions of the following products:
Checkpoint Firewall-1
Guardian
IIS Internet Scanner & RealSecure
NTManage
NetAlert
Systems Inernals' full suite of NT utilities
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book
Review: Technical books tend to bore me to death but I managed to worked my way through this one. The author didn't write it in typical egghead-ese that one might see with any book focused on a such a complex arena of computing. I learned quite a few concepts with this one. I purchased the book primarily based on the ratings here and want to thank the other reviewers. They were right on with their reviews. This one is a must-read if you're even remotely interested in network security.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific content, very complete
Review: Terrific content, very complete. A must for anyone who performs network security tasks as well as network administrators looking for pointers on how to truely secure all aspects of their environment.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Benton brings clarity to a complex subject
Review: This book delivers as a comprehensive introduction to network security for the technical professional and for managers with administrative responsibility for security. The book clearly defines the internal and external risks that all internet connected networks face today, the defensive options and the associated costs.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Benton brings clarity to a complex subject
Review: This book delivers as a comprehensive introduction to network security for the technical professional and for managers with administrative responsibility for security. The book clearly defines the internal and external risks that all internet connected networks face today, the defensive options and the associated costs.
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