Rating: 
Summary: Great Book, Very Complete
Review: This is a very cool book. The first couple of chapters contain a lot of ammunition that can be used to justify extra $$$ for securing your environment. The book then gets into how all the pieces of a network fit together. I thought this was a little odd for a security book but found it much easier to follow the later material than I have with other books. The author lays down a great foundation so that its much easier to follow the higher end stuff like locking down a particular operating system and why certain steps are important. This book is definitely one to keep handy long after its been read!
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended!
Review: We use NT, Novell and Unix so this book was a great resource for securing all of our systems. I especially liked the tips for securing NT. The author pulls no punches in describing what works and what does not. I was also able to take the included security policy and use it within our environment with very few changes. This saved me a ton of work.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent handling of the subject - a MUST read !!!
Review: What struck me in my reading experience of this book was the author's superb hold on the subject of security and the structured manner in which he approached this whole topic. The book was very hard to put down once I got going and in fact, it gave me a lot of insight into some day-to-day tasks that we take for granted at the office setup. His practical down-to-earth examples only served to highlight a concept he was putting across. It is a MUST read for anyone getting into the "security" arena and I liked the style of writing too - gave me a feeling that the author was addressing me on a one-on-one basis throughout. I felt the chapter on IDS could have been dealt with on a much broader perspective rather than from a product perspective. We have used a lot many ideas from this book to structure our in-house security sessions. Its worth every penny spent on it !!!
Rating: 
Summary: A good place to start working on security fundamentals.
Review: With the need for network security ever increasing daily and the need for security specialist on the rise in the industry, it is nice to see Sybex releasing an update to this manual. While I found this book to more for the foundational concepts rather than the more experienced technician, this is still a great book to work with. What attracted me to this book was the author Chris Brenton, of whom I read his Mastering Cisco Routers and found it an invaluable resource to my job. I also found his knowledge of this subject matter to be just as impressive, making this a first rate resource. I wished I had read this before the router book and certain concepts would have been easier to understand. The chapters for firewalls and particular PIX Firewalls, I thought was well documented and explained. The one thing I found most impressive by the text was the fact that the authors made or make no assumption of knowledge level, thereby ensuring the reader have an explanation that will make sense and be comprehendible at the same time. Another thing I found was that while this book is Network Security and does not conform to any Security Certification objectives, it would be useful for Security+ exam as well as some others. I also liked the exercises included, but I always want more, which is something to add to the next edition. Overall for those trying to crack the security barrier you have a great place to get started. The authors did a terrific job and Sybex has a winner in this book.
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