Rating: 
Summary: The best technical text I've read.
Review: Alot of subjects in IT and security are covered over and over with a mass of books that may be a little better or a little worse, but are essentially identical. While Checkpoint is a less crowded topic than, say, NT Administration, I suspect this book will continue to stand out. In researching Checkpoint issues I've been struck by the extent to which "Phoneboy" is personally identified with the topic, both by newbies and by seasoned professionals. It's for good reason. This book is extremely thorough (within its scope) and brings alot to the table in the way of the details that a professional would need. I've read alot of technical texts, but this one stands out, both generally and with the specific topic. The book is written well, with a good structure and giving useful examples. I found the bug reports and known issues particularly useful. As a technical resource it seems unmatched. It was an excellent resource, both on the job and in earning my CCSA.
Rating:
Summary: The best technical text I've read.
Review: Alot of subjects in IT and security are covered over and over with a mass of books that may be a little better or a little worse, but are essentially identical. While Checkpoint is a less crowded topic than, say, NT Administration, I suspect this book will continue to stand out. In researching Checkpoint issues I've been struck by the extent to which "Phoneboy" is personally identified with the topic, both by newbies and by seasoned professionals. It's for good reason. This book is extremely thorough (within its scope) and brings alot to the table in the way of the details that a professional would need. I've read alot of technical texts, but this one stands out, both generally and with the specific topic. The book is written well, with a good structure and giving useful examples. I found the bug reports and known issues particularly useful. As a technical resource it seems unmatched. It was an excellent resource, both on the job and in earning my CCSA.
Rating:
Summary: Hands down the best book on FW-1 available
Review: Checkpoint FireWall-1 has become one of the top firewall software products in the industry. There are many reasons for its predominance. It was the first commercial
firewall on the market, but more importantly, the FireWall-1 GUI and its ease of use impressed corporate CIO's.Although FireWall-1 is easy to use, some users face difficulty in configuring the product correctly and appropriately. In fact, one of the biggest dangers of a firewall is that it can
provide a false sense of security; if not properly configured, a firewall may have so many holes that it actually functions as nothing more than a router. Firewall expert Marcus
Ranum notes that, "...eventually, if enough data is going back and forth through your firewall, it is no longer a firewall -- it is a router." Many times, firewall administrators are hired not because of their expertise in information security, but because they know network and systems administration quite
well. Many FireWall-1 administrators start with zero experience and knowledge. This is good from a job security and training perspective, but terrible from a security perspective.
Despite the proliferation and ubiquitous nature of FireWall-1 over the past decade, it is only in the last few months that any worthwhile books on FireWall-1 have become
available. One of the best is Essential Checkpoint Firewall-1: An Installation, Configuration, and Troubleshooting Guide by Dameon Welch-Abernathy. Welch-
Abernathy maintains a Web site, ..., which contains information on anything and everything related to FireWall-1. In fact, many FireWall-1 administrators have
... bookmarked as their prime site for FireWall-1 information, even before the Check Point support site. Although the documentation that comes with FireWall-1 is quite good, Essential Checkpoint Firewall-1 often surpasses it. This is what makes Welch-Abernathy known as
the man for FireWall-1. Even Nir Zuk, who was a principal engineer at Check Point, stated that Welch-Abernathy's knowledge of FireWall-1 in many cases surpassed the
knowledge of Check Point's own engineers. As its title implies, the book covers the installation, configuration, and troubleshooting of FireWall-1. Whereas the product itself is pretty straightforward to install (except for the
software license information), the real challenge is in the post- installation arena. The book has 14 chapters and, by Chapter 3 (page 34), the book is already into FireWall-
1. Other books often include up to 100 pages of filler on topics such as computer secrity, cryptography, threats, etc., and don't get to the main subject until half way through the
book. Chapter 4 of this book provides a thorough overview of how to build a rulebase. The chapter describes the various fields and objects that need to be created for the
firewall to be effective. Although the simplicity of the Check Point GUI is obvious, the definition of names, network objects, and so forth, must be carefully planned -- especially
for rollouts of FireWall-1 in large enterprise environments. Chapter 8 provides an excellent overview of content security. FireWall-1 is built on its patented Stateful Inspection capabilities, but it has other security facilities including CVP
(Content Vectoring Protocol), UFP (URL Filtering Protocol), and others. The chapter describes much of the secondary content protection capabilities of FireWall-1. Such capabilities are crucial in light of the volume of information that passes through corporate firewalls (including streaming media, email, files, Java, etc.). Essential Checkpoint Firewall-1 covers all the crucial topics that any FireWall-1 administrator needs to know. From authentication, VPN, logging, high availability, and
more, it is all there. This is what makes Essential Checkpoint Firewall-1 the book of choice for FireWall-1.
Rating: 
Summary: "Phoneboy" Knows His Checkpoint Firewall Info
Review: Each chapter of the book starts off with describing what the reader will learn or accomplish by reading that chapter. This sort of information is helpful for allowing readers to skip information that may not be useful to them and find the answers they seek. Many of the chapters also contain FAQ's and sample configurations and illustrations to help reinforce the information.
The book tries to cover a very broad scope and apply to a wide audience. It contains information all the way from holding the readers hand if they are new to Checkpoint Firewall-1 NG to providing detailed troubleshooting and configuration steps for experienced Checkpoint administrators.
I have never administered a Checkpoint firewall personally, but I found the information mostly straight forward and understandable. Again, this is not a book one would typically read casually, but for anyone who administers a Checkpoint firewall or is looking at installing a Checkpoint Firewall-1 NG system this is an excellent source of information.
Tony Bradley is a consultant and writer with a focus on network security, antivirus and incident response. He is the About.com Guide for Internet / Network Security (http://netsecurity.about.com), providing a broad range of information security tips, advice, reviews and information. Tony also contributes frequently to other industry publications. For a complete list of his freelance contributions you can visit Essential Computer Security (http://www.tonybradley.com).
Rating:
Summary: This is the book you've been waitng for
Review: I don't know about you, but I haven't been able to find one decent book on Firewall-1. Finally, Phoneboy came to the rescue. This is an excellent book for the beginner or experienced FW-1 admin. I highly reccomend it. -JM
Rating:
Summary: Great book!!
Review: I got thrust into having to install a Checkpoint firewall with zero experience. I had a lot of other networking experience and understood all the concepts but had never installed a firewall. This book is the ONLY one that explains what you need to do. All the other books on Checkpoint are either too old or too vague. The book walks you through the concepts in an easy to understand manner and gives lots of examples. I've never written a review before for a book but this one made me want to tell everyone interested to buy it.
Rating:
Summary: The best "Firewall Planing" book
Review: I have been setting up many firewalls (Linux...) and sooner or later I crashed into Firewall-1. I wanted to know more about it and its benefits compared to Linux iptables based firewall for example. So I bought this book and started to read it (without actually using Firewall-1 at all). I was very impressed by the chapters that describe everything from the first steps on. Like how to talk to company that need's a firewall, hot to analyze it, which OS to choose, how to prepare OS, how to licence Firewall-1.... A must book even for those that do not directly deal with Firewall-1 software. Thank you Phoneboy for this really excellent Firewall cookbook that made my life easier in all aspects of thinking on firewall's!
Rating:
Summary: Seems to be a rare gem in the poor selection of tech books
Review: I have only just got the book, looked up a couple of things I'm interested in, and found them, will good descriptions. This seems to be a really good tech book for Firewall-1, for novice and advance users. Well recommend this for you reference bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: It's all you need...
Review: I have to say, this is one awesome book. If you need to learn Firewall-1, look no further. When reading the book you feel like it's a friend taking the time to explain the topic. It was very well laid out and a really great read. It's not very often that you find someone who is not only knowledgeable but able to get that knowledge across. I don't care if you're a beginner or an expert. You will enjoy this book and get a lot out of it. I think it's safe to say it's the best book out there on Firewall-1. Buy it! You won't be disappointed. Thanks Phoneboy.....5 Stars....
Rating:
Summary: What was unclear before, is now clear.
Review: I've been administering Checkpoints for about a year now. Like many admins I learned how to do it in a trial by fire. Well all I can say is I wish I had this book a year ago. The author explains everything clearly and I finally understand certain things that have been bedeviling me for a year now. Bravo Phoneboy. If you administer CheckPoint firewalls you gotta buy this book. It is indeed "essential". Excellant job!!!!!
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