Rating: 
Summary: A Wide Breadth of Practical In-Depth Information
Review: This is the best of the books I've seen on Linux system security. It focuses almost exclusively on freely available tools, and therefore should appeal to those poorly funded installations that use Linux because of its low cost. The authors cover many tools in the detail needed to obtain, install, and use them in an intelligent way. I was very impressed with the scope of coverage, from system policies to the use and configuration of crack, and everything in between. Although not everything within that scope can be covered in complete detail, the book also includes many useful references for additional information.Among my few complaints would be that the authors tended to present the tools within the context of a network utilizing firewalls, a DMZ, and limited service servers. In practice many installations will not be so well constructed. In fairness, the utility of the information presented was usually unaffected by the assumed architecture. Although the presentation is relatively distribution neutral, the examples and specifics referred almost exclusively to RPM based RedHat 5 and 6. I would have been interested in seeing parallel details for Debian based distributions, if for nothing else than to gain a sense of the differences that might be encountered based on packaging.
Rating:
Summary: A Wide Breadth of Practical In-Depth Information
Review: This is the best of the books I've seen on Linux system security. It focuses almost exclusively on freely available tools, and therefore should appeal to those poorly funded installations that use Linux because of its low cost. The authors cover many tools in the detail needed to obtain, install, and use them in an intelligent way. I was very impressed with the scope of coverage, from system policies to the use and configuration of crack, and everything in between. Although not everything within that scope can be covered in complete detail, the book also includes many useful references for additional information. Among my few complaints would be that the authors tended to present the tools within the context of a network utilizing firewalls, a DMZ, and limited service servers. In practice many installations will not be so well constructed. In fairness, the utility of the information presented was usually unaffected by the assumed architecture. Although the presentation is relatively distribution neutral, the examples and specifics referred almost exclusively to RPM based RedHat 5 and 6. I would have been interested in seeing parallel details for Debian based distributions, if for nothing else than to gain a sense of the differences that might be encountered based on packaging.
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