Rating: 
Summary: Only the best
Review: Hands down.. this is the best "publicly" available book on computer security.. Its obvious that the author has a strong background in unix, however, this book is just as useful for NT, MacOS, OS/2, etc.. The amount of references on the web that the author points out are probablly twice as long as the book itself.. If you want to defend your network, this is a must of musts. All the other book will take about how to do encryption, setup firewalls.. but the author goes a step further and tells you exactly how they can be beaten, what tools are used, and how to defend against these nuisances.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This book was an eye-opener for me. It discusses the strengths and weaknesses of networks and the Internet; what to look out for; how to protect yourself; what makes the systems tick. I agree with another reviewer who mentioned that it was hard to put the book down. Aside from the author's own writings, there are hundreds of additional references which can be used to research hacking and defending networks on the Internet. This book is invaluable for system administrators.
Rating:
Summary: This is what you need.
Review: Other books, like Linda McCarthy's "Intranet Security : Stories from the Trenches" (to use a current example) are well meaning, but are pretty nebulous about what has happened on other sites. They give the URLs for SATAN and Crack (among others, of course), but lose their nerve about going much further in outlining what, exactly, has happened in the past and what, exactly, to do about it -- never mind that SATAN and Crack are powerful tools. The solution posed by most other books? Get experience... somehow... (attack your own site?) or hire someone like Linda McCarthy. I don't find this helpful. Security workshops put on by CERT, FIRST, et. al. are a drag and I usually fall asleep. I don't fall asleep reading this thing. I have been looking for a book such as this for a long, long time. I couldn't recommend it more.
Rating: 
Summary: Field 3
Review: If you have read the book, you know that there is a hidden message on the CDROM. I provided five plain-text fields from which you can derive the PGP passphrase necessary to unlock (and decrypt) that hidden message. Several weeks ago, a reader or readers posted their best guess at what Field 3 might be. For reasons unknown to me, Amazon took that message down. In any case, to prevent anyone else from bothering with Field 3, I am writing this message to confirm the accuracy of the original reader's finding. Field 3 reads as follows:
072899
The reader (or readers) was/were quite correct. It *is* a date, an eclipse *does* occur on that date, and there *is* a historical significance to it. (One which I will leave students of mysticism to share amongst themselves.) Field 3, therefore, translates to the *time* at which the eclipse takes place, which is 11:34. Therefore, Field 3 has been cracked. Its plaintext value is:
11:34
One field down, 4 to go. To the original reader that posted their results: well done. Honestly, I thought that would be the last field to be cracked. I should add that the first person to communicate the text of the encrypted message to the editors at SAMS.net publishing will receive a) an autographed copy of the book, in which I sign my real name; and b) $100.00 (one hundred dollars.) Again, good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Good book!
Review: This is a good book for network administrator and hacker!
Rating:
Summary: This book owns u!
Review: This is a great book for the hacker and hackerwannabe(i.e. lamer). If you dont know anythingcomputer security. This is a MUST read. Let me tell you. I've got a friend mentioned in the book, he said that the description given of him by the anonymous author was totally accurate. I loved it!
Rating:
Summary: Finally a book that actually shows both sides of the fence
Review: I read the book cover to cover and loved every page. As a former cracker turned network administrator, I found that this book's refreshing strait up information to be useful atleast in part to anyone involved in security. When I read the book I was about to design and implement an internet security system for a local company and really needed a refresher. I have been out of the security scene for a few months and I was looking for something to get me back in the mindset. I found this book and really only decided to get it because of the goofy title but I do not regret my decision at all. After I started reading this book I could not believe that what had taken me years of reading through technical doccuments and underground publications could be learned in a few days now with this book. Aside from all of that, my favorite thing about the book was the feeling of nostalgia I got from it. I love hearing the stories about the old days. For the first time ever I knew that the author was a person like me. That is something so rare in computer literature. Through the years I have read atleast a dozen books on computer security and this is hands down my favorite. If you are only going to buy one security book you should get this one. All upcomming crackers, new system administrators, and old schoolers who want to feel their roots should get this book
Rating: 
Summary: Much needed resource
Review: I disagree with the previous poster on the point about endangering Internet security. The book is a refreshing, up front look at some serious security problems. I agree with the authot that holes in Internet security should be brought out in the open
Rating:
Summary: A practitioner's point of view...
Review: Well, I have bought every version of this book since the first and continue to find reasons enclosed to keep it on my bookshelf. I even own Maximum Linux Security. Yep. It's excellent as well. Not only does the book give you a good feel about where to find the tools of the trade it also gives you insight into their usage. I regularly investigate computer-based instrusions and find that many of the concepts included in these chapters are enclosed. I cut my teeth on this series of books a few years ago and continue to keep my skills fresh with them today. I belieive in this book. I think any serious practitioner should at least browse it to see what he or she is missing. Loved it - Keep them coming. I'm looking forward to seeing if this edition has anything on the latest exploits concerning the use of Nimda/Code Red/Unicode invasions that I am seeing in conjunction with Scanner Tools and remote control utilities is discussed or not... IRC-Scripters... Anyone have info contact me ...Thanks...
Rating: 
Summary: Too general
Review: Almost every chapter describes in long elaborate paragraphs, stating the seriousness and the effects of how something could cause damage to your system. But if you trim down all the words, it basically just says "you know hacking is bad, but we like to show off our writing skills so you can learn how to say it like a snobbish aristocrat." You can find much better information almost anywhere on internet. This book is written for amateur IT managerial debutantes who have no clue what is a computer besides having taken a keyboarding class in college and simply need to impress the boss so he can keep his job. Get "Hacking Expose: Second Edtion" instead, you'll learn how to actually accomplish something.
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