JAVA 2 Network Security (2nd Edition)

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Summary: Keep reading and your satisfaction is guaranteed.
Review: I have finished reading this book today from cover to cover. I have to write this review to recommend this great book. The best things of this book are tons of examples, figures, tables, and even screen shots. Every thing you need to know about Java security is fully covered in great details. This book is written by 5 authors, you will find that different authors talk about same topic in different chapters. This gives you chances to exam same topic from different author¡¦s point of view, helps you to fully understand some difficult topics. However, this book is not for beginners, they will easily get lost because this is a thick book with lots details, new terms and concepts.

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Summary: good java security book
Review: It is a very detailed one! Well explained, could be a practical guide. A lot of imporvement on the first version. A drawback is that some parts are repeated a few times.

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Summary: Just the begining...
Review: Supplied essential Java security and cryptography information. Introduced how and where the potential attack may happen and several techniques to avoid attack. Detailed information how to use Java signing tools (for Netscape Signing Object and Microsoft Authenticate Code)and security APIs.

However, from the developer's point of view, some very important topics such as Public/Hybreed Encryption, SSL, EJB, Servlet topics are way too light. Almost no touch on CORBA and RMI. Some of the contents can be obtained directly from SUN's site and most of the examples in the book are not ture client/server, and also borrowed from SUN's tutorial.

The Author may not target the audience as developers but the architects of network security. However he spends a lot of chapters to explain the security features (i.e class loader, file verifier and security manager) coming with Java programming language and how to customize/modify them. Anyways, as a developer, I am disappointed with the examples given (no innovation from the author but basic copies from SUN and very trivial).

Since I am new to Java programming language let alone security issues, and there is very limited resources available both on the book market and net, I still obtained valuable information from the book, I gave it four stars. For real world security developer guru, the book only introduced basic java network security and cryptography APIs.

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Summary: go deeply in the java security
Review: there are few books, which really explain deeply the security with all its issues. With the examples in this book, you can understand quickly how the SecurityManager and JVM work, how to write security policies. Cryptography, Firewalls, SSL and Java Plug-In are very good covered, too.

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Summary: Great book to understand Internet Security issues
Review: This book explains everything you need to know about Java security. Specifically, the authors do a great job by explaining in detail about the issues involved in deploying an applet in the Internet that has to communicate through a firewall with the middle tier resident in the DMZ.

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Summary: Bad Editing
Review: This book suffers from horrible editing. The book starts by repeating itself with the same information on class loaders and verifiers, then continues on to repeat itself on javakey and jarsigner. They actually appear to have copied the text from one chapter to another.

Later, the book has a 26 page description on servlets and their uses. Only six pages are used to describe the security model for servlets, which, by the way, is the same model that all java programs run under, and is described in several other chapters.

After continously repeating itself, the book finally settles down into insulting your intelligence. They actually tell you what to type in to compile and run each example. The book actually says "We compile this code using the java compiler: javac Count.java". I may be wrong, but I think people reading an advanced java book know how to compile and run programs.

There is even one example where they give you a screenshot of a program's output, then give a written description of the program's output.

There is still some good information in this book, but the bad editing makes it hard get.

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Summary: Nice reference for Java 2 Security problems
Review: This is a great book for people working on Java 2 to understand the Security issues involved. I recommend this for all Java 2 programmers. This will help them code as well as design their applications.

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Summary: Clearly written and packed with information
Review: This is an excellent book. I and everyone in my programming group at work are new to cryptology. Yet, after reading this book, I feel that we will be able to create a fully secure applet -- creating a trusted applet and making it work with encrypted communication between it and our server.

The technical information is delivered clearly and concisely. But I also enjoyed the first couple of chapters which describe Java Security for the "intelligent non-specialist who does not need all the details." These chapters will be extremely useful for me when I explain to my bosses why we should use Java Security. I highly recommend this book.

(No, I have no relationship to the author or the publisher. I am really just a satisfied reader).

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Summary: The greatest computer book - for every reader!
Review: This is the greatest computer book I have ever read.

The first three chapters of the book are an introduction to Java security, and they are very helpful to people who are new to Java security, just like me. The same concepts are covered later in the book in greater detail, so it may appear that there are some repetitions, but in reality the author informs you many times that if you are an expert, you should probably go directly to Chapter 4, and read the advanced topics.

In fact, this is an advanced book. Nevertheless, you will not get lost even if you are a beginner. The author covers advanced topics with a very simple approach and even tells you how to perform the simplest operations. While this can be sometimes boring if you already know Java programming, I guess that basic information is always useful, especially if readers are not very familiar with the topic.

In this book you will find the architecture of Java security as well as advanced topics such as cryptography, SSL, Java and firewalls, Netscape and IE Java security, Java plug-in, and many other things. There are many examples and screen captures that help a lot. The final result is that, after reading this book, you will feel like a Java security expert.

There are some imperfections, but overall, this is a great book. If you are interested in Java security, buy this book. You satisfaction is guaranteed.