Open Source Security Tools : Practical Guide to Security Applications, A (Bruce Perens Open Source)

Rating:
Summary: Very good information for system administrators...
Review: Are you a system administrator who needs to know more about security tools but you can't devote all your time to it? A good book to look at is Open Source Security Tools - A Practical Guide To Security Applications by Tony Howlett.

Chapter list: Information Security and Open Source Software; Operating System Tools; Firewalls; Port Scanners; Vulnerability Scanners; Network Sniffers; Intrusion Detection Systems; Analysis and Management Tools; Encryption Tools; Wireless Tools; Forensic Tools; More on Open Source Software; Open Source Licenses; Basic Linux/UNIX Commands; Well-Known TCP/IP Port Numbers; General Permission and Waiver Form; References; Index

This book is designed to be a practical, hands-on guide to using various open source tools to make your systems more secure. It's also targeted for system administrators who don't have security administration as their primary responsibility. Therefore, hard-core security techies might not get much new information in this book. But for those of us who are less versed in full-time security will gain quite a bit. I also appreciate how the author didn't just stick with Linux/UNIX tools. Granted, that's where most of the open source software is developed, but Windows networks are some of the most insecure systems running. Using some of these free tools will help you to cut down on the number of potential holes in the network.

I like how the author has covered the full gamut of security situations. You get information that helps you to lock down the entry points (firewalls) and packages that can help you test that configuration (port and vulnerability scanners). Combining a number of these tools should allow you to make a high-quality assessment of your network security and improve your chances of surviving a network attack.

Rating:
Summary: Top down and bottoms up views
Review: Howlett spans both the unix/linux and Microsoft worlds in his offering of free, open source security programs. There really is a surprising amount of reliable, free packages out there, for you to bolt down your network. He shows this at the book's start, with a simple but very convenient table of tools, like Ethereal, finger, OpenSSH, PGP, Snort and traceroute. Many others are also listed. Several are available on both operating systems. Here, I consider all the unix/linux OSs as one, and likewise with Microsoft.

The book can be regarded as a buildout of the table. Explaining each tool's best usage, with examples and screen captures. But Howlett offers more than just an encyclopaediac reference approach to the tools. That's more of a bottoms-up outlook. The book has a top-down view that starts with high level topics like firewalls and network sniffers and suggests how to understand the salient points. And thence use some tools optimised for these.

In passing, when he talks about why a cracker might want to break into your system, even if you have nothing in it worthwhile to her, he understates the danger. If you have a machine with a broadband connection, then a cracker has an economic incentive to take it over. She can use it to transmit spam (especially the phishing variety) to other, larger networks. Because open relays are getting closed up, to prevent spam, then some spammers are resorting to creating their own open relays, in this fashion. Howlett describes her using your system for DDOS attacks. But spam injection is actually a better reason, inasmuch as she can make money from this. Of course, this scarcely invalidates his text. If anything, it increases the need for it.

Rating:
Summary: Good for Beginner to Intermediate System Admins
Review: I consider myself a developer rather than system admin. But I enjoyed and learned quite a bit. I read this book in one 7 hours bus journey. It is very good on introducing new topics. It teaches you how to use programs and give recommandations.
I think my money is well spent.

Think it, this way. When you start to learn something new, you are bombarded with a lot of buzzwords and jargon. This book will teach you most of this buzzwords and you will learn quite a lot in reading this book. A internet search about tools will bring you more similar tools and new learning points.

As I said in the title, this books is about beginners. If you are a expert, I do not think you will gain a lot from this book.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Survey of Open Source Security Tools
Review: This book is an excellent resource to help readers understand what open source tools are available to address every dimension of securing a computing infrastructure.

What I liked best about this book is that it did not assume an already-existing base of knowledge in the reader. Other books present information that assumes the reader already understands the topic, and therefor only needs the details of how to use the tool being discussed. Howlett's book provides a graduated discussion of every area, enabling a beginner to start from scratch and an experienced reader to glean the important details.

Also outstanding about this book is the fact that it covers pretty much all the areas of security an admin will need to address. If you work through this book, you can be pretty sure that you've covered all your bases.

Because of that, the book is like a survey, rather than an exhaustive discussion of any one area. However, the author always provides pointers to other places the reader can go for deeper material. I think this is a great way to organize material and really enjoyed the book because of it.

Overall, this is a great contribution to a critical area of computing.

Rating:
Summary: Solid guide to security for the systems administrator
Review: This thick security tome is a practical guide to security that seems ideally suited to systems administrators. There is a brief introduction to general security issues, then eleven chapters that cover tools and techniques. These include packet sniffing, data encryption, wireless security. An overall soup to nuts guide to practical security.

This book doesn't go from computer science theory and architecture, it starts with descriptions of the problems very close to the metal (often times showing packet layouts), and then covers point by point use of open source software to fix the holes.

The text is well written, if a little stiff, and the graphic are not overused but are not as sparse as O'Reilly. I recommend this book for Systems Administrators looking for a step by step guide to using open source security tools.

Rating:
Summary: Tools for Security Admin
Review: Title: Open Source Security Tools
Author: Tony Howlett
Pages: 578
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Rating: 9/10
Reviewer: Gary Smith
Summary: Great book on tools of the trade

Today's security analyst/administrator is confronted not only with constant attacks from within and without his organization but also the twin demons of No Money and No Time. Who's he/she going to call to get out of this dilemma? Ghostbusters? A better resource is Tony Howlett's
book, "Open Source Security Tools."

The book start off with an introduction to information security and OSS (Open Source Software). If you're new to being a security analyst and you need to know some basic things about information security and threats this is a good introduction. If you're a seasoned security veteran with the battle scars to prove it, it's still a useful section as a quick reference for hitting up management (pointy-haired or otherwise) when they ask questions.

The book starts with tools that are readily usable by the security admin, tools for the operating system. These simple tools in the first chapter can go a long way to improving the security of the operating systems. From there, the chapters go through increasingly more complex tools and the problems that they are designed to confront. These include firewalls, port scanners, vulnerability scanners, network sniffers, IDS (Intrusion Detection Systems), analysis and management tools, encryption tools, wireless tools, and forensic tools.

The book gives a good discussion of why you need a particular tool, how to get it, set it up, use it, and make the most of it. Each chapter is peppered with tips and traps about the tools, a very useful thing for the harried security admin. I found Chapter 8, "Analysis and Management Tools" particularly good. Snort is a great tool but sometimes, using it is like trying to drink from a fire hose. What you need is a way to archive all that data and review it in some comprehensible manner. Chapter 8 describes how to due this using several OSS tools including ACID and MySQL. Following Mr. Howlett's steps, you'll have a management console that will aid you analysis and get the notice of your management.

I also liked Chapter 10, "Wireless Tools." Let's face it, wireless networks are hot and show no signs of cooling down anytime soon. They are also a squeaky wheel when it comes to needing oil to keep things quiet. Management can get very nervous about wireless networks and what you don't know can really hurt you. This chapter gives the security admin the tools to make sure that any wireless network in the company is secure and that there aren't any wireless networks you don't know about.

And then there's the CDROM included with the book. You could spend hours burning up the bandwidth searching the 'net to get all the tools in the book. Prentice Hall has made it easy for you by including a CDROM of all the tools described in the book right at your finger tips.

At 578 pages, "Open Source Security Tools" is chocked full of tools, tips, and techniques that any security admin can use to solve the types of problems he/she may face. The choice of tools is excellent, the organizational structure of the book is good and the Mr Howlett's writing style is easy to follow and quite humorous at times. I can offer only two suggestions about the book for future editions. One is if the CDROM were a live distro like Knoppix that you could pop into a system and run the tools straight away. The other is if the book were bound in a "lie flat" format for easier reading and use at the desk.

Get the book, use the tools, make your systems more secure, and your job easier.



Rating:
Summary: Start securing your network without the cost of a consultant
Review: Tony Howlett has created a tome that is as valuable to the average overworked System Administrator as the Swiss Army knife was to McGyver.

If you want to start securing your servers and your network without spending a lot of money you need to leverage the open source community. In this _Practical Guide to Security Applications_ Tony Howlett introduces us to this large body of work in the public domain and gives us a guided tour of some of its best known tools.

This book isn't going to do your work for you, but it is going to help identify some best-of-breed applications in the open source arena that will assist you in getting your job done. This book is applicable for the novice who wants some help getting their feet wet and is also good as a quick reference for those with some experience.

There are many reasons to add this book to your library at work:
-the identification of both windows and *nix open source applications
-explanations of the different security tools
-step by step installation and implementation of the tools

Although no one book will show you everything that you need to know to secure your network, this one by Howlett will help you to make educated choices about how you want to start monitoring the gates and mitigate the impact of their breach without throwing money at consultants.