Hack Proofing Your Network: Internet Tradecraft

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction
Review: As a technical writer wishing to learn more about network security, I found this book helpful. I feel it is also of use to sys admins wanting to know more about trying to "hack-proof" their networks. While other books may give more in-depth info, this one covers a lot of basic information. Areas such as the "politics of hacking," the laws of security, different types of attacks, diffing, cryptography, buffer overflow, packet sniffing, spoofing, etc. are covered here.

There's also chapters devoted to the infamous "security holes" on every computer and how to deal with attacks or viruses. As others have pointed out, this may not be THE DEFINITIVE book on network security, but it does offer a good general approach to it.

Rating:
Summary: better than exposed
Review: better than exposed. much more detail, but too little reference material.

Rating:
Summary: Give me a break!
Review: Hardly any detail in the examples and missing too many important and common techniques.

Rating:
Summary: A book that needed to be written
Review: I just finished reading Hack Proofing Your Network, and I found the information to be invaluable. The book is written by an all star team of hackers, and those of us responsible for protecting systems from attacks had better undersand the techniques used by intruders. The book provides insight into the various types of hacks and provides real solutions for defending against them. I'll bet Microsoft ordered a few copies for their library this week.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Have
Review: I was really pleased reading this book to find that it is filled with actual techniques that can be used to defeat hackers, and not just filled with hype about the dangers of cyber space. The authors are expert hackers, and the insight they provide into how real world attacks work is pretty amazing.

Rating:
Summary: Full disclosure *is* the only way
Review: I'm an experienced system administrator with a very strong background in security, and I was honestly on the fence with regards to full disclosure prior to reading this book. I knew it was necessary for me to know everything to protect my systems, but I was terrified by the thought of the uninitiated being able to by a book or surf the web and then hack my network. But afer reading this book, I really don't think there is any other way. The authors repsonsibly and accurately detail the techniques and tools used to hack into systems, always with an eye towards preventing such catastrophies.

Rating:
Summary: I read it cover to cover
Review: If you know nothing about hacking, this book might be a good start. However, there are plenty of web sites that will do a better job (and they are free).
The reputation of the authors made me hope for a much more in depth look at hacking techniques. Instead, they touch on most subjects way too lightly, and making several failed attempts in explaining some basic networking concepts.
What I thought to be the most value when reading, was the promise of a website with all the links mentioned in the book. As of today, this site is "under construction" without any useful information at all! (www.internettradecraft.com)
In short, if you want to get a basic feel for what hacking is about, and want to get it without using a webbrowser, read this book. If you're looking to expand your knowledge or get definate answers, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: The book gives a good overall description of several areas of system vunerability. I especially like the numerous web resources that are included throughout the book. This book takes a full disclosure approach to network security. If you like full disclosure in security related issues, this book is for you.

Rating:
Summary: Good start, well rounded
Review: This book was obviously not meant to inspire any crackers, nor to educate the hardcores. What it does is bring the rest of us up to speed without us having to learn the hard way. While some arrogant hackers/crackers may think that this book is a sissy-handbook, not all of us care to spend endless hours of our precious free time trying to reinvent the wheel.

Having said that, this book covers a lot of ground, and balances the technical details of hacking with the overall picture of what security truly is: a process.

Example-Do you know what a buffer overflow REALLY is? I kind of did, but now I know exactly how it works.

Example2-Why is physical security so important? This is part of the overall process, but it ties directly into the previous example.

My conclusion is that if you work in the field, you should buy the book. This goes for the techie-oriented businessman too, because you'll learn how to cry BS. Not everything you'll read in there will be useful to you, but much of it will be applicable and some things might prevent you from making some really naive decisions (like trusting patches).