Hackers Beware: The Ultimate Guide to Network Security - Softcover

Cole, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0735710090 ISBN 13: 9780735710092

Publisher: Sams, 2001

Synopsis

Hackers Beware starts with a roadmap of the various areas of hacking but quickly delves into the details of how specific attacks work and how to protect against them. Since most attacks we hear about either occur or are perceived to come from hackers, people are very interested "in how they do that" - the techniques hackers use to break into systems. Hackers Beware is unique in that it gives specific exploits, exactly how they work and how to protect against them. This book will help readers understand what security threats they are up against and what they need to do to protect against them. Some books cover this from a high level but do not get into the details of specific exploits and cover it in a case by case fashion. This book will cover the complete picture. It will not only describe how an exploit works but present the signature of the attack, what to look for on a network and how to protect against it.

About this title

Review

In Hackers Beware, Eric Cole succeeds in explaining how hackers break into computers, steal information, and deny services to machines' legitimate users. An intended side effect of his documentary efforts is a feeling for how network-connected computers should be configured for maximum resistance to attack. Cole, who works with the attack-monitoring SANS Institute as an instructor and security consultant, conveys to his readers specific knowledge of offensive and defensive weaponry as well as general familiarity with attack strategies and good security practices. Hackers Beware is a good primer, and really earns its price by going into enough detail to enable readers to actually do something to make their resources safer. It also enables its readers to understand more specialised security texts, including Stephen Northcutt's fine Intrusion Signatures and Analysis.

Cole's didactic style is largely conversational, embracing the fact that most computer exploits can be conveyed as stories about what hackers want and the steps they take to achieve their goals. He punctuates his prose passages with line drawings that clarify what gets passed among the machines involved in an attack, and pauses frequently to show programs' user interfaces and passages from their logs. Cole explains all the jargon he uses--a characteristic that alone distinguishes this book from many of its competitors. --David Wall

Topics covered: What motivates black-hat hackers, and the technical means they use to go about satisfying their ambitions. General attack strategies--spoofing, password cracking, social engineering, and buffer overflows, among others--are explained, and the tools used to carry them out are catalogued. The same goes for defensive tools and practices.

Synopsis

Not a week goes by when you don't hear about another Web site or network whose data has been compromised by the work of a hacker. Prevalence of these security breaches is increasing the interest in specifically how hackers work and what can be done to stop their destructive ways. Most people look at hacking as black magic, not really understanding how it is accomplished. But--if security analysts don't understand hacking--they can't protect against it. This book goes step-by-step through hacking, breaking down specific exploits, explaining how they work, what to look for, how to run them, and how to protect a site against them. Hackers Beware starts with a roadmap of the various areas of hacking but quickly delves into the details of how specific attacks work and how to protect against them. Since most attacks we hear about either occur or are perceived to come from hackers, people are very interested in "how they do that", the techniques hackers use to break into systems. Hackers Beware is unique in that it gives specific exploits, exactly how they work and how to protect against them.

This book will help readers understand what security threats they are up against and what they need to do to protect against them.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sams
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0735710090
• ISBN 13: 9780735710092
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 800