Rating: 
Summary: Basic introduction
Review: A very good introduction to UNIX and Security. There is valuble information even for experts, however you have to dig for it. In general the book reads like a story book and is very easy to understand. This is a disadvantage sometimes when you just want to refer to something and you have to go through pages and pages of not so useful information.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Reference/Information Work
Review: An O'Reilly classic, this book belongs in the library of any system or network administrator, right next to Chapman and Zwicky's "Building Internet Firewalls" and Frisch's "Essential System Administration". In the style of other O'Reilly works, this one gives a great overview and explanation of many topics in security, with helpful appendicies including a checklist, emergency response teams (FIRST, CERT, etc.) and more. Well organized and much improved in the 2nd ed. (I also have the 1st ed.), it has aged well.
Rating: 
Summary: Best for beginners
Review: As a Linux administrator, I ordered this book hoping to find out how hackers typically gain access to systems and neat little tricks for locking down my system, as well as detecting and dealing with intruders. While Practical Unix & Internet Security did cover these topics, it covered little I didn't already know.Significant time is spent explaining how unix-based systems work. The book covers things such as file systems, partition structure, file ownership/permissions, users and groups, inodes, ssh, backups, etc. Each command, utility, procedure or feature is detailed over several pages followed by an explanation of what you should be doing with said topic. There are also a few real-world examples here and there; stories most of us have heard before, like the admin who had . in his path. Unlike many computer books, this one is well written and an easy read, and it's certainly a lot more friendly than some unix geeks who's advice consists of RTFM. I think this book would be great for someone who has a very basic understanding of unix-based systems but has never administrated one before, but for those of us who've already had some experience running unix there's probably not anything new here for you.
Rating:
Summary: A great resource
Review: Being relatively new to unix security, I've found this book to be an immense help. It provides both a quick and easy reference to the generalities of security, while providing more indepth information when necessary. With its help, I feel relatively confident about the security of my home network. I was also pleased to see that many of the concepts covered for larger implementations were noticable in the security policies and paradigm of my workplace, which makes use of numerous LANs and WANs for day to day business, many of which requiring security anbd confidentiality. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in unix and internet security, be they new to the field or firmly established.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding resource for Network Security
Review: Book Review
By: Brett Practical Unix & Internet Security Wow where to begin, First I would like to say that my forte is Network security and this book really covered it all.
Had nice presentation, easy to follow and was very detailed. From the opening line to the last page this book has
something for everybody that is interested in keeping there computers and network secure and safe!
I have tried several of the what-if's and scripts provided or recommended settings on my own network and they
worked as describe. There was a lot of research put into this book and also timely material so as to not be outdated
when it hits the shelves. The Appendixes very an especially nice touch with loads of valuable information and checklist.
I would not hesitate to recommend this book to everyone from Novices on there home computer to Network admins
running multi billion dollar operations.
Again very well done!
~Brett~
...
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding resource for Network Security
Review: Book Review
By: Brett Practical Unix & Internet Security Wow where to begin, First I would like to say that my forte is Network security and this book really covered it all.
Had nice presentation, easy to follow and was very detailed. From the opening line to the last page this book has
something for everybody that is interested in keeping there computers and network secure and safe!
I have tried several of the what-if's and scripts provided or recommended settings on my own network and they
worked as describe. There was a lot of research put into this book and also timely material so as to not be outdated
when it hits the shelves. The Appendixes very an especially nice touch with loads of valuable information and checklist.
I would not hesitate to recommend this book to everyone from Novices on there home computer to Network admins
running multi billion dollar operations.
Again very well done!
~Brett~
...
Rating:
Summary: It's really Unix security with Internet thrown in
Review: Great book on Unix security. I bought the first edition when it first came out. It was great. Once I saw the second edition I immediately bought it too. What a disappointment. The Internet security aspects of the book were quick and dirty, while the Unix security was excellent.
I hate to say it but could it be that Internet sells better than Unix?
Tom Cooper
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Had this book cost me $5, I would've been perfectly happy with it, but for over $30... These people have written a lot, but said little. They did mention a few things to watch out for, but this could've been fit in under 50 pages. The rest is reiteration of trivial. Some topics, like cryptography, were a bait, but haven't been covered in depth. And, boy, about a third of the book talks about stuff from intro UNIX texts. I tend to think that people concerned with UNIX security know how to move between directories.
Also worth knowing that Garfinkel co-authored so called "UNIX haters notebook". His prejudice shows.
Rating:
Summary: My first intro to computer security; dated, but valuable
Review: I am responsible for a 50+ person intrusion detection mission, and this was the first book I ever read on computer security. I started reading it in early 1998 while assigned to a HQ planning unit, after a UNIX instructor in England recommended it as "the Bible" of security. Back then the book was two years old. Now, four years on, some may argue the material is getting dated. Anyone interested in building a training program for a mostly UNIX shop would find the underlying structure and most material of the book extremely useful. While works dealing with standards tend to weather well, like Richard Stevens' "TCP/IP Illustrated" series, this book may be showing its age. Nevertheless, until you hear that edition three is in the wings, I still recommend this volume. Any news on the next edition, Simson and Spaf?
Rating:
Summary: A mile wide, several inches deep, great for filling in gaps
Review: I hate to repeat the cliche, but if you can only buy one security book this year and you are a *nix geek, this should be it, hands down. As some point out, you can probably find everything in this book online, but then again you can find anything online, so why buy any books at all? I don't like giving 5 stars; this book left me no choice. The strength of this book lies in several areas. First, the authors probably have 50+ years experience between them and it shows. You really get the impression that they've "been there, done that". But they don't try and "wow" you with their intelligence and they aren't condescending, in fact they write quite clearly. The "mile wide" crack I made in the title refers to the fact that this book covers everything from physical security and social engineering, to how to setup up integrity checking with tripwire and use PAM. Basically I found this book to be invaluable because while I could breeze through certain sections, there was a ton of material that I needed more knowledge about, but either never got around to it, or didn't even know I was lacking. An example is NFS. I knew I needed more background about NFS because I work in infosec, but every place I've ever worked has banned NFS outright, which makes it a little more difficult to learn.... Another 2 technologies pop into my mind: LDAP and PAM. I knew what they were, but now I know how to set up the basics and can branch out on my own. In our infosec world it's simply not possible to know everything. This book gives the reader a solid grounding in a ton of stuff, which enables him to go out and Google around intelligently for more advanced information. In a pinch it can also be used as an anti-theft device since it weighs in at 900+ pages and is quite heavy.
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