Security in Computing, Third Edition

Rating:
Summary: An excellent text book and reference
Review: Security in Computing (Third Edition) can serve as an upper division undergraduate or graduate level text book. But if you're not a student, and more pragmatic than theoretical, don't let that scare you off. Each chapter is clearly written, well organized, contains a summary, list of terms used, and a brief "To Learn More" section. The book is very up to date: It includes reasonably detailed discussions on the inner workings of AES and even an introduction to quantum cryptography. All the "old standards" are covered as well, including firewalls, viruses and malware, CIA, database security, policy development, network security, trusted operating systems, security law, cryptography and more.

All in all, this is the best general purpose computer security book available. It belongs on the bookshelf of every practicing professional. But you won't want to leave it there - take it down when you need to work in an unfamiliar area. It will help bring you up to speed and point you towards more specialized resources.

Minor caution: This is not a book for security beginners, and it helps to have some background in computer architecture, networks, databases and/or administration. But if you've got that, you won't find a better book. And if you don't this book provides enough ground work for quick studies to understand new security material.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent text book and reference
Review: Security in Computing (Third Edition) can serve as an upper division undergraduate or graduate level text book. But if you're not a student, and more pragmatic than theoretical, don't let that scare you off. Each chapter is clearly written, well organized, contains a summary, list of terms used, and a brief "To Learn More" section. The book is very up to date: It includes reasonably detailed discussions on the inner workings of AES and even an introduction to quantum cryptography. All the "old standards" are covered as well, including firewalls, viruses and malware, CIA, database security, policy development, network security, trusted operating systems, security law, cryptography and more.

All in all, this is the best general purpose computer security book available. It belongs on the bookshelf of every practicing professional. But you won't want to leave it there - take it down when you need to work in an unfamiliar area. It will help bring you up to speed and point you towards more specialized resources.

Minor caution: This is not a book for security beginners, and it helps to have some background in computer architecture, networks, databases and/or administration. But if you've got that, you won't find a better book. And if you don't this book provides enough ground work for quick studies to understand new security material.

Rating:
Summary: good but it could be better
Review: The book covers a lot of the computer security field. You should have some mathematical background that is not very well explained at the beginning of the book, otherwise it is very difficult to understand some of the proofs.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: This book is still the best textbook on the market. Having reviewed (officially) many of the new competitors to this book, this book is still the best at providing an excellent overview to computing security, especially for computer scientists. While I agree with another reviewer that "Hacking Exposed" is another good book, it is not a textbook and does not provide the theoretical underpinnings that this book does. The old edition (2nd) was getting dated and I was glad to see most of the material that needed updating was. In particular, the networking section was updated and sufficient for my course in computer security. Other books tend to provide a more short-term view of security, than a textbook with solid concepts. This series of editions has done a lot to create a science of security, rather than just a collection of techniques.

Rating:
Summary: Best textbook on the market
Review: This book is still the best textbook on the market. Having reviewed (officially) many of the new competitors to this book, this book is still the best at providing an excellent overview to computing security, especially for computer scientists. While I agree with another reviewer that "Hacking Exposed" is another good book, it is not a textbook and does not provide the theoretical underpinnings that this book does. The old edition (2nd) was getting dated and I was glad to see most of the material that needed updating was. In particular, the networking section was updated and sufficient for my course in computer security. Other books tend to provide a more short-term view of security, than a textbook with solid concepts. This series of editions has done a lot to create a science of security, rather than just a collection of techniques.