<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Finally a good concept for a security book!
Review: "Stealing the Network" is a much needed wake up call ...for the computer security industry. Combining fiction stories with real-world computer security problems is a no-lose experience! The book is a perfect size and a quick, exciting read. The stories let you see how poor the current state of computer security is and how easy hacker attacks really are. Like any fiction book, Stealing the Network lets you peek through other people's eyes and really draws you in. Even if you aren't a technical person, I think you will enjoy this book purely for the fictional component. This book is written by extremely well-known hackers in the computer security industry. Now is your chance to read stories coming directly from their minds. Now is your chance to get into the mind of a hacker without dealing with the twisted, blown-out-of-proportion, and overly hyped media.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe the coolest book I've ever read
Review: Ok, maybe I'm a bit of a geek, but I loved this book. The book is a collection of short stories about hackers stealing information or seriously messing with people. There's also one great story at the end about a guy tracking a hacker and catching hem. I like the book so much because the stories were really entertaining and the attacks were very detailed and well thought out. So, in addition to being enertained you also actaully learn something about security. There are so many "hacking" books out now, I was glad to find one that is really different. The stories do a great job of giving security professionals insight into how/why criminal hackers do what they do, without being condascending or just goofy like a lot of the hacker type stuff you see on TV or read in the main stream press.
Rating: 
Summary: Quick Read - Worth the time
Review: Stealing the Network is a collection of fictional stories, using real technologies/programs to describing hacking/cracking techniques as well as detailing what is running through the persons mind as they go through the steps of a hack. At times it was a little hard to believe, and I think there could have been a little more technical info (although there was a good amount), but overall it is a greate concept for a book and a quick read. Recommended to anyone in or interested in computer security.
Rating:
Summary: A peek into the mind of an attacker and defender...
Review: Target Audience
Anyone with an interest in network security and wants to look into the mind of a network cracker/hacker. Contents
This book is mostly a series of fictional stories written in first-person narrative on what happens during a network attack or an investigation into an attack. The book is divided into the following chapters: Hide And Seek; The Worm Turns; Just Another Day At The Office; h3X's Adventures In Networkland; The Thief No One Saw; Flying The Friendly Skies; dis-card; Social (in)Security; BabelNet; The Art Of Tracking; The Laws Of Security Review
All too often the topic of network security becomes an academic exercise, until it's too late. Companies might know what they should do, and they might even think they are beyond attack. But to a motivated person, your system may be nothing more than swiss cheese. Stealing The Network takes you beyond the technical and into the psychology of an attack. Stealing The Network is a series of fictional stories about network attacks of various sorts. Hide And Seek is an attack on a company's network by a person upset with poor customer service. He steals a credit card file and posts it for others to use. The Worm Turns is an all-night hacking session to dissect the latest internet virus and post a patch before any of the other anti-virus firms do so. Just Another Day At The Office is a story of hacking for organized crime against a firm developing a new type of land mine, and involves both network and physical building intrusion. While it might be easy to dismiss these as the result of a vivid imagination, the reality is that all of these attacks are done on a daily basis. They may even have happened to you at your company, and you just don't know it yet. The final chapter, The Laws Of Security, is a discussion of computer security and how you need to be thinking in order to secure your network. So it's not just a series of stories with no opportunities to learn what needs to be done. Also, each story is detailed with specific software and techniques used to accomplish the hack or the trackdown of the intruder. So as you're reading the story, you're actually picking up the necessary information you need in order to understand the network weakness and how to defend against it. In my opinion, it's this blending of fictional reality that makes this book so valuable. I'd definitely recommend this to any security professional who is looking to understand the person behind the attacks. Conclusion
An excellent read... Takes the subject of network security out of the academic and theoretical and places a face and attitude behind it all, while also teaching you the nuts and bolts of how attacks occur.
Rating:
Summary: Making geeks exciting
Review: This book is awesome! I read a lot of boring technical books, and this was one hell of a break from the extreme dullness. Eventhough this book is "fiction", it really illustrates some very real security threats out there in the digital noise of the Internet. Especially cool is that each chapter is a new story with different hacking angles and spells out the actual tools and methods used (several chapters even had great real world references for the curious). This book's got a little bit of everything- hacking routers, OS's, social engineering, bypassing biometric physical security measures, scraping targeting information from the Internet, etc. Also, several of the stories are told from both the hacker's and security/system admin's point of view (white hat vs. black hat). If you are bored with the average security books, then this one's for you. If only they were all this good...
<< 1 >>
| 
