Rating: 
Summary: Most practical security tool book on the market
Review: "Anti-Hacker Toolkit" (AHT) is a first-rate, hands-on, learn-by-following-along security book. It's advertised as a complement to Foundstone's "Incident Response" and "Hacking Exposed" titles, but it contains more than enough original material to stand on its own. Even if you've used all of the tools described in AHT, you're sure to gain insight on using many of them in unique and creative ways.
Throughout the book, I was impressed by the authors' attention to detail. They seem to have anticipated the sorts of questions both beginners and experts might have regarding numerous security tools. AHT contains balanced material on both UNIX and Windows applications. It is particularly strong with regard to integration of BSD tools. In a world where many believe "free" and "open source" equal "Linux", attention to BSD was very welcome.
Several chapters were especially useful. These included discussions of netcat, the X Windows System, and Windows enumeration using the PStools. Furthermore, over two hundred pages are devoted to incident response and digital forensics. The authors discuss how to image and investigate systems using commercial and open source solutions. I appreciated their desire to steer clear of theory in favor of providing hands-on examples. AHT continues the recent Osborne McGraw-Hill tradition of including numerous case studies which reinforce the proper use of tools in real-world environments.
AHT is a must-have book for 2002. (Note that it is NOT related in any way to the book "Hackers Beware," as alluded to by a previous reviewer.) Even if you've been using security tools for years, you're sure to find new approaches to better assess or secure your enterprise. This book belongs next to any of Foundstone's other titles on your bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Most practical security tool book on the market
Review: "Anti-Hacker Toolkit" (AHT) is a first-rate, hands-on, learn-by-following-along security book. It's advertised as a complement to Foundstone's "Incident Response" and "Hacking Exposed" titles, but it contains more than enough original material to stand on its own. Even if you've used all of the tools described in AHT, you're sure to gain insight on using many of them in unique and creative ways.
Throughout the book, I was impressed by the authors' attention to detail. They seem to have anticipated the sorts of questions both beginners and experts might have regarding numerous security tools. AHT contains balanced material on both UNIX and Windows applications. It is particularly strong with regard to integration of BSD tools. In a world where many believe "free" and "open source" equal "Linux", attention to BSD was very welcome.
Several chapters were especially useful. These included discussions of netcat, the X Windows System, and Windows enumeration using the PStools. Furthermore, over two hundred pages are devoted to incident response and digital forensics. The authors discuss how to image and investigate systems using commercial and open source solutions. I appreciated their desire to steer clear of theory in favor of providing hands-on examples. AHT continues the recent Osborne McGraw-Hill tradition of including numerous case studies which reinforce the proper use of tools in real-world environments.
AHT is a must-have book for 2002. (Note that it is NOT related in any way to the book "Hackers Beware," as alluded to by a previous reviewer.) Even if you've been using security tools for years, you're sure to find new approaches to better assess or secure your enterprise. This book belongs next to any of Foundstone's other titles on your bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Hackers Beware. . . .Expanded !
Review: 'Hackers Beware', is a very useful book, no doubts. But its son: 'Anti-Hacker Toolkit' is by far, the most useful 'practical' book in the area of computer security. Tons. (I do mean Tons.) of cases and scenarios are thoroughly reviewed. Any relevant TOOL (offensive or defensive) is explored, lot of case studies are presented (in depth), and as an added bonus, almost every scenario is discussed both for Windows and UNIX.
It is not a theoretical book, it is a real 'learn by understanding how to hack' book. However,even if no too much, you'll need some basic knowledge about the area, to take full advantage of this book.
Needless to say the companion CD is, not only multi platform, but FULL of valuable tools.
I have reviewed a lot of security books (good books), but this one really impressed me very much.The forensic chapters alone, justify buying the book !!
Rating:
Summary: Act b4 they HACK>>>>>>
Review: Anti Hacker Toolkit is one of the best security books which i came across.
Being a beginner in the field of computer security, i was a bit apprehensive of goin thru this book.
This is the most comprehensive guide which is worth every cent, if u ever read one of the hacking exposed series.
Rating: 
Summary: A good purchase if you don't have the first edition
Review: I reviewed the first edition "Anti-Hacker Tool Kit" (AHT:1E) in August 2002. This second edition (AHT:2E) follows only 18 months after the original was published. I don't believe enough time has passed to warrant an update, even though tools can evolve quickly. In certain aspects the book suffers from a lack of updates from AHT:1E author Keith Jones, who found the publisher's demands onerous. Nevertheless, AHT:2E is a must-buy if you didn't read AHT:1E.The major additions to AHT:2E include a new chapter on firewalls, which doesn't really add anything new to the common body of security knowledge. A new chapter on host hardening covers Titan and MSec. Tools like THC-Amap, THC-Hydra, HFNetChk, Ettercap, Wellenreiter, and Kismet make appearances as well. Whereas Trinux was only mentioned in the first edition, it gets welcome coverage in the chapter on building live response bootable CDs. Updated material on Nmap, NetScan Tools, SuperScan, Scanline, and commercial forensic suites is included. The remainder of the book is largely the same. Particularly, chapters on Netcat, X, VMWare, Cygwin, backdoors, source code auditing, port redirection, war dialers, and open source forensics appear very similar to AHT:1E. Deleted from AHT:2E are Whisker, Twwwscan/Arirang, SMBGrind, and Nbaudit. Comparisons with the first edition are somewhat complicated by the rearrangement of tools and chapters in AHT:2E, but I thought the new organization made sense. Aside from the information on using Trinux, AHT:2E seemed to lack new contributions from an author with real forensic experience. Keith Jones' original material is still present, but advancements in the forensic arena are not covered. For example, AHT:2E should have addressed Keith's tools in the Odessa project, such as Galleta (cookie parsing), Pasco (IE history recovery), and Rifiuti (Recycle Bin examination). Overall, AHT:2E is an excellent book, but I don't believe a second edition was needed 18 months after the first was published. The AHT look and feel has spawned the "Anti-Spam Tool Kit," which I plan to read and review shortly. Perhaps future AHT books will split out various sections (assessment, forensics, etc.) into separate volumes, making it easier to manage the series.
Rating:
Summary: A good purchase if you don't have the first edition
Review: I reviewed the first edition "Anti-Hacker Tool Kit" (AHT:1E) in August 2002. This second edition (AHT:2E) follows only 18 months after the original was published. I don't believe enough time has passed to warrant an update, even though tools can evolve quickly. In certain aspects the book suffers from a lack of updates from AHT:1E author Keith Jones, who found the publisher's demands onerous. Nevertheless, AHT:2E is a must-buy if you didn't read AHT:1E. The major additions to AHT:2E include a new chapter on firewalls, which doesn't really add anything new to the common body of security knowledge. A new chapter on host hardening covers Titan and MSec. Tools like THC-Amap, THC-Hydra, HFNetChk, Ettercap, Wellenreiter, and Kismet make appearances as well. Whereas Trinux was only mentioned in the first edition, it gets welcome coverage in the chapter on building live response bootable CDs. Updated material on Nmap, NetScan Tools, SuperScan, Scanline, and commercial forensic suites is included. The remainder of the book is largely the same. Particularly, chapters on Netcat, X, VMWare, Cygwin, backdoors, source code auditing, port redirection, war dialers, and open source forensics appear very similar to AHT:1E. Deleted from AHT:2E are Whisker, Twwwscan/Arirang, SMBGrind, and Nbaudit. Comparisons with the first edition are somewhat complicated by the rearrangement of tools and chapters in AHT:2E, but I thought the new organization made sense. Aside from the information on using Trinux, AHT:2E seemed to lack new contributions from an author with real forensic experience. Keith Jones' original material is still present, but advancements in the forensic arena are not covered. For example, AHT:2E should have addressed Keith's tools in the Odessa project, such as Galleta (cookie parsing), Pasco (IE history recovery), and Rifiuti (Recycle Bin examination). Overall, AHT:2E is an excellent book, but I don't believe a second edition was needed 18 months after the first was published. The AHT look and feel has spawned the "Anti-Spam Tool Kit," which I plan to read and review shortly. Perhaps future AHT books will split out various sections (assessment, forensics, etc.) into separate volumes, making it easier to manage the series.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: If you are tired of cloudy, non-specific examples relating to security, this book is great. It details, with examples, exactly how to perform security functions. I use it for a research group I am heading (www.nmt.edu/~ccravens) and it is definitely an incredible find for our purposes.
PS- A Reader, having never read the book, whenever you come out with your next best seller, lemme know, I might be interested! ;)
Rating:
Summary: Move Over Webster........
Review: In just the few months since it has been published, I have used The Anti-Hacker Toolkit countless times as a reference...move over Webster! The book has been invaluable as it provides a comprehensive yet concise discussion on each tool. The Anti-Hacker Toolkit covers everything from installation to implementation and everything in between! Section IV on Forensics and Incident Response has been an especially useful guide in reconstructing e-mail and browsing history. It is an un-biased, get "down and dirty" guide to security tools that every computer security professional should read. Jones, Johnson and Shema are to Computer Security what Bob Vila is to Home Improvement.
Rating: 
Summary: Hmmmm.
Review: This book has helped me out a great deal in understanding how hackers do what they do. Now I more aware of what I can do to prevent being hacked, or is crackd?
This book is not for beginnners in the aspect that alot of it is command line programs, however, it is easy to understand how it works.
Rating:
Summary: Take the time and you will learn.
Review: When I first saw this book at the store I skimmed through it expecting to find cliche' information for the newbie. Make no mistake, this book does *not* hold your hand through every tiny step, which is a good thing. Maybe that's why the other person only gave two stars? Some of the tools covered have been around for years and others are still in beta. Some of them are on the CD, most are free downloads on the net (visit antihackertoolkit.com for links to everything discussed). What the other reviewer said has some truth. The authors don't explain EVERY tool in extreme detail. However, they do way more than just re-hash the MAN pages. I know this for a fact because I read the MAN pages for every one of these tools after reading about it in the book. The authors pick the more robust and reputable tools and provides example scenarios using multiple machines (sometimes Win32, sometimes Linux, sometimes both) and you can see everything in action. There is no possible way the authors can through everything in b aby steps. It's up to you to take the information you learn from this book and make the most of it. There could easily be a 500 page book written on just netcat and nmap, but instead the authors teach you the foundation of what you need to know, provide some REALLY GOOD examples you can do at home, then you need to get creative. Believe me, the authors do an excellent job at getting you inspired. You won't want to stop! And if you really are in the hacker-mentality you will explore the web, perform searches on google, read newsgroups, and contunously dig for more information about the topics you're interested in. No one should have to tell you to do this as "hackers" already turn to every resource available for their information. Prior to reading this book I had not touched any of the Hacking Exposed series, which this book stems from. I relied on newgroups, 2600 Magazine, and a myriad of web sites. I knew about most of these tools and used about 40% prior. However, this book brings it all together, educates on pro-active and re-active hacking and counter-measures, and will leave you more than satisfied for getting your money's worth. Hey, you might even have a slightly bigger ego by the time you're done! If there is one word of advice about this book I can pass along - read it more than once! You will be so anxious to get to the end because of everything covered but I promise you that if you read it a second time you will pick more things up, similar to watching the same movie over and over, you always notice subtle (but interesting) details you didn't catch the first time.
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