Product Description: Best way to secure your network? Break in! And that's exactly what InfoWorld security watch columnists Stuart McClure and Joel Scambray plus Extreme Hacking instructor George Kurtz show you how to do in Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions. Arming you with a hacker's arsenal, they help you pinpoint vulnerable areas and apply effective security countermeasures in UNIX (including Linux), Windows NT/95/98, and Novell networks. You'll discover the "InfoWorld Security Sweet 16" the top 16 hacks the authors themselves use to test systems and the top 15 security flaws that commonly afflict networks. In no time you'll learn how to... *Repair e-mail and Web security holes *Find and eliminate back doors, Trojan horses, viruses, and buffer overflows *Recognize exposures from dial-up modems, modem pools, and RAS servers *Locate and scan for vulnerable systems using Whois, Domain Name System queries, Ping sweeps, Port scans, and OS detection *Crack accounts and passwords, escalate privilege, and exploit trusts *And much, much more.
Amazon.com Review: Whenever Hollywood does a movie in which someone breaks into a computer, the hacking scenes are completely laughable to anyone who knows the first thing about computer security. Think of Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets and Solutions as a computer thriller for people with a clue. This is a technical book, certainly--URLs, procedures, and bits of advice take the place of plot and characters--but the information about hackers' tools will leave you wondering exactly how vulnerable your system is. More to the point, the explicit instructions for stealing supposedly secure information (a Windows NT machine's Security Access Manager file, for example) will leave you absolutely certain that your computers have gaping holes in their armor.
The book describes the security characteristics of several computer-industry pillars, including Windows NT, Unix, Novell NetWare, and certain firewalls. It also explains what sorts of attacks against these systems are feasible, which are popular, and what tools exist to make them easier. The authors walk the reader through numerous attacks, explaining exactly what attackers want, how they defeat the relevant security features, and what they do once they've achieved their goal. In what might be called after-action reports, countermeasures that can help steer bad buys toward less-well-defended prey are explained. If you run Linux, you may want to supplement the Unix information in this book with Maximum Linux Security, another practical-minded and very popular security text. --David Wall
Topics covered: The state of the art in breaking into computers and networks, as viewed from the vantage point of the attacker and the defender. There's information on surveying a system remotely, identifying weak points, and exploiting weaknesses in specific operating systems (Windows NT, Unix, and Novell NetWare, mostly). Coverage also includes war dialers, circumventing firewalls, denial-of-service attacks, and remote-control software. There's a cool appendix on the security characteristics of Windows 2000.
Good, but hard to keep up to date! The book is great for telling you what it has to tell you. Unfortunately, so many new exploits are found each day, it is hard for the book to keep up to date. I am already a couple of revisions behind. Still, it is a worthwhile read.
Excellent for beginning hackers If you want to go over to the 'dark side', this book describes enough hacking technique to turn you into a 'script kiddie' (or enough to defend against them). Of course, it's the things that the book *doesn't* go into detail about that makes you want to learn more in-depth detail about network security (things like buffer overruns and process hijacking). A good starting point for budding hackers, people who administer networks, or anyone who is technically-minded. It also teaches enough about Back Orifice and NetBus to have fun messing with your co-workers on those occasional boring days in the cubicle!
Exposed your network This is the first technical book about security in network/systems. I found that some books only show how to "close" a hole in a network without informing what it is closing from. This is a good book for busy administrators that does not have enough time to update himself, since this book is a compilation of security threats/tools/defences
Good Book This is a good book for anyone who wants to learn more about network security and hacking in general. The author provides likes to a substantial amount of downloadable resources from the web. Although some of the sites are no longer in existance, there are a substantial amount of the tools discussed in the book on the internet that are free for a short period.
I simply loved this book This book is a must for every Admin out there. I would also recommend this book to IT managers/directors/etc. This book is more than just an explaination of security holes/fixes but puts you into the mind of the cracker. You must see the world as the cracker does in order to defend yourself. In Patton, Patton was shouting "I read your book" to Rommel as he beat Rommel in a tank battle. This is the same for System/Netowkr Admins everywhere, it is imperitive we read the cracker's book and understand his assault from beginning to end. Only then can you be prepared. This will also wake up your managers if they are not paranoid enough :-)
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