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The authors' approach to Unix security is holistic and clever; they devote as much space to security philosophy as to advice about closing TCP ports and disabling unnecessary services. They also recognize that lots of Unix machines are development platforms, and make many recommendations to consider as you design software. It's rare that you read a page in this carefully compiled book that does not impart some obscure nugget of knowledge, or remind you to implement some important policy. Plus, the authors have a style that reminds their readers that computing is supposed to be about intellectual exercise and fun, an attitude that's absent from too much of the information technology industry lately. Read this book if you use any flavor of Unix in any mission-critical situation. --David Wall
Topics covered: Security risks (and ways to limit them) under Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, and FreeBSD. Coverage ranges from responsible system administration (including selection of usernames and logins) to intrusion detection, break-in forensics, and log analysis.
| AUTHOR: | Simson Garfinkel, Gene Spafford, Alan Schwartz |
| CATEGORY: | Book |
| MANUFACTURER: | O'Reilly |
| ISBN: | 0596003234 |
| TYPE: | Computer Bks - Internet, Computer Books: General, Computer security, Computers, Congresses, Internet, Internet - Security, Operating Systems - UNIX, Operating systems (Computers), Programming - General, UNIX (Computer file), COM060040, Computers / Operating Systems / UNIX, Data security & data encryption, Unix, Unix Linux & Unix TCL/TK |
| MEDIA: | Paperback |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 636920003236 |
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Customer Reviews of Practical Unix & Internet Security, 3rd Edition
Little old but still a valuable classic Practical UNIX and Internet Security by Garfinkel and Spafford is a fundamental work on the subject. The authors not only are widely respected professionals in the field, but good writers as well (or is this O'Reilly's editors? :-). Anyway, this book despite its size is readable, still has lots of information, and comes highly recommended. As one of the other reviewers of this book has written, the details of systems and software may change, but the underlying security and good management practices will not. The reason I give it 4 out of 5 stars is because it is published a while ago.
Edgar Danielyan CCNP(Security) ISA www.danielyan.com
Recommended with reservations for students & hobbyists only
Somewhat outdated -- two years old in a very dynamic field, Rootkit is not even mentioned, Bugtraq mentioned only in supplement, etc. Far from being practical and can be used only as an introductory text in Unix security. Not recommended for Internet security (superficial and incomplete). Good style -- Simson Garfinkel of The UNIX-Haters Handbook fame is a really talented journalist (but now only a journalist, see his interview with Amazon.com). The main problem with the book is that instead of relying on tools as any Unix author should, the authors use a cookbook/reference approach giving recipes about improving security. References to important RFCs, FAQ and CERT advisories are absent. For example RFC1244 (now superseded by RTC2196) is not mentioned in index(and probably in the text as well) although Ch.2 and Ch.24 mirror its content. No attempts were made to explain what tools can be used for checking/fixing particular class of problems or to present a bigger picture in which the flaw exists. Typesetting is very primitive. Although one of the authors is a (former) programmer judging by just the book content it is difficult to believe that he is able to spell PERL :-). The book is not updated enough to compete with newer books on Internet Security. For corporate users possible alternatives are combinations of one book on Unix security (for example, Unix System Security by David A. Curry) and one book on Internet security (for example Actually Useful Internet Security Techniques by Larry J. Hughes). The last is recommended as an alternative for readers who cannot afford two books. Often books written by a specialist in particular areas can be a better deal than books from security folks. For example TCP/IP Network Administration by Craig Hunt contains a lot more information about how properly configure TCP/IP than this book and in Ch.12 has a very decent overview of security in just 40 pages.
A mile wide, several inches deep, great for filling in gaps
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.