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Open Source Security Tools: Practical Guide to Security Applications, A (Bruce Perens' Open Source Series)
by Tony Howlett
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (2004-08-08)
ISBN: 0321194438
EAN: 9780321194435
UPC: 785342194432
Dewey Decimal #: 005.8
Paperback: 608 pages
SKU: 82208000081
Condition: New
Comments: 0321194438 New, never read, may have minor wear on cover.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
This book sorts through the overwhelming mass of open source security tools, chooses a few of the best, and shows network and system administrators how to use them to solve common security problem. Open Source Security Tools is a practicum. It tells readers what they need to do to secure their networks, introduces best-in-class tools, and shows readers how to use them. For each security task described, Howlett reviews the best open source tools, shows readers how to use them, and takes them through a sample implementation and case studies. At the end of each chapter, Howlett will offer pointers to other good open source tools that are worth investigating. The companion CD includes fully dowloadable versions of the tools, so readers can work along with the text. Newcomers to security will leave with enough knowledge and experience to deploy solutions and further their IT careers. Readers will learn to: * Secure their perimeter with open source scanners like Nessus.* Receive early warning about attempted breakins from IDS systems like Snort.* Install a firewall to keep hackers at bay (Turtle).* Use encyrption to secure email and other sensitive data (PGP)* If the worst happens, run forensics tools to investigate a breakin after the fact, like Autopsy or SleuthKit.This book is part of the Bruce Perens Open Source Series.
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Customer Reviews
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Book missing CD
Rating  (3)
Date: 2006-02-06
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is now classified by the publisher as "out of print" and this is a reprint. I just got off the phone with Prentice Hall, and the CD-ROM does NOT come with the book, regardless what the Amazon listing says.
My lowered rating does not reflect the quality or content of the book, rather a gaping omission on the part of the publisher. The CD is integral to the material in the book.
Luckily - it is rather easy to download most of the tools that the book references.
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The High Value of FREE / Open Source Security Tools
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-03-03
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book provides a good overview of security tools. It could help readers get started by explaining security concepts and stepping the reader through installation of useful tools. (The book includes a CD containing the utilities covered in the text.) It doesn't however, give good coverage to interpreting the results of scans and monitoring.
About 1/4 to 1/3 of the book is wasted on appendices of readily available information. GPL and BSD licenses, well-known port numbers, and a huge list of Nessus plug-ins. The space might have been better utilized by providing coverage of virus scanners or even common application alternatives that are more resistant to attack. On the positive side, the information is there so you won't need to look for it on the Web.
I like the fact that the book covers utilities for both Linux and Windows. And the fact that the utilities are free and Open Source, of course. Just using one of the utilities covered in the book would save you many times the cost of the book.
I learned a few new tricks from this book even though I was already familiar with many of the utilities and concepts.
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Outstanding Survey of Open Source Security Tools
Rating  (5)
Date: 2004-12-31
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is an excellent resource to help readers understand what open source tools are available to address every dimension of securing a computing infrastructure.
What I liked best about this book is that it did not assume an already-existing base of knowledge in the reader. Other books present information that assumes the reader already understands the topic, and therefor only needs the details of how to use the tool being discussed. Howlett's book provides a graduated discussion of every area, enabling a beginner to start from scratch and an experienced reader to glean the important details.
Also outstanding about this book is the fact that it covers pretty much all the areas of security an admin will need to address. If you work through this book, you can be pretty sure that you've covered all your bases.
Because of that, the book is like a survey, rather than an exhaustive discussion of any one area. However, the author always provides pointers to other places the reader can go for deeper material. I think this is a great way to organize material and really enjoyed the book because of it.
Overall, this is a great contribution to a critical area of computing.
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Good for Beginner to Intermediate System Admins
Rating (4)
Date: 2004-12-20
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I consider myself a developer rather than system admin. But I enjoyed and learned quite a bit. I read this book in one 7 hours bus journey. It is very good on introducing new topics. It teaches you how to use programs and give recommandations.
I think my money is well spent.
Think it, this way. When you start to learn something new, you are bombarded with a lot of buzzwords and jargon. This book will teach you most of this buzzwords and you will learn quite a lot in reading this book. A internet search about tools will bring you more similar tools and new learning points.
As I said in the title, this books is about beginners. If you are a expert, I do not think you will gain a lot from this book.
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Tools for Security Admin
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-11-03
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Title: Open Source Security Tools
Author: Tony Howlett
Pages: 578
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Rating: 9/10
Reviewer: Gary Smith
Summary: Great book on tools of the trade
Today's security analyst/administrator is confronted not only with constant attacks from within and without his organization but also the twin demons of No Money and No Time. Who's he/she going to call to get out of this dilemma? Ghostbusters? A better resource is Tony Howlett's
book, "Open Source Security Tools."
The book start off with an introduction to information security and OSS (Open Source Software). If you're new to being a security analyst and you need to know some basic things about information security and threats this is a good introduction. If you're a seasoned security veteran with the battle scars to prove it, it's still a useful section as a quick reference for hitting up management (pointy-haired or otherwise) when they ask questions.
The book starts with tools that are readily usable by the security admin, tools for the operating system. These simple tools in the first chapter can go a long way to improving the security of the operating systems. From there, the chapters go through increasingly more complex tools and the problems that they are designed to confront. These include firewalls, port scanners, vulnerability scanners, network sniffers, IDS (Intrusion Detection Systems), analysis and management tools, encryption tools, wireless tools, and forensic tools.
The book gives a good discussion of why you need a particular tool, how to get it, set it up, use it, and make the most of it. Each chapter is peppered with tips and traps about the tools, a very useful thing for the harried security admin. I found Chapter 8, "Analysis and Management Tools" particularly good. Snort is a great tool but sometimes, using it is like trying to drink from a fire hose. What you need is a way to archive all that data and review it in some comprehensible manner. Chapter 8 describes how to due this using several OSS tools including ACID and MySQL. Following Mr. Howlett's steps, you'll have a management console that will aid you analysis and get the notice of your management.
I also liked Chapter 10, "Wireless Tools." Let's face it, wireless networks are hot and show no signs of cooling down anytime soon. They are also a squeaky wheel when it comes to needing oil to keep things quiet. Management can get very nervous about wireless networks and what you don't know can really hurt you. This chapter gives the security admin the tools to make sure that any wireless network in the company is secure and that there aren't any wireless networks you don't know about.
And then there's the CDROM included with the book. You could spend hours burning up the bandwidth searching the 'net to get all the tools in the book. Prentice Hall has made it easy for you by including a CDROM of all the tools described in the book right at your finger tips.
At 578 pages, "Open Source Security Tools" is chocked full of tools, tips, and techniques that any security admin can use to solve the types of problems he/she may face. The choice of tools is excellent, the organizational structure of the book is good and the Mr Howlett's writing style is easy to follow and quite humorous at times. I can offer only two suggestions about the book for future editions. One is if the CDROM were a live distro like Knoppix that you could pop into a system and run the tools straight away. The other is if the book were bound in a "lie flat" format for easier reading and use at the desk.
Get the book, use the tools, make your systems more secure, and your job easier.
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