CYRUS PEIKARI

Reasoning that the best way to defend a computer system is to possess a detailed knowledge of the techniques malicious punks could use to attack it, Peikari and Chuvakin have written a detailed tutorial. The book is in four broad sections: software cracking, which details techniques of reverse engineering on Windows, Windows CE, and Linux systems; network stalking--on techniques used to compromise computer networks; platform attacks--covering ways to exploit vulnerabilities in specific software programs such as Unix and SQL Server; and finally a section on advanced defensive techniques such as honeypots. Although little familiarity with computer security techniques is assumed, an intermediate to advanced level of general computer knowledge is required; the software cracking section, for example, provides a brief refresher tutorial in assembly language, but would swiftly confuse anyone encountering the material for the first time. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR