Book Review: Ghost in the Wires

I just finished reading Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker and I would have to say that I was impressed. There is a lot of good history and information in the book about Kevin’s exploits, his life on the run and what it was like to live on the razor’s edge of hacking.

The technical content is enough to keep a techie reading, while the story, in general is a real life thrill ride. I found the reading to be easily digestible and the tone to be spellbinding.

If you have any interest in information security, or the history of hacking, then give Ghost in the Wires a read. You won’t be disappointed!

Book Review: Hacking Exposed: Linux Third Edition

ISECOM, the renowned research organization for security, has again “made sense” of securing a Linux network against attacks. The book is a thorough guide to understanding how to “separate the asset from the threat” and block hackers from playing in the ultimate playground of Linux.  The authors take you from the elements of security, to hacking the system, to hacking the users. 

What is particularly helpful are the case studies. If you or your company’s employees need to travel and access your company’s website via wireless connection, you’ll be especially interested in the case study in Chapter Eight, where a hacker tracks a signal to a hotel’s access point and creates legit-looking error pages in order to obtain the account information of the user. Also helpful are their usual attack and countermeasure icons, which further define how to pinpoint areas of risk.

Security teams looking to evaluate their areas of vulnerability within Linux will be forearmed with the powerful arsenal of preventative approaches covered in this edition. All of the material is new, based upon the most recent and thorough security research. The hacking and countermeasure are based on the OSSTMM, the security testing standard, and cover all known attacks on Linux as well as how to prepare the system to repel unknown attacks. A pretty good buy for the $49.95 cost.