Customer Reviews

The Art of Information Warfare: Insight into the Knowledge Warrior Philosophy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The authors have taken the classic "Art of War" and translated it into today's concepts of INFOSEC and IW. They mix updated eastern philosophies with essays on various IW and INFOSEC topics. The last section is a "how to" on building INFOSEC programs. A must read!

This book gave a good overview of the security issues that we face in the businessplace and as a wired society. Some of the scenarios (the train control one and digital photo editing) are very plausable and may have taken place already! The book is an easy read and something that makes perfect sense for me as part of a Fortune 500 business's IT department that's trying to make a security program that works. Their Part 2 "techniques" gave us some good ideas on how to test security at our company and we've already found problems that we're addressing! highly recommended.

The United States possesses both the world's largest national economy and its strongest military forces. Those two aspects are mutually reinforcing, entwined and reliant upon cyber-based systems. These systems are used to manage our nation's critical infrastructures and are always at risk to illegal penetration and sabotage and must be securely maintained. Baklarz and Forno have taken a critical and unique approach to ascertaining the risks to our cyber-systems both inside and outside our government and to presenting methodologies that can be implemented to minimize those risks. A book that is not to be missed!"

Sun Tzu is to military and security strategists as Shakespeare is to budding writers: an apotheosis of the art. Here, again, the great Chinese military leader is invoked, this time to draw parallels between his thinking and strategies for information warfare. The comparison, while sometimes trite in other works, is appropriate in this case; there truly is a digital war raging in the information systems trenches, and only until one accepts that premise can successful information security be achieved.

The first part of the book covers the fundamentals of the Chinese "knowledge warrior philosophy" and details the many facets of corporate information systems that must be secured. Topics such as "targets and vulnerabilities," "preparing for the siege," and "planning and force" are all applied to the digital world.

The book also details the varied techniques of the information warrior and can be summed up by a quote from the Navy SEALs program that opens chapter nine: "The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat." Useful exercises enable the reader to focus on the different tasks involved in information protection.

This is one of the most original security books to be published in recent years. Its style is of significance to information systems managers who need to understand how to effectively secure their systems. At less than 175 pages, the book has more value than works triple its size.

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This valuable text contains common sense, insightful, and vitally important concepts to simplify the understanding of this complicated subject. A great companion for the professional

Very interesting read on computer security. The chapter on "hacking the brain" is a neat twist, particularly in the era of easy video manipulation, it's easy to change the perception of reality to spin stuff a certain way. The how-to sections are ideal for security people in helping conduct various security tests at their own companies.

It was not a difficult book to read, and I've already had my staff try and steal it from my desk!

These guys tried to mix a lot of information about security into a simplified guide. While some of the material seems academic and beyond the scope of computer security, it still gives good food for thought.

That being said, the book provides useful guidance in an easy-to-read (and remember!) format, and makes it easy to understand the basics of security for our companies. The book's probably best-suited for small-to-midsize firms like mine, and I learned some new things from it.

The resources section in Part 2 were particularly helpful, if not a bit dated now in 2003 compared to 1999 when it was published.

Excellent source material that Corporate Security Managers should make part of their Information Security Education program!

After reading the book I had a whole new perspective for info sec and really gained from the experience. I felt that some of the theory in the book was dated but for the novice to intermediate it is a "ART OF WAR" must have for the practice.

The Art of Information Warfare does not tell you everything you need to know about infosec, but enough to get you started on the road.

Good things come in small packages, like this book.