Customer Reviews

The Giant Black Book of Computer Viruses

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a classic exposition on the programming of computer viruses. I concur with the other reviewers in that this is the best book ever on the subject (it is likely the only book on the subject from my searches). The first edition of this book is free to download from the publisher's website (search for American Eagle Publications in Google because Amazon.com won't let me put the URL) (it requires you to register but that is free too) along with the Little Black Book of Computer Viruses and lots of other information. THIS BOOK CAN STILL BE PURCHASED NEW FROM THE PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE for forty dollars, so don't order an overpriced used copy from Amazon.com (at the time of this writing, some jerk was trying to sell it for over one hundred dollars used! What a rip-off!).

This tells you just about anything you ever wanted to know about the behavior of computer virii, who makes them, how to make one yourself, and explores how some antivirus programs work. If you do buy this one, you probably won't be disappointed.

This book is very informing and has examples, although outdated in somecases, they could be modifyed to create something more dangourous. The book tells you the safe way to experment with all of the viruses.

Mark Ludwig is rekoned to be one of the worlds leading experts in the field of computer viruses and this book (with disk) goes to prove that he is. Written for those with a good understanding of computer languages, this is no trip for the feint hearted. I recommend this to anyone wanting to know how they can improve their systems form malicious attack, BUT dont use the disk if you don't know what you are doing as the demo viruses contained COULD do serious damage. Defineatly a recommended read.

mark A.ludwig really educates you with he's book. If you really want to learn about the power of assembly language, this book sertainly teach you just that. If you consider yourself a computer expert,read this book and find out that your not!!!

This book was written over ten years ago, so obviously you are not going to read it and be on the cutting edge of virus writing and protection at this point. However, this book is still an excellent one for those who want to learn the ins and outs of Windows systems programming including how your computer can be controlled/manipulated using some assembly language and the operating system as it already exists. Basically, the author is using the subject of viruses to educate you on the fine points of assembly language programming for the PC without you knowing it was ever happening. I highly recommend it. However, as other reviewers have already said, the book is now free online, so don't pay some ridiculously high price believing its contents are a rare find.

This book is written to be accessible to anyone with a little experience with assembly language programming, or to anyone with any programming experience, provided they're willing to do a little work to learn assembler. Actually, this book acts as a pretty good tutorial on assembly language programming itself. The book is broken down into three parts. The first section discusses viral reproduction techniques, ranging from the simplest overwriting virus to complex multi-partite viruses and viruses for advanced operating systems. The second section discusses anti anti-virus techniques commonly used in viruses, including simple techniques to hide file changes, ways to hide virus code from prying eyes, and polymorphism. The third section discusses payloads, both destructive and beneficial. The following is the table of contents.

Introduction
Computer Virus Basics

PART I
The Simplest COM Infector
Companion Viruses
Parasitic COM Infectors: Part I
Parasitic COM Infectors: Part II
A Memory Resident Virus
Infecting EXE Files
Advanced Memory Residence Techniques
An Introduction to Boot Sector Viruses
The Most Successful Boot Sector Virus
Advanced Boot Sector Techniques
Multi-Partite Viruses
Infecting Device Drivers
Windows Viruses
An OS/2 Virus
Unix Viruses
Source Code Viruses
Many New Techniques

Part II: Anti-Anti Virus Techniques
How A Virus Detector Works
Exercises
Stealth for Boot Sector Viruses
Stealth Techniques for File Infectors
Protected Mode Stealth
Polymorphic Viruses
Retaliating Viruses
Advanced Anti-Virus Techniques
Genetic Viruses
Who Will Win?

Part III. Payloads for Viruses
Destructive Code
A Viral Unix Security Breach
Operating System Holes and Covert Channels
A Good Virus
Appendix A: ISR Reference
Appendix B: Resources

Ok this book is about computer viruses but for those of us who have no intention of writing viruses, this book can teach quite a bit about system programming. The aurthor is clearly a very good programmer and he is able to teach the subject well.

Mr Ludwig, I think you should consider writing "under the hood" articles for the benefit of other programmers.

The Author covers viruses development from boot sector,to file viruses for Win3.#, DOS and OS2. This a good book for people interested in the hard facts of computer viruses. How to create them, or a person interested in coding Anti-Virus software. It is a must to understand what and how viruses alter executables, in order to repair and detect against viruses. Not for people who just what a program to magical repair their system. But for those who want to know how to do it on their selves own. Requires knowledge of Assembly Lang for IBM PC.

This book is simply the best computer related book available, in my opinion. I learned more about assembler, systems programming, viruses, and artifical life from this book than I could have from any other combination of sources. This book's clear, fascinating examination of viruses still holds my attention; I have read it cover to cover dozens of times, and refer to it frequently for information on a variety of topics. I cannot praise this book highly enough.

I tested a few of these programs for effectiveness on a Win95 and 98 (not 98se) machine. Wow, i was impressed at the speed and efficiency of the given code!
I have programmed in assembly, and this taught me a few tricks i hadn't seen before. Who knew that u could reach hidden functions in kernel32.dll?
Not I, not until now. I highly recommend this book for the curious, advanced, and master programmer alike.

You will learn the structure and power of assembly based virii, and how (if you think about it) to defend against them. A great little gem if you want to know how bad you can 'get it'.
hope this helps