Halting the Hacker: A Practical Guide to Computer Security (Bk/CD-ROM) [Paperback]

Donald L. Pipkin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 013243718X | ISBN-13: 978-0132437189 | Publication Date: December 16, 1996 | Edition: Bk&CD-Rom

24371-7 To safeguard your company's data, think like a hacker! When it comes to computer security, your livelihood and your company's future are on the line. It's not enough to simply follow a security "cookbook" : you need to get into the mind of your adversary, the hacker. In Halting the Hacker, a leading Fortune 500 security consultant shows you the approaches and techniques hackers use to gain access, privileges, and control of your UNIX system. You'll learn to look at your system the way a hacker does, identifying potential vulnerabilities. You'll learn what specific countermeasures to take now. Even more important, you'll learn how to recognize and respond to future security concerns-before they become catastrophes.You'll discover: *How hackers transform minor oversights into major security breaches *How hackers cover their tracks while leaving "back doors" into your system *How to protect your system against disgruntled or dishonest insiders *How to detect break-ins-and what to do next Halting the Hacker even includes an exclusive CD-ROM software library of tools to detect and eliminate security problems, and a comprehensive information archive on security and hacker-related topics. If you're responsible for the security of a UNIX computer system, you're up against some extraordinarily smart and persistent adversaries. You need to even the odds. You need Halting the Hacker.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Halting the Hacker, A Practical Guide to Computer Security (CD-ROM included) by Donald L. Pipkin, a technical consultant for Hewlett-Packard specializing in security issues.

This well-organized book, packed with information for those responsible for the security of a UNIX system, includes a comprehensive "Information Archive" on security and hacker- related topics and an appendix of printed and online periodicals. It outlines how hacker transform minor oversights into major security breaches, how they cover their tracks while leaving "back doors" into the systems, and how to detect break-ins--and what to do next. -- InterexPress, February 1997, Vol. 17, No. 2

Halting the Hacker lives up to it's billing as a "practical guide." It is a ledger of how to set up and secure a Unix-based network. It details numerous approaches and techniques that hackers use to gain system access, privileges and control of a system. Its key benefit is that it clearly and quickly details numerous countermeasures (both reactive and proactive) that one can take to stop most hackers.

For example, tips on dealing with "doctored logs."

The system manager may be able to tell that the logs have been altered but not be able to tell what information has been altered or removed. If the system's auditing allows for auditing of events to a specific file, you should audit all activities that pertain to log files. If you are using syslog to save the log files to another machine, the connection to that machine should be audited.

The book comes with a CD-ROM library of software tools to detect and eliminate security problems. At under 200 pages, it is readable in a few hours and one can put numerous solutions to immediate use. -- Ben Rothke, Senior Associate with Coopers & Lybrand Consulting, Computer Security ALERT, May 1997, No. 170

A new paperback by a technical security consultant for Hewlett-Packard, Donald L. Pipkin is a straightforward guide to computer security with a glossary and a list of sources of assistance. Halting the Hacker is published by Hewlett-Packard Professional Books, an imprint of Prentice Hall. -- Privacy Journal, March 1997

From the Back Cover

To safeguard your company's data, think like a hacker!

When it comes to computer security, your livelihood and your company's future are on the line. It's not enough to simply follow a security “cookbook” : you need to get into the mind of your adversary, the hacker.

In Halting the Hacker, a leading Fortune 500 security consultant shows you the approaches and techniques hackers use to gain access, privileges, and control of your UNIX system. You'll learn to look at your system the way a hacker does, identifying potential vulnerabilities. You'll learn what specific countermeasures to take now. Even more important, you'll learn how to recognize and respond to future security concerns—before they become catastrophes. You'll discover:

• How hackers transform minor oversights into major security breaches
• How hackers cover their tracks while leaving “back doors” into your system
• How to protect your system against disgruntled or dishonest insiders
• How to detect break-ins—and what to do next

Halting the Hacker even includes an exclusive CD-ROM software library of tools to detect and eliminate security problems, and a comprehensive information archive on security and hacker-related topics.

If you're responsible for the security of a UNIX computer system, you're up against some extraordinarily smart and persistent adversaries. You need to even the odds. You need Halting the Hacker.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Ptr; Bk&CD-Rom edition (December 16, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013243718X
• ISBN-13: 978-0132437189
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,471,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Starting Overview, February 1, 2003

By 

Anthony Lawrence "Unix, Linux and Mac OS X" (Middleboro, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Halting the Hacker: A Practical Guide to Computer Security (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This isn't a heavily technical book. Unlike many of the other security books I've reviewed, this isn't full of tcpdump traces and the like. It is, however, a really excellent overview of security that can introduce a system administrator or a general manager to the subject.

There are actually a very few pages that deal with things like disabling unused services, but that's just 14 pages from a 337 page work, and those are really more illustrative than specific. Instead, this covers the who, the how and the why of hackers, the legal climate, and includes examples of actual incidents.

Perhaps a good indication of the target audience is the Glossary, which includes definitions for "back door", "client/server", "Kerberos", "newsgroup" and "Trojan horse".

If you are looking for programmer level information, this isn't what you want. On the other hand, this is much more technical and focused than something you might read in Newsweek or your Sunday newspaper.

Recommended for business owners and managers who need to understand computer security even though others may actually implement it, or as a base introduction for technical people with no previous exposure.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hooray for "Halting", August 16, 2004

By 

R. Enos (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Halting the Hacker: A Practical Guide to Computer Security (Bk/CD-ROM) (Paperback)

This review is a collaborative writing project completed by the students in a "Technology and Ethics" class at DeVry University in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is based on a quick look at the book under consideration.

This book has several virtues. It provides a simple step-by-step process to keep hackers out. It also provides supportive links where you can download software to protect your hardware as well as business information. The simple wording allows you to concentrate on your work while helping you protect what you are working on.

Although this book is outdated, it would still be helpful in setting up a security policy. The illustrations in this book would not be suitable for some business environments; however they would be useful for the individual computer user.

I would recommend this book to beginners in the computer technology field. This book comes with a useful CD-ROM that contains software and added resources.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars So-so, April 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Halting the Hacker: A Practical Guide to Computer Security (Bk/CD-ROM) (Paperback)

I got this book to become more familiar with network security. It goes over some good topics and really helps you to understand the "secure your system" concept. However, this book is a basic overview for the network manager and I would suggest that you find some other book to go with if you wanna buy it..