Professional Web Services Security [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Ravi Trivedi (Author), David Whitney (Author), Ben Galbraith (Author), Prasad D V (Author), Murali Janakiraman (Author), Andre Hiotis (Author), Whitney Hankison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002

Web Services is a new paradigm that has evolved over the years. With successful demonstration of its proof of concept, Web Services are gradually moving towards occupying an important mechanism for e-commerce, because of the industry's awareness of its potential for integration. This book presents secure web services for e-commerce along with their implementation details. Security is a not only a prime requirement to implement e-business, but also an important concern due to the fact that Web Services can penetrate through firewalls. XML based standards have evolved to cater to the security needs in Web Services, to supplement traditional proven techniques.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Who is this book for?

This book is for Web Services developers who need real-world practical information on how to make their Web Services fully secure. It is also useful for security analysts who are responsible for the system's integrity.

- Concepts of Web Services and security
- Detailed explanation of XML standards that have evolved to meet the security needs
- Basic concepts of the proven security principles and new challenges faced in the wake of evolving technology
- Concepts of security at various layers, including transport layer and application layer
- Practical security aspects of Web Services around .net and J2EE
- Available toolkits and SDKs for implementing security in Web Services

From the Back Cover

As more companies are implementing XML-based information exchange technologies - so-called web services, security has become a critical issue. This is especially true in the area of e-commerce. Various XML-based standards have evolved to cater to the security needs of web services, such as XML Encryption (XML-ENC), XML Digital Signatures (XML-DSIG), and the XML Key Management Specification (XKMS).

This book presents detailed information on these and other XML security standards. It goes a step further by demonstrating the practical use of XML security standards, using both the J2EE and the .NET platforms. After reading this book, developers will understand what secure web services are and how to implement them.

What this book covers?

Security concepts in web services. An overview of basic concepts of proven security principles. Detailed explanation of standards based on XML that have evolved to meet the needs of security. Concepts of security at various layers including the transport layer and the application layer. Security aspects of web services using .NET and J2EE based systems. Examples of secure web services using the .NET and J2EE frameworks. Available toolkits and SDKs for implementing security in web services.

Who is this book for?

This book is for web services developers who need real-world, practical information on how to make their web services fully secure. It is also useful for security analysts who are responsible for system integrity

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 575 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press; 1st edition (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861007655
• ISBN-13: 978-1861007650
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,401,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a practical book for building XML security., January 27, 2003

By 

Prasad Reddy "Prasad" (Sanjose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Professional Web Services Security (Paperback)

I bought this out of curiosity especially to build XML element level security using SAML, XKMS and XACML.
- This book just reproduced the SAML, XKMS and XACML specs and examples and it does'nt discuss real world implementation scenarios. Which is quite disappointing !
- No discussion on how to create Interoperable Web services security involving Microsoft .NET and J2EE Web services.
- No discussion on implementing Liberty Alliance and Passport.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally a book that covers Web Services Security!, December 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Professional Web Services Security (Paperback)

If you look at all the currently available books on Web Services with titles like Essential Web Services, Web Services Architecture or Building Web Services, all of them have absolutely no coverage of security or have a very thin chapter at the end of their book that talks about SSL. Even WROX's XML Web Services lacks in this area. I am glad to see that WROX filled this void.

The pro's of this book:
-Good coverage of the current security standards such as SSL, XML Signatures, XML Encryption, P3P and XML Key Management.
-Good coverage of the emerging security standards such as SAML and XACML.
-Not a rehash of the specification's but a fairly good attempt to explain and provide good visual examples. This is always the challenge, the more detail you provide the closer you get to repeating the specification specially on the more recent specifications like XACML.
-Well written, good layout, flows well from chapter to chapter.
-Good intermediate book. For advanced security readers, I guess it's best to read the specification.

The con's of this book:
-Table of content on the web says that Chapter 11 is on Secured Web Services but the book actually covers WS-Security. I was very interested in WS-Security with all the different pieces. I was expecting much more from this chapter. It was very short and missed the mark on this very interesting topic.
-I would have liked to see the case study's make use of all the security standards discussed in the book not just a few.
-I would have liked to see a chapter that tied all these topics together in more detail and also discuss other security standards that were not covered and how this all fits with the current Web Services standards.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last a decent Web Services Security Book, January 17, 2003

By 

Mark Curphey (Seattle, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional Web Services Security (Paperback)

At last I have found a decent web services security book. Professional Web Services Security by Wrox. I really like this book as it covers all the specs including WS-Security, SAML and Liberty and all the XML specs including XKMS, XACML, XML Sig, XML Encryption etc. It also has great code examples of using each which is really useful. The best content and broadest coverage I have seen so far (and I have bought a good few to date).

Only criticism is no .NET passport. If you like MS or not its an important spec and should be included.