Programming .Net Security [Paperback]

Adam Freeman (Author), Allen Jones (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0596004427 | ISBN-13: 978-0596004422 | Publication Date: June 2003 | Edition: 1st

With the spread of web-enabled desktop clients and web-server based applications, developers can no longer afford to treat security as an afterthought. It's one topic, in fact, that .NET forces you to address, since Microsoft has placed security-related features at the core of the .NET Framework. Yet, because a developer's carelessness or lack of experience can still allow a program to be used in an unintended way, Programming .NET Security shows you how the various tools will help you write secure applications.

The book works as both a comprehensive tutorial and reference to security issues for .NET application development, and contains numerous practical examples in both the C# and VB.NET languages. With Programming .NET Security, you will learn to apply sound security principles to your application designs, and to understand the concepts of identity, authentication and authorization and how they apply to .NET security. This guide also teaches you to:

• use the .NET run-time security features and .NET security namespaces and types to implement best-practices in your applications, including evidence, permissions, code identity and security policy, and role based and Code Access Security (CAS) use the .NET cryptographic APIs , from hashing and common encryption algorithms to digital signatures and cryptographic keys, to protect your data.
• use COM+ component services in a secure manner

If you program with ASP.NET will also learn how to apply security to your applications. And the book also shows you how to use the Windows Event Log Service to audit Windows security violations that may be a threat to your solution.

Authors Adam Freeman and Allen Jones, early .NET adopters and long-time proponents of an "end-to-end" security model, based this book on their years of experience in applying security policies and developing products for NASDAQ, Sun Microsystems, Netscape, Microsoft, and others. With the .NET platform placing security at center stage, the better informed you are, the more secure your project will be.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Adam Freeman is a professional programmer and the author of two early Java books, Programming the Internet with Java and Active Java, both published by Addison Wesley, as well as Java course materials. His recent experience architecting a green-field e-commerce platform has given him an in-depth understanding of the current security challenges facing those developing large scale distributed systems. Adam has previously worked for Netscape, Sun Microsystems and the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Allen Jones has been developing Windows solutions since 1990 and working with Windows NT and Win32 since 1993. He was one of the first MCSEs to qualify anywhere in the world. For the last 3 years, Allen has been developing e-commerce and security systems for large corporations and financial institutions. He is a former employee of Microsoft in both Australia and the UK and co-author, with Adam Freeman, of C# for Java Developers and .NET XML Web Services Step by Step , both from Microsoft Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596004427
• ISBN-13: 978-0596004422
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > C#
  • #60 in Books > Computers & Technology > Certification > CompTIA
  • #68 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Networking

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ALERT - This is a must have book!!, September 28, 2003

By 

Rex (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming .Net Security (Paperback)

You really are not a true .NET Programmer until you understand the security mechanisms that are part and parcel with the framework. To program in .NET (or really any component-oriented technology) without security in mind is like parachuting without one strapped to your back.
I was waiting for a book like this. Before this book I've had to scour over the internet to try to find out how to get the different areas of security in .NET to work. Now it's all here in one book. The theory, the explanations, the warnings, the samples. If you are a serious .NET programmer or .NET policy administrator then this is a must have book. If you don't know the difference between "host evidence" and "assembly evidence", then you need this book. If you don't know the difference between a "security demand" and a "permission request", then you are dangerous to the people you do work for.
Also, make sure you know the basics already of the language and the framework since this book assumes you do. Good luck.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best .NET security book I've seen, December 7, 2003

By 

ueberhund "ueberhund" (Salt Lake City, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Programming .Net Security (Paperback)

While there is a lot of talk about .NET security, relatively little can be found in terms of documentation, which is one reason why this book is so refreshing. In addition to discussing some of the reasons behind certain security schemes, the theory is explained as well as the C# implementation. While there are some .NET specific security issues discussed (e.g. configuring worker processes), the section on cryptography should be required reading for everyone in the computer industry.

I get really excited about a book when it contains a lot of good information and I am able to actually use it to solve real-world problems. After reading this book, I was able to help solve a really tricky (and politically challenging) security issue quite quickly. If you have anything to do with your company's security systems or write any .NET code, I think this book deserves a place in your reference section. This is certainly the best book on .NET security I have read thus far.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for .Net Programmers, September 29, 2003

By 

Stephen Northcutt (Kauai, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Programming .Net Security (Paperback)

Some books are not going to be easy or approachable, one must already be familiar with either the C# and or Visual Basic language (the easy part) and the .NET programming enviornment to attempt this book. The authors are quick to jump from a discussion of the issues to meta code and sample code, but that is a feature, not a bug to the book's intended audience of very sharp, (as opposed to very basic), well educated coders. I would like to have seen more of an effort to discuss testing, validation and assessment, but at just under 700 pages this is a focused work and a serious coverage of the hooks that make it possible to secure .NET. (Of course that is assuming the underlying function calls are not riddled with buffer overflows and the like. Blaster on a .NET scale is a pretty scary prospect.)

The bottom line, we are awash in bad code and the vulnerabilities that result are the fundamental reason there are so many exploits. When you consider that in the scale of a federated system it is not a pretty thought. Someday there will be building codes for software, but in the meantime, if you are a responsible citizen of this planet and you are involved in .Net development, buy your coders this book. Invest the time to be able to quiz them and do so. Make sure they understand the issues, especially with Chapters 18 and 19, ASP.NET and COM+.