Customer Reviews

Secure Messaging with Microsoft Exchange Server 2000

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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A comprehensive survey which will be useful for Exchange admins, but also allows others (CIO's, CSO's, business folk) to understand the issues and solutions available for Exchange security.

I'm NOT an Exchange admin, I focus more on compliance and security, and found the chapters on this the best summary I've seen. Very valuable to anyone dealing with compliance issues for corporate email.

If you've read the 'Security Operations for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server' guide from Microsoft, what value can this book possibly add? That's the question I asked myself before digging into this book. Answer: A LOT!

For starters, it's a very well-written book - starts with some great explanations of Security Fundamentals - the buzzwords, the protocols & algorithms, threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. I've read many security books, but seldom have I found just the right balance - as technical as it needs to be, but still interesting enough for the non-techies.

The section on Installing Exchange With Security in Mind is particularly interesting. Everything you want to know about messaging/Exchange security is covered - SMTP Relays, spam, content filtering, antivirus, SSL, MAPI/RPC security, et al. Great coverage of email encryption and Public Key cryptography, Outlook client security, POP/IMAP security. Can never get tired of readng about securing Outlook Web Access.

Overall, a must-read for Exchange admins. The only thing I would've liked to see is: i) this book to be released at least a year ago.. this one's at the tail end of the Exchange 2000 lifecycle - too close to the Titanium (Exchange 2003) release. ii) Perhaps some more coverage of specific vulnerabilities of SMTP and Exchange, and how secure Exchange is compared to other messaging systems - Notes, Sendmail, etc. THE TRADEOFF (or benefit rather) is we have a book that can still be carried with one hand... still under 400 pages without the index. Remarkable! (A round of applause for Paul Robichaux..)

Bharat Suneja
MCT

If you maintain or administer Exchange servers, this book is a must for you. It covers a borad set of security topics specific to Exchange server, secure messaging and even secure IM. Very valuable guide for IT. Does not dive at too low a level for practical use.

This book has enough information about security, both of the messages and the messaging environment, for a good Exchange administrator to build and maintain a rock solid secure messaging environment.

Paul wrote the book, but the people who helped review the book contributed much of their real-world experience to the content. A number of the reviewers are heavy hitters in the Exchange and security fields. What you get is "This works in the real world" solutions to security problems.

This is a great book for those with Exchange 2000 in their environment that want to learn more about messaging security concepts and how to apply them to Exchange 2000. With security being such a big concern these days, you might want to make sure you are making proper use of the security features in Exchange 2000.