Customer Reviews

Security+ Guide to Network Security Fundamentals

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this book for two reasons: first I needed it for a security class this summer, second I needed a book with good testing software to prepare for the CompTIA Security+ exam. It served its purpose and I passed the exam easily.

The practice exam software is good, but I have used this exam engine from Certblaster before and the question text size they use is too small, which is very irratiting especially since there is plenty of room to use a larger text size. Unlike other books that use the same Certblaster software (usually a Course Technology publication), this one does not use the other functions that the test software offers, like providing the explanations to the questions, so you can actually learn as you go. Someone got lazy. Also the end of chapter question drills, which ask up to 20 questions, provide neither the answer OR the explanation key so you can check yourself; you have to dig through the text. End of chapter quizzes are really good learning tools, but these ones make you work too hard, and waste your time by making you hunt down the correct answers in a chapter you just read. They could at least give the answers, even if they are too lazy to provide the explanations. So, as an exam prep book, this one really falls down on its face in that area. I hate to criticize this fine book, but for almost 100.00 these overpriced Course Technology books should be doing better than this.

It is a good book as far as the text and layout go, very readable and enjoyable. But unless you need it for a class (as is often the case with Course Technology books), save your money and get the Sybex book, or Sybex+something else like the ExamCram and STILL pay less than half what this book costs.

I give it 3 stars. I would have given 5 except for the inexcusable lack of answers/explanations to the end of chapter review questions, the lack of answers/explanations to the Certblaster practice exams, and the insane price.

Mark Ciampa's Security+ Guide to Network Fundamentals 3rd edition, is an excellent resource for new users or novices who need to understand Security concepts and succeed. We used this as a college textbook, and worked exclusively from the book.

The book is a very easy read, and is written well. The book keeps things moving with the hands on labs and very easy to use. The end of chapter questions make it easy to solidify the chapter topics. The exam engine included in the book is very intuitive, and allows you to work on your weak areas by identifying the topics that need work.

Scoring 100% on all the chapter questions, and the CertBlaster exam engine allowed me to pass the Security+ 2008 exam with ease with plenty of time to spare. I highly recommend this book.

Note: To succeed in passing the exam, you must read, do the labs, understand your subject matter, and practice, practice, practice. No shortcuts here.

Security+ Guide to Network Security Fundamentals by Mark Ciampa is a great Network Security book. Mark Ciampa has done a great job in the 3rd edition by providing excellent overall content of network security. Even my security + professor is impressed. I'm even thinking about getting my CISSP certification after I get my security + certification because there are only a few differences between this security + book and the CISSP book.

Was searching for this book for one of my classes and for the price it couldn't be beat, Thanks guys.

Length:: 7:54 Mins

If you need this book, you need it. If you want this book to learn the material on your own, skip this and get the newest (most relevant) edition.

This is used as the textbook for an introductory course in network security which I am taking. The book is clearly written and fairly well organized, and covers a broad range of topics.

However, the book suffers from a number of shortcomings.

First and foremost, it lacks footnotes, citations, or a bibliography. This is unprofessional on the face of it; this book is obviously not primary research, and often I wondered where the author was getting his information. Furthermore, since this book gives only cursory treatment to many important and complex subjects, suggestions for further reading would seem an obvious addition to the text. The book has an appendix with a list of security-related Websites, but most of those listed no longer exist.

Second, the book discusses Windows operating systems almost exclusively, and then, mostly Windows Vista. The subject at hand is network security, and in the world of network servers, Linux is dominant, with Windows servers a distant second place. Yet Linux is only mentioned in passing when mentioned at all, and coverage of Windows server operating systems is little better.

Third, each chapter ends with a self-quiz, which is trivially easy, and with exercises that consist simply in downloading and executing various tools for Windows. There is no real effort to reinforce the material of the chapter or deepen a reader's understanding; in fact, most of the self-quizzes and any of the exercises could be completed without reading the text at all.

Fourth, the binding of the book is quite bad. Shortly after purchasing it as a new book, the binding cracked.

All in all, this book is simply an extended vocabulary lesson, providing some limited background knowledge. You may gain a rough idea what an SQL injection attack is by reading this book; but you would get no hints how to prevent one.

i ordered the information security book under the label used, and it came on time in the condition stated, but better than what i was expecting.

The most hilarious thing I've noticed so far is that the book tells you to use IE, one of the notoriously unsafe browsers out there.

The book itself serves as an excellent study for the Security+ certification.

If you want to learn about security without taking a class and are good at self-study this is a great book. You may also want to take sign up for TestOut and take the LabSim for Security+ if you want to take the Security+ certification exam.

I bought this book and the CompTIA Security+ Deluxe Study Guide: SY0-201 by Emmett Dulaney. I read both and found that the Dulaney study guide was the better book. This book is good for a general introduction to security, but does not cover the material needed for passing the Security+ exam. And the price tag is too high considering the minimal coverage of the topic. There are questions at the end of each chapter, but no answer key. There are no practice tests. I eventually shelved this book. If you want to pass the Security+ test, buy and study from the Dulaney book instead.