Security for Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Paperback)

by Ed Robinson (Author), Michael James Bond (Author) "This book is an introduction to security for Visual Basic programmers..." (more)
Key Phrases: employee management system, change the authorization section, given full trust, Visual Basic, Windows Forms, End Sub (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This is the first book every Visual Basic .NET programmer should read on security. This is an end-to-end guide, with clear prescriptive guidance for best practices, application design, and coding techniques for Windows and Web-based applications. This book makes writing secure applications easier than ever before. It features plain-language explanations of security terms illustrated with step-by-step code walk-throughs and sample files for both Visual Basic .NET 2002 and Visual Basic .NET 2003. Programmers will learn how to use encryption, role-based security, code access security, authentication, authorization along with techniques to help protect against common exploits. Also covered in this end-to-end guide are techniques for locking down Microsoft Windows, Internet Information Services and Microsoft SQL server. Readers will learn how to perform a security audit, how to test for security, how to design with security in mind, and security techniques for deploying Windows and Web-based applications.

About the Author
Ed Robinson and Michael Bond are members of the Microsoft Visual Basic .NET team and coauthors of Upgrading Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, published by Microsoft Press. They have been through the Microsoft security program, understand the Visual Basic developer, and spoke at the most recent TechEd conference about writing secure components with Visual Basic .NET.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; illustrated edition edition (June 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735619190
• ISBN-13: 978-0735619197
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #791,929 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the trip to the bookstore, July 27, 2003

By	Dale Zack (Irving, TX USA) - See all my reviews

I was a little bit skeptical to buy this book since Amazon hasnt put up a description yet, so I went to my local bookstore to check it out. I got to readin it and couldnt put it down. I was never really sure if my VB code was secure or not.. Ive read other books that are heavy on security options, but light on recommendations. This book gave me both the options and recommendations. It told me exactly what I needed to do to use encryption in my program. Something I was never able to figure out from the documentation. Plus it gave me plenty of other ideas on how to make my VB code better and more secure. Now I feel like Im in control of my VB code again. It was well worth the trip!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worthy of five stars, July 25, 2003

By	Peter McTavish (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

Security is becoming an essential topic and there is a lot of information available already, but up until now, no reference that brings it together for the VB programmer. I was after a book that gave me the basic knowledge for writing secure apps. This book is great.

Ed Robinson and Mike Bond have previously written about VB migration. I often find that authors like the rest of us mortals grow in our jobs and this book is very well written. It starts out with the basics, and gets more advanced as the book goes on. I like the fact that the book has loads of example code which is designed to be cut-and-pasted into your applications.

As a final note, I think this is definitely one of the best MSPress .NET books. Unlike the other security books, which seem to be rushed to be first to market, this books is well thought out, and created by people who know VB.NET as well as knowing about security. This brings security down to earth, and is more relevant to the VB programmer than anything else I've read on security. This book is worthy of five stars.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What an eye-opener, November 16, 2003

By	William G. Ryan "Uber Book Nerd" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first saw this book, I thought "How can they write a whole book on security?" So out of intellectual curiosity, I started flipping through the pages. It was like getting kicked in the stomach, not because it was wrong, but because it was right. It made me fundamentally re-think how I write my code and really shifted my whole mental image. Too many times developers think that if an app does what users want and runs fast and is reliable, that's all there is to it. Not anymore. The most killer app written wouldn't impress anyone if it got hacked and cost them a lot of money. There days, too many people are trying to hack your stuff, and having your app busted is no less 'bad' than having a logic flaw miscalculate tons of money. Moreoever, security breaches often make the headlines so it's a lose/lose for everyone if your security is breached.

The good news... buy this book, follow their guidelines religously, keep up to date with security issues, and sleep easy at night.