Customer Reviews

Security+ Prep Guide

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After reviewing most of the Security+ material on the market, this book helped me the most in passing the CompTia certification. It appears to be the only Sec+ book authored by a Security+ certified professional, and the questions in the book and extra questions on the CD were dead on.

Security, security, security, that's seems to be the hottest growing area of the IT industry over the last 18 months. CompTIA release of the security+ exam is the foundational standard by which companies have set a measuring stick for those looking to break into the Security field.

In this book the authors have given you a good breakdown of the domains associated with a very tough exam. The authors seem to have covered every objective and the material is technically accurate and up to date.

The book has over 150 practice questions included. What I found to be most helpful was the communication security as well as the infrastructure security sections. Looking at the overall content of the book you should have a good base in which to learn from.

I was very pleased with the cdrom included, which has a practice question using the Boson Testing engine. Overall the authors have created a very good study guide and based on what I have seen from the exam, this book should help.

I recently passed the Security+ exam and the Wiley Security+ Prep Guide was one of my main books. Don't let the size of it fool you as it covers the topics including needed details. Though not an Exam Cram type book it is for those users that like to cut out all the fluff and already understand most of the material on the Security+ exam. Though I could have probably passed with this book alone, if you are not comfortable about the topics and are not failry familiar with tcp/ip, VPN's, routers, firewalls, access controls, PKI, malware, etc you may not want to use this as your first book.

The end of chapter questions and explainations were great and the questions were not unlike the ones on the test. When reading the book pay attention to anything in italics as that is an important concept or term. The authors do get into some of the topics pretty heavy duty [for a basic security book]such as cryptology details, kerberos formulas on page 11, and WEP encryption process on pages 90 and 91. You may find the more esoteric stuff interesting such as that but I did not find any related questions on the exam. Just to repeat - you need to know about kerberos, WEP, and cryptology, just not that level of detail.

Be prepared to find questions on the exam that you swear are not in this or any book. Some of the topics like chapter 5 for operation/organizational security will spawn questions that require you to know the jist of the topics being covered and require you to rely on common sense and experience to make the correct choice. In my opinion the Wiley Security+ Prep Guide is a must read for the Security+ exam but depending on your level of experience you may not want it to be your first book.

This book is a bit dry, diving no holds bar into the technical side of Security+. Sample questions are given at the end of each chapter, with the answers and explanations given in the back of the book. Overall, a nice read. First chapter is a bit rough, however.

Let's get one thing straight. They're not giving the Security+ certification away. The exam requires the candidate to achieve a score of about 85% to pass. That being said, this little volume is packed with the information you need take the exam with confidence. The book begins by identifying the 3 tenets of INFOSEC (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability) and then treats the subject matter in a manner that maps right back to these tenets and the 5 domains on which the exam is based. I am yet to see any book or video that treats Access Control models any better than this book and the chapter on Cryptography is nothing short of a masterclass in basics of the subject. This book is by no means an easy read, but anyone who wants a Security+ certification must already know that it will require a lot of hard work. If you're on a budget, get this book and the Security+ Transcender study pack. Use the study guide that comes with the Transcender as a finisher for each chapter in the book. Then go to your local bookie and place a bet on yourself passing the exam. 85% is easy. I know 'cause I've done it.

I used this book in conjuntion with the Syngress book and exam cram 2 practice questions. This book definitely covers a lot of material in a short amount of time. You could read this in 2 or 3 days if you sat down and took your time with it. It actually filled in alot of gaps that the Syngress book had (small details that actually show up on the exam) Using those 3 books, I scored an 874 on the exam on March 4th.

You are a God among writers especially pertaining to Security +. I hate to give you so much credit, just based on the fact that I'm selfish. I don't want everybody to be certified in Security + like me. Thanks to you I passed the test. I can see the difference in a PH.D writing a book, than some certified reverse engineer writer trying to get money. You really stuck your foot in this book. Ronald , comptia said I needed two years experience, try just one month of reading this book.

Another great learning aide from Krutz and Vines. The authors have failed to disappoint me on any of the three titles that I have read by them. Although they do pull some of their previous work form the CISSP Prep Guide and the CEH Prep Guide, all of the material is presented in a manner and format that is meant to give the knowledge required for the Security+ certification. If anything, the use of higher lever material has only improved the wealth of information. Even the most complex concepts are explained in depth and in a manner that even someone relatively new to the field can grasp.

Two thumbs up for this one! Just remember, as with any 'prep' book, don't let it be your only point of reference in studying for the exam.

Although this book probably contains enough information to pass the exam, I found it to be a poor read. The authors introduce acronyms that have not been defined and make gross assumptions about the readers background in higher mathematics and cryptography. It was one of those books where you find yourself reading the same paragraph multiple times only to that the topic is just not well explained.

Half of this book is good information and the other half is an index with answers to the book questions. I liked the CD test engine- it helped me pass the 100 question Security+ test today. This book alone is 70% of what you need to pass Security+. Spend your money on measureup.com and transcenders and fill in your knowledge from there. I was able to pass by drilling for a week on 500 different questions rather than reading the fastpass and this book. Careful with measureup as the test I bought was last edited in 2002 but it was still a big help!