Customer Reviews

The Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security

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If you're a techno-geek, it's easy to find material on how to secure your computing environment. It's considerably more difficult to find readable and understandable material that you can give to Uncle Joe to prevent him from becoming the latest spam zombie. A good entry into this niche is the book The Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security by Andrew Conry-Murray and Vincent Weafer.

Content: Understanding Internet Risk; Preventing Identity Theft; Firewalls; Getting Rid of Unwanted Guests, Part 1 - Viruses and Worms; Getting Rid of Unwanted Guests, Part 2 - Spyware, Adware, and Trojan Horses; Just Say No To Spam; Securing Windows; Keeping Your Family Safe Online; Wireless and VoIP Security; Privacy and the Internet; Conclusion; Index

This book doesn't attempt to "entertain" the reader or dazzle them with funny graphics or drawings. It's just solid material on internet security presented in a clear and concise manner. The target is for nontechnical Windows users, and in my opinion the authors pretty much nail it. The heavy duty jargon is either avoided or explained clearly, and nearly any internet user with a small amount of interest should be able to use this book. Each chapter ends with a Checklist that covers the things you need to do (or things you shouldn't do) in order to enhance your security. Even if you can't get Uncle Joe to read the entire chapter, he can get the gist of the useful info in a short page or two. I'd prefer they understand *why* they are doing something, but I'll take whatever I can get with some people...

If you're the target audience for this book, it's a definite recommended purchase and read. And if you're a techno-geek who's tired of incessantly cleaning spyware and viruses off the neighbor's computer, buy them a copy of this book. It's a relatively cheap way to get your life back...

Windows is today by far the most popular platform for workstation and
desktop computers. However, it has also proven to be the most susceptible
to a wide variety of attacks, many of which being of a distributed
(mass-spreading) nature.

Regardless of the important steps that Microsoft has taken to provide a
sufficient out-of-the box level of security, a default Windows
installation remains far from secure and not likely to survive for
long against the various hazards that access to the Internet hides. Truth
is that few users are even aware of these hazards -until it is too late-, much less being able to make an educated choice among all these protective software titles with fancy names out there.

This is where Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security comes to the rescue,
offering a consistent and easy to comprehend source of information to both
the completely novice users and those with limited knowledge in the
ways of computer security. Without going into unnecessary technical
details, it explains all that a user needs to know to protect his
privacy in windows environments.

For those that do not know, Symantec has been established as one of the
leading companies in the field of computer security globally, offering it's own
quality software solutions -with best examples the Norton Anti-Virus and
Internet Security suite. However this book is in no way written to promote
or focus to any specific software. It aims to educate the reader so that
he is able to make his own sensible choices of security-related software
and it definitely succeeds in it...

Symantec's Guide to Home Internet Security is of the few security-related
books that demand no experience or previous knowledge. In it's about 200
pages, it manages to teach with illustrative examples, tables and images
everything from the ground, without becoming tiresome or confusing to the
reader at any point.

The material covered is well distributed into 10 chapters. More
specifically:

Chapter 1 is a short introduction to the main types of Internet
risks. It shows how the Internet is full of cunning/malicious users that
will do anything to take advantage of every valuable bit of information
that we exchange.

Chapter 2 covers the most well-established techniques of
identity-stealing. It teaches you important methods to prevent them and
react in the event of identity theft.

Chapter 3 explains the logic behind firewalls, in which cases they
can protect us and how they can be used to effectively do so.

Chapters 4 and 5 cover the large subject of Malware (malicious
software). You will learn in what ways Viruses, Worms, Spyware, Adware and
Trojan horses can harm your system, how you can minimize the possibility
of being infected, in what ways you can utilize protective
software as a measure of prevention and restoration and what are the
criteria according to which you should choose those software products.

Chapter 6 continues with the subject of SPAM messages, whether they
just carry annoying advertisements or act as means of Information Phising
and Social Engineering techniques. This chapter will teach you a great deal of these techniques, how to filter out SPAM messages and determine the validity of any potentially harmful message.

Chapter 7 focuses generally on good practices for keeping your
Windows system in good health.

Chapter 8 is dedicated in presenting methods for protecting other
members of your family/environment that will use your computer with
possibly less knowledge about security or underage from unwanted content.
Windows features and extra tools for filtering access to unwanted content
are described, along with recommendations for optimum implementation.

Chapter 9 speaks about security in Wireless/Portable devices and
VoIP applications. Common usage mistakes are pointed with regard to the
severity of their potential exploitation.

Finally, Chapter 10 introduces the basic principles of
cryptography, it's most widely used applications and possible ways that we
can take advantage of it to protect our privacy.

Conclusion: If you are not familiar at all with security or have your doubts in some
things, this book can literally save you! The material covered is absolutely necessary for the survival of any windows station connected to the Internet and reading Symantec's Guide to Home Internet Security is probably the easiest way to learn it.

Symantec offers a general purpose guide to the dangers of malware, directed at a non technical reader, who might have a home computer to maintain. It shows how you might get email from anywhere in the world, containing spam or bogus offers, like "dates" with attractive women, or money offers from relatives of dead dictators are common come-ons.

The book warns against other perils. For instance, the https connection is used to prevent a third party listening in on your communication with a website. Many financial websites use this, when you are presenting a password. But any website can use https. Even a bogus one. Sometimes the latter might use it, in part to fool people who think that https per se confers validation of that website.

Phishing is correctly described as the most damaging of current Internet frauds. The book outlines characteristics of many phishing messages, and how they often [mis-]direct you to a fradulent site ("pharm"). However, the only solution offered by the text is that the reader should beware of such messages and should not click on links in any that she believes to be phishing. (Let alone enter personal data in a page linked to by the message.) There is no technical answer suggested to defeat phishing. Basically, the reader is on her own. Phishing is still a relatively new phenomenon, at least as compared to spam.

In contrast, the book goes into a bundle of antispam techniques, such as blacklists, whitelists, signatures, Bayesians and reputation filtering.

If I were to recommend one book on security to a home user, it would be this book.

First let me be clear, this book does not contain EVERYTHING relative to every subject that falls under the category of Home Internet Security. (That would take a library, not a book.)
This book will not tell you how to use every feature of any particular security software program. This book was never intended to do these things.

This book was intended to shed light on the current Internet security threats, and how to best manage them. And even though this book carries the Symantec brand name (the makers of Norton Anti-Virus and Norton Internet Security), this book is NOT biased to any particular security software. The author painstakingly gives a very thorough overview of each current major security threat or area of concern. (It even includes pending legislation in the U.S. Congress and relative links to related government documents.) The author then provides a very balanced list the best widely accepted software programs and practices to address each security threat. (Many commercially available, shareware, and free options are discussed for each security threat.) The author discusses both prevention and cure, and includes several references to many helpful web sites, security software vendors, security software review sites, technical forums, and even free online security scans.

And while this book educates, each individual reader must still take ownership of his or her own security situation. But since each reader will have different circumstances, this is a very appropriate approach. What this book provides is an EXCELLENT place for the beginning or everyday computer user to learn all about the current security threats facing computer users today. In this intent, this book is very thorough. Using this book as a educational guide and a check list, the reader can progress on to other reading about specific software programs to counter the security risks that have been discussed and actually understand the language of computer and Internet security.

The author consistently puts useful information in front of the reader in the simplest language possible for what, in truth, is very technical subject matter. The author consistently reiterates material across chapters in case the you spot read a single chapter regarding a specific threat you are interested in learning more about. Each chapter also contains a summary checklist of Dos and Don'ts.

If you are learning about computer security risks, this is the best book I've seen. I build PCs for customers, and this is going to save me a lot of typing and technical support calls. All of my customers are getting a copy of this book.

The Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security (Paperback)
by Andrew Conry-Murray, Vincent Weafer
ISBN: 0321356411
I gave this book to my neighbour as I made a lot of frustrating trips to her house tending to her sick windows PC. It has saved me a lot of time and now the lady knows what she is supposed to do and what might happen if she does something that the book tells her not to do. The best part is that she refers to only the checklist portion of the book and gets by with it.
The threat from spam, spyware and adware is so real that I recommend this book to every one who primarily uses a computer at home to email, surf or trade online.
I sorely missed the fact that the book does not have a LARGE PRINT edition.
The coauthor Andrew Conry-Murray is the technology editor at IT Architect, an award-winning publication for information technology professionals.
The coauthor Vincent Weafer has an extensive range of experience, gained from more than 20 years in the information technology industry, ranging from software development, systems engineering, to security research positions.
I give this book 5 stars on a scale of 5, 5 being the highest. I strongly recommend this book.
Niloufer Tamboly, CISSP

This isn't a book for the techies; this is for Mom and Pop, Junior and Sis, Uncle Fred and Aunt Mary. It covers important security concepts in easy to understand language, but isn't just a puff piece like you might find in the Sunday paper.

It covers all areas of security, from phishing to spam, and (importantly) provides information on wireless security, which is something too few people know about.

If you are a techy reading this, buy copies to hand out as gifts. This is just what Uncle Fred needs.

There are many households that have high-speed Internet connections, yet most people are simply not doing enough to protect themselves from the many exploits that exist. The Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security by Andrew Conry-Murray and Vincent Weafer was written to speak to those people. Though this book's first printing was in September 2005, much of the information still remains relevant. Symantec Press is the publisher, yet it remained reasonably vendor-neutral.

This book is for non-technical people. Its ten chapters cover a relatively slim 240 pages, so it should not intimidate someone who is not a computer professional. Also, you do not really have to read the book front-to-back, but you can focus in on the chapter or chapters that interest you and have fairly complete information.

The first chapter gives the reader a basic overview of the risks of using the Internet without some steps to protect yourself. The remaining chapters discuss various aspects of security exposures, how to protect yourself from them, and conclude with a checklist of high points and "Helpful Resources" that contain web sites, phone numbers, and occasional additional side-bars with more in-depth examples.

The next chapter is a very informative chapter on preventing identity theft. This part of the book is worthwhile, even if you don't use the Internet for financial transactions. The best part of the chapter is the "Recovering from Identify Theft" section. Hopefully you will never need the information there, but it's very helpful to see it collected in a simple bulleted list.

Chapter 3 covers firewalls. It discusses the basics of Internet Protocol (IP), and what firewalls can and can't do. Lists of both free and commercial firewall products are provided. It wraps up with a few sites that can test your firewall settings to see if you are really protected or not. The following three chapters cover the various forms of "malware" (viruses, worms, adware, spyware, and Trojans) as well as spam.

A large section of one chapter deals with securing Windows XP by installing Service Pack 2 and configuring the Security Center. It's kept at a level that most users can comprehend and follow, making it another very worthwhile chapter. The following section describes securing Internet Explorer 6 in great detail.

They devote the next chapter to "Keeping Your Family Safe Online." Pitched mostly to parents of younger kids, chapter 8 starts by talking about blocking objectionable content using IE's Content Adviser. Sexual predators is the next topic, and the authors give the reader good information on how to monitor your children's online activities, as well as how to report solicitations to the authorities. The final topic revolves around file-sharing software. While they mention the prospect of downloading viruses, the legal ramification of potentially housing illegal downloads is the most important lesson to take away from this section.

Next, simple precautions to secure wireless access points (e.g. changing and hiding the network name (SSID) and changing the password) along with encryption using WEP, WPA, or WPA2 are discussed in detail. They also go into the security issues of public hotspots.

The book wraps up with a chapter on "Privacy and the Internet." Data Brokers collect amazing amounts of information on each of us. The key precaution is to not divulge any information you don't absolutely have to.

The Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security, though a slim book, is packed with a lot of valuable information pitched to the non-technical user. I believe that anyone with a computer connected to the Internet would benefit from reading this book.

When I review a book like this, my question is mainly "Could my Mom make sense of this if she had to remove a virus?" To that end, I look for things like clarity, accuracy, and focus. I'm glad to say this book by Conry-Murray and Weafer delivers.

Overall, the book has good, clear writing, solid examples, and thorough coverage of the topics it hits on. Good writing and clear examples go a long way in a book. Also, it's focused and hits its target well. I think that the average user who is comfortable with their computer but not technically advanced will find this material accessible.

The book starts out with a pretty good introduction to the book and the topic, at large. The scoping of the book is well laid out and I concur, it does a good job of the topic. Other topics that ae wel covered include identity theft, spam, and keeping your family safe online.

Getting rid of unwanted programs -- viruses, adware, spyware, and trojan horses -- is done pretty well. Keeping your Windows box secure, firewalls, and keeping your famliy safe while they're online is also pretty good.

Topics not well covered include broadband routers (as mentioned by another user) and how to use Windows as a non-admin account (again, from another reviewer). Both of these are serious omissions.

One big complaint that I have about this book is that it tries to be so vendor neutral that it sometimes fails the reader. What criteria should a user keep in mind when choosing AV software or a desktop firewall? Perhaps the authors didn't want to appear partisan, but honestly it's a pretty big question. They also didn't do a throrough job of getting users to keep their AV updated. And how should users detect if their software is outdated? What about Windows Update, which is another useful tool? All of these are commonly found scenarios (especially as users buy computers with AV installed but never update it) in the real world.

In terms of wireless and VoIP, I have to ask what about other, non Windows systems for setting up WEP or WPA?

While the writing is clear, the book could have benefited from another 25 or 40 pages of material covering the above. As it stands its pretty good, I hope an update can address these deficiencies and keep the clarity and focus just as high as its been.

The Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security (TSGTHIS) is Symantec's latest offering in its new series of books published through Addison-Wesley. This is a very solid introductory desktop security book for home power users. This is not the book to give to your grandmother, unless she likes to tweak Windows or wants to understand differences between file infector and polymorphic viruses. With one caveat, I liked this book.

TSGTHIS is well-written, with a sound mix of tables, lists, checklists, screen shots, and case studies that break up what could have been pages of monotonous text. I liked the authors' tendencies to define terms like spyware, adware, browser hijacker, and so on, and thereby focus their discussion of those topics. The book offers numerous suggested tools and Web sites to implement or read more about various recommendations for improved security. I was exceptionally pleased to see the authors deal with the number one question I hear from home users -- "Why me?" On pages 5-6 the book explains why intruders want home PCs, even if they only contain pictures from last year's vacation at the Grand Canyon.

The book suffers one major flaw that robbed a star from my rating. The single most important defensive measure a home user can take is to not perform daily operations as a user with administrative privileges. Home users should not browse the Web, read email, chat in IM, write documents, or do much anything else using an admin account. Users should only assume admin level power when they need to install software or authorized Active X controls. This single defensive measure is not mentioned by TSGTHIS, but it has protected numerous customers and my family from thousands of client-side attacks.

If you are a home user who wants to know more about protecting your computing resources and the people who use them, try TSGTHIS. The advice is sound, and you will be even better off if you follow the suggestion in the preceding paragraph. Just don't expect to become a network security expert by reading this book. One tip -- 192.101.432.156 (listed on p. 29) is not a valid IP address!

I am ruthless about home network security. FOr example, I want to inflict violence on people who double-click on an attachment just because it's there like that behavior is some kind of animal instinct.

Casual computing is no different than casual sex: not protecting yourself is extremely dangerous at best. The people who don't understand this are the ones who need books like this, but unfortunately this book is not written for that audience.

It does not cover in enough detail a lot of the products, hardware or software, that are available to keep systems protected. I was very glad to see that the book did not cover only Microsoft and Symantec products. Some products, like Zone Lab's ZoneAlarm, were given mention as well as a small section dedicated to Firefox. Unfortunately, most of the other products only came in a brief mention of products that are available for a specific function.

I was also disappointed that alternative e-mail clients were not addressed. The book covered browser (read: Internet Explorer) alternatives, but I did not see anything about alternatives to Outlook, or as it has become known in many IT areas LookOut or Outbreak. Eudora has multiple precautions built into it to notify users of dangerous links or files, and Thunderbird is also a very good alternative. Both Eudora and Thunderbird are immune to mail-based ActiveX attacks and both have a fairly good spam filter that can be trained to filter out only those e-mails that you don't want. Unfortunately, I did not see these listed nor did I see a section for alternative e-mail clients at all. As much as Microsoft would like you to think otherwise, Outlook is not the only viable e-mail client in town.

One of the most glaring omissions from this book is that broadband routers are given nary a mention! I realize that the title states that it's home Internet security. This covers dial-up just as much as broadband. But the fact is that broadband use is skyrocketing. Thousands of people get broadband for their home every day and the majority of those households have more than one PC. Unfortunately, the lack of broadband-specific information in this book is stunning.

Wireless security is covered, but it was nothing more than a brief overview. Considering that entire books are dedicated to wireless security, the way that wireless security was discussed here would not be of much use to a lot of people. Since I mentioned network address translation, good luck finding anything about NAT in this book. NAT is one of the fundamental principles upon which home network security is based. To have a network security book that doesn't mention NAT, what it does, how it's used, or why it's important is inexplicable.

To compound this lack of information, all of the firewalls that are mentioned are meant to be installed on the PC to be protected. Although I admitted to using a software firewall earlier, I use it for monitoring more than protection. One of the first rules of security is that you never install and thus rely upon a firewall that is installed on the system that is to be protected. Yet no where does the book mention alternatives, such as the aforementioned broadband router. Even if a household has only one PC and a broadband, that is no excuse not to get a broadband router even if the router has four network ports on it.

I'll give the authors a lot of credit that this book was not a Symantec marketing book. In fact, Symantec products were not the focus anywhere in this book. By that I mean that no Symantec product was highlighted at the expense of competing products. Compared to books that are from other software companies, you'd never be able to tell that this book is a Symantec book because of its product balance. That was definitely refreshing.

Consider this to be a Cliff's Notes type of book. It's good for getting the basics, but if you rely on it you will be missing out on a lot of information that you really do need to know.