Hacker's Challenge 3: 20 Brand New Forensic Scenarios & Solutions (Hacking Exposed) (v. 3) (Paperback)

by David Pollino (Author), Bill Pennington (Author), Tony Bradley (Author), Himanshu Dwivedi (Author)
Key Phrases: vpn pluto, fraudulent domain, mail gmail, Wed Aug, Skyview Financial, Polpis Technology Solutions (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The stories about phishing attacks against banks are so true-to-life, it’s chilling.” --Joel Dubin, CISSP, Microsoft MVP in Security

Every day, hackers are devising new ways to break into your network. Do you have what it takes to stop them? Find out in Hacker’s Challenge 3. Inside, top-tier security experts offer 20 brand-new, real-world network security incidents to test your computer forensics and response skills. All the latest hot-button topics are covered, including phishing and pharming scams, internal corporate hacking, Cisco IOS, wireless, iSCSI storage, VoIP, Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX/Linux hacks, and much more. Each challenge includes a detailed explanation of the incident--how the break-in was detected, evidence and clues, technical background such as log files and network maps, and a series of questions for you to solve. In Part II, you’ll get a detailed analysis of how the experts solved each incident.

From the Back Cover

The stories about phishing attacks against banks are so true-to-life, it’s chilling.” --Joel Dubin, CISSP, Microsoft MVP in Security

Every day, hackers are devising new ways to break into your network. Do you have what it takes to stop them? Find out in Hacker’s Challenge 3. Inside, top-tier security experts offer 20 brand-new, real-world network security incidents to test your computer forensics and response skills. All the latest hot-button topics are covered, including phishing and pharming scams, internal corporate hacking, Cisco IOS, wireless, iSCSI storage, VoIP, Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX/Linux hacks, and much more. Each challenge includes a detailed explanation of the incident--how the break-in was detected, evidence and clues, technical background such as log files and network maps, and a series of questions for you to solve. In Part II, you’ll get a detailed analysis of how the experts solved each incident.

Exerpt from “Big Bait, Big Phish”:

The Challenge: “Could you find out what’s going on with the gobi web server? Customer order e-mails aren’t being sent out, and the thing’s chugging under a big load…” Rob e-mailed the development team reminding them not to send marketing e-mails from the gobi web server…. “Customer service is worried about some issue with tons of disputed false orders….” Rob noticed a suspicious pattern with the “false” orders: they were all being delivered to the same P.O. box…He decided to investigate the access logs. An external JavaScript file being referenced seemed especially strange, so he tested to see if he could access it himself…. The attacker was manipulating the link parameter of the login.pl application. Rob needed to see the server side script that generated the login.pl page to determine the purpose….

The Solution: After reviewing the log files included in the challenge, propose your assessment: What is the significance of the attacker’s JavaScript file? What was an early clue that Rob missed that might have alerted him to something being amiss? What are some different ways the attacker could have delivered the payload? Who is this attack ultimately targeted against? Then, turn to the experts' answers to find out what really happened.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 3 edition (April 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072263040
• ISBN-13: 978-0072263046
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #553,380 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I bought this book for one reason: wireless, May 30, 2006

By	Tom Carpenter "- www.sysedco.com" (Marysville, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I've been looking for a resource that would be useful as a recommendation to the students in my wireless training classes. There've been plenty teaching wireless security and penetration philosophically, but I wanted a practical - get your hands dirty - approach. It's here! Hackers Challenge 3 contains a great "case study" of a hack attack on a wireless network and gives you the insights you need to analyze such an attack.

In addition, you get information related to other newer attacks like phishing, VoIP vulnerabilities and social engineering. This is a great book and MUST be in every security technician's library.

Tom Carpenter, Author: Wireless@ Certification Official Study Guide, CWSP Certification Official Study Guide, and Foundations of Effectiveness.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Digest of the New World of Hack Attacks, June 4, 2006

By	Joel Dubin "www.joeldubin.com" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What struck me about this book is that the attacks are all brand new. This isn't just a rehash of the same old attacks we read about over and over again, nor is it a rehash of the attacks - but on steroids - from the previous Hacker's Challenge books. The day of the simple port scan and null session enumeration are long gone. Today's world is much more complicated and scarier. Hacker's Challenge 3 proves it.

And these aren't off-the-wall attacks cooked up in hidden computer labs by researchers. They're the type of threats now, unfortunately, becoming more commonplace to any one in information security.

The chapters on phishing are real-life and could've been taken right out of the playbook of an actual attack perpetrated against a real bank. The steps for investigating, tracking down and bringing down malicious phishing sites closely follow those actually taken by information security professionals on the job.

Another attack presented is pharming, a new and frightening type of DNS poisoning that threatens financial and e-commerce web sites. The description of the attacks is very accurate. It's almost as if you were working with the team trying to block the attack.

Hacker's Challenge 3 is written by a star-studded cast of well-known industry players, each a top notch expert in their specialty in the field.

For each attack, this book provides a complete set of steps for detection, resolution, prevention and evasion of future attacks. There are detailed examples of the forensics examination used to track down both the attack and its offending attackers, including samples of analyzed logs and data that would be used by an actual threat and incident management team in action on a case.

Each chapter has a series of questions that add to the material and provide thought-provoking points for further discussion.

This is a digest of the new world of Twenty-First Century attacks that should be read by every information security professional.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a suspense novel!, June 18, 2006

By	Douglas Schweitzer, Sc.D. "Doogie" (Doogie) - See all my reviews

One of the best ways to teach is via the use of examples. This book is chock full of real world forensic scenarios along with their solutions. As the author of a forensics book myself, I understand and appreciate the hard work that these four brilliant individuals have put into this excellent text. We need to see more books like this in the future!