Cisco Secure Internet Security Solutions (Cisco Press Core Series) (Hardcover)

~ Andrew Mason (Author), Mark J. Newcomb (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If this book were a person, it would be a career bureaucrat. It provides the data you need efficiently enough, but it doesn't go into any details you won't find on spec sheets, is fairly dry reading, and doesn't really seem to know what it wants to be.

Cisco Secure Internet Security Solutions is straight from Cisco's course sheets, and it starts off fairly strong. It goes over the basic Internet attacks and explains DoS, SYN floods, SNMP problems, and other typical hacker attacks in clear language that's aimed at the mid-level Cisco professional. It doesn't go into reams of novice-level detail, but rather gives concise summaries. It then covers some of the solutions Cisco has created for the standard array of l33t probes and system invasions. And, in a very nice feature, it actually provides a set of simple global commands that it suggests should be configured on all Cisco products (like denying access from reserved IP addresses), and then explains what each step does and why you should do it, line by line. The next few chapters go into some detail about the Cisco secure product family, discussing PIX Firewalls and Cisco Secure Policy Manager and what you'd use them for. So far, so good.

Later, a couple of long tutorials on configuring the Cisco Secure Scanner and the Secure Policy Manager are filled with helpful screen shots and a fair amount of explanation. But the software is complex, and the book offers no demo or sample software to experiment with. If you aren't able to get your hands on a copy, you might as well resign yourself to reading this section numerous times until you get it. And even then, it still concentrates mostly on how to use the software as opposed to how it works or where it can be used properly, which may or may not be what you're looking for. Fortunately, the book ends well, giving examples of common Internet security threats and suggested solutions.

The writing is dry and filled with numerous charts, but that's pretty typical for Cisco Press books, which aren't known for their dazzling style. If you've read other Cisco books and enjoyed them, or if you don't require a lot of handholding or silly in-jokes, the book will serve you adequately.

The book has two major flaws, however: The first is that in the end it's still mostly regurgitated Cisco documentation, and it doesn't seem to offer a whole lot of real-world experience for the reader to use. In the case of subject matter that's as constantly changing and critical as security, it would have been nice to have a couple of real-world examples of substandard systems to troubleshoot and perhaps show the reader what a hacker would look for when breaking into a network. Admittedly, the book is on Cisco Internet security solutions, not how to keep kids out of your system, but a certain level of teaching would have been nice--and would have shown how Cisco is poised help you in a much better light.

The second is that in the end, this book is little more than an overview of what Cisco can do for you, sans an overview of the competition or the areas that may have no competition. It doesn't really compare products that may do some of the same things, doesn't contrast Cisco's firewalls with other firewall products to give the reader an idea of the features, and in short provides only Cisco solutions to security without showing how other solutions may fail. For a book that really tries to help you understand security issues, discussing only the Cisco view leads to a strange mix of tutorial and blatant shilling, which goes into real depth in some parts and then stalls in others. It gets the job done if you want to know about Cisco security products and approaches, and it does it well. It even is a not-bad introduction to security issues. But ultimately, it's neither fish nor fowl. --William Steinmetz

Product Description

At present, no available publication deals with Internet security from a Cisco perspective utilizing the Cisco Secure product family. Cisco Secure Internet Security Solutions covers the basics of Internet security and then concentrates on each member of the Cisco Secure product family, providing a rich explanation with examples of the preferred configurations required for securing Internet connections.Aimed at networking professionals responsible for securing the corporate connection to the Internet, this book starts by explaining the threats posed by the Internet and progresses to a complete working explanation of the Cisco Secure product family. The individual components of the Cisco Secure product family are discussed in detail with advice given on how to configure each individual component to meet system requirements. Cisco Secure PIX Firewall is covered in depth from an architectural point of view to provide a reference of the PIX commands and their use in the real world.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Cisco Press; illustrated edition edition (May 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587050161
• ISBN-13: 978-1587050169
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,944,138 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Only Cisco Press Book I Ever Returned for a Refund!, August 10, 2002

By	Dave Doren (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This is without a doubt, the biggest waste of time of any Cisco Press book I ever purchased. I was VERY excited about the coverage this book promised for poorly documented topics such as Cisco Secure Policy Manager.

What a bitter disappointment. This book is as wide as the horizon and as deep as a backyard puddle.

I wish I could give this title a negative number, but I'm forced to be polite and post a "1".

I can't believe any self-respecting CCIE would attach his/her name to such a fluffy, insubstantial work of garbage.

Save your money and buy one of the specific security titles:...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad reference for Cisco "security" products, June 16, 2001

By	Roland Lee (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This book contains information of Cisco security family products. To me, they are quite general and not in-depth. If you want to master the products, you'd better look for other resources on the Internet.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A get to the point, Tell me how to do it, book., December 11, 2001

By	Chuck Fullerton (Boyertown, PA) - See all my reviews

This book goes hand-in-hand with the MCNS coursebook. Where the MCNS book is Wordy, this book gets right to the point and tells you how to use Cisco Secure Policy Manager and Cisco Firewalls. However, This isn't the book for you if you need to have everything explained to you in great detail. MCNS is the book for that.

This book is well written and keeps your interest. (Something that is hard to come by in the networking field of books.)

Kudo's to Andrew Mason, and Mark Newcomb for an excellent book.