Practical UNIX and Internet Security (Computer Security)

When Practical UNIX Security was first published in 1991, it became an instant classic. Crammed with information about host security, it saved many a UNIX system administrator and user from disaster. This second edition is a complete rewrite of the original book. It's packed with twice the pages and offers even more practical information for UNIX users and administrators. It covers features of many types of UNIX systems, including SunOS, Solaris, BSDI, AIX, HP-UX, Digital UNIX, Linux, and others. The first edition was practical, entertaining, and full of useful scripts, tips, and warnings. This edition is all those things -- and more. Contents include UNIX and security basics (password, the filesystem, the superuser, cryptography), system administrator tasks (backups, integrity checking, log files, programmed threats, physical security), network security (modems, UUCP, TCP/IP, NIS, NFS, RFS, network monitoring, Kerberos, DCE, firewalls), and appendixes containing checklists and helpful summaries.

Practical Unix & Internet Security is on its second edition, and its maturity shows. To call this highly readable book comprehensive is an understatement. The breadth is vast, from fundamentals (definitions of computer security; the history of Unix) and commonsense but little-observed security basics (making backups; physical and personnel security; buggy software) to modern software (NFS, WWW, firewalls) and the handling of security incidents. The section on users and passwords alone is 21 pages long--and worth every page. Useful appendices include a Unix security checklist, a list of emergency response organizations, and many references to electronic and paper resources.

The Internet covers too much and moves too quickly for any book to cover every security aspect of every piece of software, but this book comes close. More importantly, it gives you an exceptional grounding in the fundamental issues of security and teaches the right questions to ask--something that will stay with you long after today's software is obsolete.