Getting Started in Network Security?

Posted by Cliff on Sunday May 25, 2003 @11:00AM from the internet-self-defense-tips dept.

pixelgeek asks: "Security has not only become an important topic but also a critical issue for admins and even the average user in their home. To someone new to the topic the wealth of material can be a bit daunting and, you can imagine, a little confusing. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start getting a handle on the concept of network/computer security and what are the most important and useful applications (CLI primarily) that a person should examine and learn?" We've touched on these issues before, but it was a while ago. Taking a network security class, could help, but which classes are really worth the money and might there be enough information on the web to make such a choice, unnecessary?

1 of 193 comments (clear)

Re:Know the protocols by Anonymous Coward · 2003-05-25 12:10 · Score: 0, Troll

Almost all vulnerabilities are caused by a system mishandling a certain type of message.

Sorry Slashdot armchair security expert. You don't have to know the protocol nearly as much as you need to know about programming. Most exploits are due to poor programming of a client or daemon that implements the protocol, not a fundamental flaw in the protocol itself.