Assessing Network Security

Anton Chuvakin writes "I've read some pretty bad books on penetration testing; till now, nobody seemed to get this fun subject right! Good news - this time somebody did. Assessing Network Security comes to us direct from the bunkers of Redmond. Written by three Microsoft security researchers, the book provides a great overview as well as an in-depth coverage of assessing security via penetration testing ('pentesting'), scanning, IT audit and other means." Read on for the rest of Chuvakin's review of the book. Assessing Network Security author Ben Smith, David LeBlanc, Kevin Lam pages 592 publisher Microsoft Press rating 8/10 reviewer Anton Chuvakin ISBN 0735620334 summary Great pentesting book

Assessing Network Security starts with a nice overview of key principles of security (definitely not news for industry practitioners, but nice anyway), and then goes on to defines vulnerability assessment, penetration testing and security audit. A critically important section on reporting the findings is also nicely written, and shows that the authors are knowledgeable, and interested in showing a complete security process rather than just the looking-for-leaks part.

The authors then go into developing and maintaining pentesting skills, including advice on choosing training and resources (nice for those starting in the field). The actual pentesting process is split into non-intrusive (combining the usual "intelligence gathering" with port scans, sweeps and various host queries) and intrusive tests (such as running a vulnerability scanner, brute-forcing passwords, DoS testing and others). Some entries seem to belong in both categories (such as sniffing) but are placed into the intrusive section, for whatever reason. Up-to-date content (wireless, Bluetooth and web assessment, for instance) is well represented.

The authors also include a fairly insightful social engineering testing section (touching on dumpster diving and other non-network assessment methods). My favorite chapter was the one presenting various case studies - examples of specific threats/tests against Web, email, VPN and domain controller systems.

Among other features that I liked in Assessing Network Security were 'notes from the field' sidebars with fun stories related by authors, and FAQs at the end of each section. On the down side, the book is somewhat Windows-focused (although it is amazingly vendor-neutral in most respects, considering the source). The book is also somewhat dry, although the sidebars provide some needed relief when the text gets too process-oriented at times.

Assessing Network Security is largely about methodology, but I'd have preferred to see a bit more technical content, since it is a 600-page volume. I think the checklists present in the Appendix are a great step in that direction.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and think it is both a great guide and a reference for most security professionals, especially for those starting to be involved with penetration testing.

Anton Chuvakin, Ph.D., GCIA, GCIH is a Security Strategist with a security information management company and maintains the security portal info-secure.org. He wrote Security Warrior and contributed to Know Your Enemy, 2nd Edition . You can purchase Assessing Network Security from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews. To see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

No grain of salt here

[DenDave]

Being relitvely novice at network security I only have an extremely humble opinion but at the same time I must say that Mr. Chavaukin strikes me to be an extremeley adept man on this subject. Having just finished the Security Warrior I have learned a lot and I find his (and his co-author Mr. Pekari) insights and information to be extremely astute.
No, I will take no grain of salt regarding his comments about the book in question, untill I have achieved a decent status in the matter I will refer to Mr. Chavaukin's comments eagerly!

Re:What about... Linux code?

[prisoner-of-enigma]

I think you're thinking a little bit simplistic here.

No, I think he's being a lot simplistic here, but that's just part of the larger mindset of Slashdot. "Linux GOOD! Microsoft BAD!" It's become the sheep's favorite thing to say during intense meetings on this Animal Farm we call Slashdot. You can lead a zealot to the truth, but you cannot make him think.