Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 330 pages
- Published by: Syngress
- Edition: 1st Edition April 1, 2003
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 1931836876
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-1931836876
-
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
- Weighs: 1.4 pounds
Product Review
Stealing the Network is a book of science fiction. It's a series of short stories about characters who gain unauthorized access to equipment and information, or deny use of those resources to the people who are meant to have access to them. The characters, though sometimes well described, are not the stars of these stories. That honor belongs to the tools that the black-hat hackers use in their attacks, and also to the defensive measures arrayed against them by the hapless sysadmins who, in this volume, always lose. Consider this book, with its plentiful detail, the answer to every pretty but functionally half-baked user interface ever shown in a feature film.
One can read this book for entertainment, though its writing falls well short of cyberpunk classics like
Burning Chrome and
Snow Crash. Its value is in its explicit references to current technologies--Cisco routers, OpenSSH, Windows 2000--and specific techniques for hacking them (the heroes and heroines of this book are always generous with command-history dumps). The specific detail may open your eyes to weaknesses in your own systems (or give you some ideas for, ahem, looking around on the network). Alternately, you can just enjoy the extra realism that the detail adds to these stories of packetized adventure.
--David Wall
Product Review
Stealing the Network is a refreshing change from more traditional computer books --
Slashdot.org, June 4, 2003
Reader Reviews"Stealing the Network" (STN) is an entertaining and informative look at the weapons and tactics employed by those who attack and defend digital systems. STN is similar to the "Hacker's Challenge" books published by Osborne, although the stories are not separated into evidence and resolution sections. Rather, a collection of authors use mildly fictional tales to introduce readers to tactics and techniques used by black and white hat hackers. My favorite chapter was written by FX of Phenoelit, where a female black hat battles white hat defenders. The playing field includes HP printers, GRE tunnels between routers, and other novel tricks. Reading both sides of the story was fun and educational. I also liked Joe "Kingpin" Grand's insider theft case (ch 3), featuring Palm hacks and Blackberry sniffing. The worm disassembly chapter by Ryan Russell and Tim Mullen is worth reading as well. This book is worth reading, but it's $... cover price is steep. While the stories are fictional, much of it is probably based on the author's experiences either consulting or studying similar incidents. This book can best be used by security professionals to test how they would have responded to the threats presented by the fictional adversaries profiled in STN. There's plenty to be learned by reading STN, and I hope to see sequels.
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