Firewalls for Dummies, Second Edition

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 432 pages
• Published by: For Dummies
• Edition: 2nd Edition June 27, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0764540483
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0764540486
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.4 pounds

Reader Reviews
I picked this up for a curiosity check for some people that are getting interested in the security world. As with the Dummies line, this book is meant as an introduction to the concept of a firewall. If you ever asked "What's a firewall" then this book is for you. If you are looking for specific configurations or what to do when you are under attack, you will not like this book. I gave it high marks because it discusses many concepts such as caching, stateful inspection, load balancing, protocols, etc. However, it does not go heavily into the technical which could make a non-IT person go comatose. There are some discussion of attacks such as Denial of Service, Trojans, etc. but they are rather basic in nature. Again not a book for the advanced. There is a decent discussion on policies and a reasonable discussion on NAT, that should give the inexperienced a good idea of these areas. There are some discussions on deployment which the book might have been trying to reach the corporate environment. However, the value maybe only for managers who would not be involved with the firewall or they simply could have been left out. The book mainly feels for the small networks and the home user and probably would not care about three pronged firewalls. The chapter on Linux firewalls talking about iptables and ipchains felt like it was an addon due to the rise of Linux. Having said that; it still was a decent introduction. It just felt out of place. The chapters on Zonealarm, BlackIce, Norton, ISA, and Checkpoint are useful to a degree. They do discuss the products and they go into setup. However, you will probably read the information parts but probably will end up skipping the configuration sections. The last two chapters are useful as they give you websites for ten tools(though a couple have changed) and sites to find information about Firewalls and security groups. Overall, it's a decent book for the beginner. Avoidable for the professional. Comment | | (Report this)