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Title: Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World by Bruce Schneier ISBN: 0-471-25311-1 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 14 August, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35 (106 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A classic and 'must read' book - raises awareness
Comment: This book introduces security and privacy to technical and non-technical readers alike. What I especially like are:
- Social aspects of security and privacy are addressed using the motives of attackers and broad profiles of attacker types, analysis of threats and countermeasures, and what it all means from legal and social perspectives.
- Easy introduction to security infrastructures. The author imparts a good deal of technical knowledge without overwhelming non-technical readers.
This book may initially disappoint technical readers who have read Mr. Schneier's earlier book (Applied Cryptography), but I can assure you that the technical underpinnings are only part of the picture. This book gives a complete view of all aspects of security, and is invaluable because it raises awareness of all issues. It's all the more valuable because it can be read and understood by a broad audience. There are two other books that I recommend in addition to this one: "Know Your Enemy: Revealing the Security Tools, Tactics, and Motives of the Blackhat Community" (Mr. Schneier wrote the preface to this book), and Richard Hunter's "World Without Secrets: Business, Crime and Privacy in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing".
Rating: 4
Summary: Beware the Author's Motives
Comment: Firstly, let me say I have a great deal of respect for Bruce Schneier. "Applied Cryptography" is a superb book. True to form, so is "Secrets and Lies". However, both books exist purely as a vehicle to advance the authors career. Isn't it interesting that when Schneier focused his business interests predominantly on cryptography-related consulting work that he was able to release two editions of "Applied Cryptography" in rapid succession? However, today when Bruce is now in the "managed security monitoring" business suddenly he can't find the time to update AC and instead produces "Secrets and Lies": a book that takes an unashamedly non-technical approach to giving a broad overview of the status of computer and information security. And guess what the overwhelming theme of the book is? "No system will ever be secure and all security will inevitably fail: you must take another approach." Of course this statement is true -- just not in the absolute, black and white sense that Schneier presents it. The purpose of this book is purely and simply to gently nudge and guide quasi-technical IT managers towards the obvious and overly-simplistic conclusion that since all security is doomed to failure, the approach that must be taken is to try to handle that failure when it occurs. Bruce's recommended solution: his managed network security business.
Of course this is all fair enough, albeit slightly underhanded, and "Secrets and Lies" is a highly readable, enjoyable and (mostly) technically accurate book. It's just not the book we need! What we need is a technical book, aimed at the same people who read and loved "Applied Cryptography", which shows how various security vulnerabilities come into being and thus how they can be minimised. Such a book would bring much more benefit to the world than "Secrets and Lies". And Bruce, while you're at it, please update "Applied Cryptography"!
Rating: 5
Summary: Great book, really like it
Comment: I highly recommend this book, for everyone interested in comp security. This is book is very comprehensive, and covers every possible aspect. Even so it was published in 2000, I didn't feel it's dated, since the problems are the same.
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Title: Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier ISBN: 0387026207 Publisher: Copernicus Books Pub. Date: 28 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Practical Cryptography by Niels Ferguson, Bruce Schneier ISBN: 0471223573 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 28 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, Second Edition by Bruce Schneier ISBN: 0471117099 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 18 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $60.00 |
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Title: The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security by Kevin D. Mitnick, William L. Simon, Steve Wozniak ISBN: 0471237124 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 04 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems by Ross J. Anderson, Ross Anderson ISBN: 0471389226 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 22 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
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