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| Security Power Tools | 
| Authors: Bryan Burns, Jennifer Granick, Steve Manzuik, Paul Guersch, Dave Killion, Nicolas Beauchesne, Eric Moret, Julien Sobrier, Michael Lynn, Eric Markham, Chris Iezzoni, Philippe Biondi
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $32.80
You Save: $27.19 (45%)
Buy New/Used from $26.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  (12 reviews)
Sales Rank: 103126
Format: Illustrated
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 856
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7 x 2
ISBN: 0596009631
Dewey Decimal Number: 005
EAN: 9780596009632
ASIN: 0596009631
Publication Date: August 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Everyone will find at least one chapter to like January 18, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I am probably the first reviewer to have read the vast majority of Security Power Tools (SPT). I do not think the other reviewers are familiar with similar books like Anti-Hacker Toolkit, first published in 2002 and most recently updated in a third edition (AHT3E) in Feb 2006. (I doubt the SPT authors read or even were aware of AHT3E.) SPT has enough original material that I expect at least some of it will appeal to many readers, justifying four stars. On the other hand, a good portion of the material (reviewed previously as "the most up-to-date tools") offers nothing new and in some cases is several years old.
I'll begin with my favorite sections. SPT started very strongly with Jennifer Grannick's chapter on law as it pertains to security issues. She is an excellent writer and I would like to see her create her own book on the same subject. I liked Philippe Biondi's work in Ch 6 (Custom Packet Generation) although his coverage of Scapy (while great) is not for the beginner. (Just try as many examples as you can -- Scapy is cool.) Ch 7 (Metasploit) provided a great discussion of Metasploit 3; I learned quite a bit. I was pleasantly surprised by Ch 15 (Securing Communications). It was very practical. I should mention that some of the chapters appeared to be good, but they were outside my expertise and beyond my skill level. These included Ch 10 (Custom Exploitation), Ch 22 (Application Fuzzing) and Ch 23 (Binary Reverse Engineering). I was initially inclined to skip the section on BO2k in Ch 11 (Backdoors), but I didn't know the tool had been updated in Mar 07 and could be considered "viable" in the age of botnets.
Readers may also like SPT because it mixes coverage of open source and commercial tools. For example, Ch 9 (Exploitation Framework Applications) covers CORE IMPACT and Immunity CANVAS. Ch 3 (Vulnerability Scanning) describes WebInspect. Ch 17 (Device Security Testing) describes Traffic IQ Pro. Other commercial tools are mentioned in SPT but these were covered with more than a cursory overview.
The major problems I had with SPT involved indications of old material and lack of originality. Ch 20 (Host Monitoring) doesn't include any URLs for the tools it mentions. Tool versions are incredibly out-of-date, with references to 2006 or even 2005, despite versions from early 2007 (pre-publication) being available. (Examples: Afick 2.10-1, 17 May 07; Samhain 2.3.4, 1 May 07; Tripware Open Source 2.4.1.2, 18 Apr 07). Ch 19 (Network Monitoring) mentions ACID as a Snort console; BASE replaced ACID in Sep 04! The script to download and update Snort rules uses snortrules.tar.gz, which also (besides not working now) dates it to late 2004. Ch 22 says @Stake's WebProxy is a great tool, but it's been unavailable for several years. Ch 23 mentions SoftIce, but it was discontinued in Apr 06. (Unfortunately the same chapter neglects covering PaiMei "since it will probably change" -- although the Web page lists 22 May 07 as the last update.) Ch 2 (Network Scanning) lists PortSentry, but that tool hasn't been supported since '03 and is now replaced by Mike Rash's Psad. Ch 13 spends a lot of time talking about IPFW as a BSD firewall, even though Pf has been the preferred tool for several years. Ch 5 (Wireless Reconnaissance) seems to ignore that AirPcap is a viable solution for wireless sniffing on Windows. Ch 21 (Forensics) offered absolutely nothing new or advanced.
Overall, you will probably find something to really like about SPT. I would take a much different approach in the future. Trying to coordinate so many authors probably resulted in some authors finishing their sections in late '05 or early '06. They waited until the remainder finished so the book could be published in Aug 07. I am not convinced another mammoth book is needed -- maybe smaller books on focused topics would be worthwhile. I would also not bother to cover tools addressed elsewhere --especially in other O'Reilly books.
 More than a mere collection of tools... December 2, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I guess there is a misconception in the field of pentesting that everything is about tools. People started considering pentesting as mere collection of tools. This books is not about that. This book does not only help with knowing the various tools, it helps you to understand them, to tune them according to your need or your customer's need. The real skill is not to write a tool of your own when you already have the same tool out there. The real skill in this field is to take an existing tool and modify it based on your need.
Perfect for those working on security systems. December 2, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Bryan Burns, et.al.'s SECURITY POWER TOOLS is a top pick for collections catering to network administrators and programmers concerned with security issues. Security engineers have authored this in-depth coverage, which comes from members of the Juniper Networks Security Engineering team and some guests, who tell how to tweak and customize the most popular network security applications. Best practices for control, defense and more are surveyed in detailed, in-depth chapters perfect for those working on security systems.
The network security weapons you need and how to use them October 7, 2007
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book isn't about teaching you network security from the ground up. Instead, it is a reference book on the most up-to-date tools used in network and computer security with good and detailed advice on exactly how to use them, and in the case of the open source tools, where to find them. If a file or small script is necessary to activate a tool, the authors show what you need to do. In the case where tools are screen-driven, the book shows screen shots of the application. There is also advice on under what circumstances you should use a tool. I think it is as good as anything O'Reilly has published, but you have to remember it is a reference book, not a textbook. If you are a beginner, I recommend "Counter Hack Reloaded" by Ed Skoudis. It is probably the best introductory book on network security you'll find. It provides basic knowledge and a way of thinking when approaching network security. This book is more about the weapons you'll need along the way. The table of contents is not currently shown, so I list that next:
Part I. Legal and Ethics
1. Legal and Ethics Issues
1.1 Core Issues
1.2 Computer Trespass Laws: No "Hacking" Allowed
1.3 Reverse Engineering
1.4 Vulnerability Reporting
1.5 What to Do from Now On
Part II. Reconnaissance
2. Network Scanning
2.1 How Scanners Work
2.2 Superuser Privileges
2.3 Three Network Scanners to Consider
2.4 Host Discovery
2.5 Port Scanning
2.6 Specifying Custom Ports
2.7 Specifying Targets to Scan
2.8 Different Scan Types
2.9 Tuning the Scan Speed
2.10 Application Fingerprinting
2.11 Operating System Detection
2.12 Saving Nmap Output
2.13 Resuming Nmap Scans
2.14 Avoiding Detection
2.15 Conclusion
3. Vulnerability Scanning
3.1 Nessus
3.2 Nikto
3.3 WebInspect
4. LAN Reconnaissance
4.1 Mapping the LAN
4.2 Using ettercap and arpspoof on a Switched Network
4.3 Dealing with Static ARP Tables
4.4 Getting Information from the LAN
4.5 Manipulating Packet Data
5. Wireless Reconnaissance
5.1 Get the Right Wardriving Gear
5.2 802.11 Network Basics
5.3 802.11 Frames
5.4 How Wireless Discovery Tools Work
5.5 Netstumbler
5.6 Kismet at a Glance
5.7 Using Kismet
5.8 Sorting the Kismet Network List
5.9 Using Network Groups with Kismet
5.10 Using Kismet to Find Networks by Probe Requests
5.11 Kismet GPS Support Using gpsd
5.12 Looking Closer at Traffic with Kismet
5.13 Capturing Packets and Decrypting Traffic with Kismet
5.14 Wireshark at a Glance
5.15 Using Wireshark
5.16 AirDefense Mobile
5.17 AirMagnet Analyzers
5.18 Other Wardriving Tools
6. Custom Packet Generation
6.1 Why Create Custom Packets?
6.2 Hping
6.3 Scapy
6.4 Packet-Crafting Examples with Scapy
6.5 Packet Mangling with Netfilter
6.6 References
Part III. Penetration
7. Metasploit
7.1 Metasploit Interfaces
7.2 Updating Metasploit
7.3 Choosing an Exploit
7.4 Choosing a Payload
7.5 Setting Options
7.6 Running an Exploit
7.7 Managing Sessions and Jobs
7.8 The Meterpreter
7.9 Security Device Evasion
7.10 Sample Evasion Output
7.11 Evasion Using NOPs and Encoders
7.12 In Conclusion
8. Wireless Penetration
8.1 WEP and WPA Encryption
8.2 Aircrack
8.3 Installing Aircrack-ng
8.4 Running Aircrack-ng
8.5 Airpwn
8.6 Basic Airpwn Usage
8.7 Airpwn Configuration Files
8.8 Using Airpwn on WEP-Encrypted Networks
8.9 Scripting with Airpwn
8.10 Karma
8.11 Conclusion
9. Exploitation Framework Applications
9.1 Task Overview
9.2 Core Impact Overview
9.3 Network Reconnaissance with Core Impact
9.4 Core Impact Exploit Search Engine
9.5 Running an Exploit
9.6 Running Macros
9.7 Bouncing Off an Installed Agent
9.8 Enabling an Agent to Survive a Reboot
9.9 Mass Scale Exploitation
9.10 Writing Modules for Core Impact
9.11 The Canvas Exploit Framework
9.12 Porting Exploits Within Canvas
9.13 Using Canvas from the Command Line
9.14 Digging Deeper with Canvas
9.15 Advanced Exploitation with MOSDEF
9.16 Writing Exploits for Canvas
9.17 Exploiting Alternative Tools
10. Custom Exploitation
10.1 Understanding Vulnerabilities
10.2 Analyzing Shellcode
10.3 Testing Shellcode
10.4 Creating Shellcode
10.5 Disguising Shellcode
10.6 Execution Flow Hijacking
10.7 References
Part IV. Control
11. Backdoors
11.1 Choosing a Backdoor
11.2 VNC
11.3 Creating and Packaging a VNC Backdoor
11.4 Connecting to and Removing the VNC Backdoor
11.5 Back Orifice 2000
11.6 Configuring a BO2k Server
11.7 Configuring a BO2k Client
11.8 Adding New Servers to the BO2k Workspace
11.9 Using the BO2k Backdoor
11.10 BO2k Powertools
11.11 Encryption for BO2k Communications
11.12 Concealing the BO2k Protocol
11.13 Removing BO2k
11.14 A Few Unix Backdoors
12. Rootkits
12.1 Windows Rootkit: Hacker Defender
12.2 Linux Rootkit: Adore-ng
12.3 Detecting Rootkits Techniques
12.4 Windows Rootkit Detectors
12.5 Linux Rootkit Detectors
12.6 Cleaning an Infected System
12.7 The Future of Rootkits
Part V. Defense
13. Proactive Defense: Firewalls
13.1 Firewall Basics
13.2 Network Address Translation
13.3 Securing BSD Systems with ipfw/natd
13.4 Securing GNU/Linux Systems with netfilter/iptables
13.5 Securing Windows Systems with Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing
13.6 Verifying Your Coverage
14. Host Hardening
14.1 Controlling Services
14.2 Turning Off What You Do Not Need
14.3 Limiting Access
14.4 Limiting Damage
14.5 Bastille Linux
14.6 SELinux
14.7 Password Cracking
14.8 Chrooting
14.9 Sandboxing with OS Virtualization
15. Securing Communications
15.1 The SSH-2 Protocol
15.2 SSH Configuration
15.3 SSH Authentication
15.4 SSH Shortcomings
15.5 SSH Troubleshooting
15.6 Remote File Access with SSH
15.7 SSH Advanced Use
15.8 Using SSH Under Windows
15.9 File and Email Signing and Encryption
15.10 GPG
15.11 Create Your GPG Keys
15.12 Encryption and Signature with GPG
15.13 PGP Versus GPG Compatibility
15.14 Encryption and Signature with S/MIME
15.15 Stunnel
15.16 Disk Encryption
15.17 Windows Filesystem Encryption with PGP Disk
15.18 Linux Filesystem Encryption with LUKS
15.19 Conclusion
16. Email Security and Anti-Spam
16.1 Norton Antivirus
16.2 The ClamAV Project
16.3 ClamWin
16.4 Freshclam
16.5 Clamscan
16.6 clamd and clamdscan
16.7 ClamAV Virus Signatures
16.8 Procmail
16.9 Basic Procmail Rules
16.10 Advanced Procmail Rules
16.11 ClamAV with Procmail
16.12 Unsolicited Email
16.13 Spam Filtering with Bayesian Filters
16.14 SpamAssassin
16.15 SpamAssassin Rules
16.16 Plug-ins for SpamAssassin
16.17 SpamAssassin with Procmail
16.18 Anti-Phishing Tools
16.19 Conclusion
17. Device Security Testing
17.1 Replay Traffic with Tcpreplay
17.2 Traffic IQ Pro
17.3 ISIC Suite
17.4 Protos
Part VI. Monitoring
18. Network Capture
18.1 tcpdump
18.2 Ethereal/Wireshark
18.3 pcap Utilities: tcpflow and Netdude
18.4 Python/Scapy Script Fixes Checksums
18.5 Conclusion
19. Network Monitoring
19.1 Snort
19.2 Implementing Snort
19.3 Honeypot Monitoring
19.4 Gluing the Stuff Together
20. Host Monitoring
20.1 Using File Integrity Checkers
20.2 File Integrity Hashing
20.3 The Do-It-Yourself Way with rpmverify
20.4 Comparing File Integrity Checkers
20.5 Prepping the Environment for Samhain and Tripwire
20.6 Database Initialization with Samhain and Tripwire
20.7 Securing the Baseline Storage with Samhain and Tripwire
20.8 Running Filesystem Checks with Samhain and Tripwire
20.9 Managing File Changes and Updating Storage Database with Samhain and Tripwire
20.10 Recognizing Malicious Activity with Samhain and Tripwire
20.11 Log Monitoring with Logwatch
20.12 Improving Logwatch's Filters
20.13 Host Monitoring in Large Environments with Prelude-IDS
20.14 Conclusion
Part VII. Discovery
21. Forensics
21.1 Netstat
21.2 The Forensic ToolKit
21.3 Sysinternals
22. Application Fuzzing
22.1 Which Fuzzer to Use
22.2 Different Types of Fuzzers for Different Tasks
22.3 Writing a Fuzzer with Spike
22.4 The Spike API
22.5 File-Fuzzing Apps
22.6 Fuzzing Web Applications
22.7 Configuring WebProxy
22.8 Automatic Fuzzing with WebInspect
22.9 Next-Generation Fuzzing
22.10 Fuzzing or Not Fuzzing
23. Binary Reverse Engineering
23.1 Interactive Disassembler
23.2 Sysinternals
23.3 OllyDbg
23.4 Other Tools
Covering all security topics October 5, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
A first I was a bit skeptical on a book that is supposed to cover such a thing like "security". But in the end, I found this book to be valuable and well-balanced between defensive technologies, and their attack/audit counterparts. I also appreciated the balance between open source/closed source and free/commercial tools.
Of course any single topic cannot compare to a dedicated book (read: if you want to do firewalling on Pix, go get a CCSP rather than buying a book on "security"). Yet every chapter give a broad view of underlying technologies and clues on how to operate them.
BTW, if you are a big fan of the Scapy network auditing tool, you can consider this book as the missing documentation.
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