A.P. Lawrence

Linux Security Cookbook

• Barret,Silverman & Byrnes
• O'Reilly
• 0596003919

Order (or just read more about) Linux Security Cookbook  from Amazon.com

Enjoyable and useful. I didn't really expect to learn a whole lot from this, but surprisingly (and happily), I did. It's jam packed with practical advice, and avoids the too often seen slant of many security books that don't understand the concept of "good enough". These authors understand that no security is 100%, that you are always trading off convenience, cost, and other variables. Their suggestions and recipes carefully explain the risks and advantages involved with each, and often give alternatives for those with higher or lower security needs.

This would be an excellent book for the new administrator to have right beside the keyboard, but it also will be useful for those with more experience. The recipes are concise, but complete: there is little wasted verbiage, yet you don't feel that anything important was left out.

As I said, I learned a few things. For example, I had never really looked at xinetd, assuming that it was just a slightly polished up inetd with different configuration files. My failure to look below the surface (or even really read the man page) caused me to miss quite a bit, and this book was a wake-up for me on that.

Recommended, worth the money.