BKMFBAOB.RVW 20070923

"Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security", Yanek Korff/Paco Hope/Bruce
Potter, 2005, 0-596-00626-8, U$49.95/C$69.95
%A Yanek Korff
%A Paco Hope
%A Bruce Potter
%C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472
%D 2005
%G 0-596-00626-8
%I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O U$49.95/C$69.95 800-998-9938 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@...
%O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596006268/robsladesinterne
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596006268/robsladesinte-21
%O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596006268/robsladesin03-20
%O Audience a Tech 3 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation)
%P 445 p.
%T "Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security"

Part one provides a security foundation. Chapter one is a general
introduction to security concepts. Most of the material is decent
(though pedestrian), but there is an odd acceptance of security by
obscurity, and the definition of "fail safe" is flatly wrong. Broadly
applicable but intermediate security functions are discussed in
chapter two. The utilities examined are not the basic functions
normally noted in UNIX security texts (such as chmod), and the
explanations do not start at a fundamental level. Therefore, those
who intend to use this content to secure their systems should have
solid experience not only with Linux administration, but also with the
foundational security functions. Likewise, the secure installation
deliberation, in chapter three, requires that the reader be thoroughly
familiar with the cardinal operations for installing FreeBSD or
OpenBSD (BSD being the Berkeley Systems Distribution of UNIX-like
operating systems). Chapter four is an extensive grab bag of
administrative tools and considerations.

Part two is about deployment of specific applications or types of
servers. Chapters five through nine address basic security issues,
applications, and related utilities for Domain Name Service (DNS),
email, web, firewall, and intrusion detection.

Similarly, part three covers auditing and incident response in
chapters ten (mostly logging) and eleven (mostly disk recovery, and
not much of that) respectively.

For advanced BSD administrators who want to add enhanced security
tools to their arsenal, this is a good next step, although how useful
it will be is left up to the reader.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2007 BKMFBAOB.RVW 20070923


====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
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There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe
everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from
thinking. - Alfred Korzybski
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm