News in the Category "Book Reviews"
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Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World (Review)
Does arming pilots make flying safer? Computer security guru Schneier applies his analytical skills to real-world threats like terrorists, hijackers, and counterfeiters. Beyond Fear may come across as the dry, meticulous prose of a scientist, but that’s actually Schneier’s strength. Are you at risk or just afraid? Only by cutting away emotional issues to examine the facts, he says, will we reduce our risks enough to stop being scared.
Practical Cryptography (Review)
Practical Cryptography. By Niels Ferguson and Bruce Schneier; published by John Wiley and Sons, 877/762-2974 (phone), 800/597-3299 (fax), www.wiley.com (Web); 432 pages; 150.
As Mark Twain acidulously remarked, “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” Bruce Schneier’s Applied Cryptography, published in 1996, is a classic in the canon of computer security works; it’s a seminal, important book for the experts in the field or for those with the technical background, but it is far too complex and mathematical for most readers…
Book Review: Beyond Fear
The most appealing part of Bruce Schneier’s thorough, well-reasoned approach to security strategies—personal, corporate and computer—is what he does not do. He does not propose concrete solutions (“We need more police. We need national ID cards. You need to build better firewalls.”) Instead, he lays out the issues, debates the pros and cons, and leaves it to the reader to pick a solution.
What makes the discussion worthwhile is that Schneier, founder of consulting firm Counterpane Internet Security Inc. and publisher of the security newsletter Crypto-Gram, takes great pains to identify the key issues and examine some proposed solutions, pointing out the costs involved and the likelihood of success. For example, he believes that the idea of using biometric scanners—programmed to search out known criminals and terrorists based on their physical characteristics—probably won’t work because false positives will overwhelm the system…
Book Review: Beyond Fear
The Bottom Line
This is an excellent addition to what seems to be an emerging genre of books—those about national security or the lack thereof. Bruce Schneier gives a plain-English and well thought out overview of the security measures that have been implemented since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He points out that security and liberty are not mutually exclusive. I recommend this book for anyone. It is important that we, as citizens, understand these issues so we can make informed decisions.
Pros
- Excellent and timely information
- Non-techies and techies alike can understand this book…
Review of Beyond Fear
Security is a complex business. If you’re looking at the security of a computer network, for example, you can’t just look at the physical characteristics of the system. Humans help protect the system, and humans attack it. Yes, most humans aren’t clever enough to create their own attacks, but they can master the rudimentary skills required to go after the system using automated tools the innovators create.
But how do you evaluate a security system, whether it’s meant to protect a computer, an airport, or an individual? In Beyond Fear, security expert and founder of Counterpane Internet Security, Bruce Schneier advocates a five-part analytical framework:…
ITsec PEP Review of: Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World
I am going to keep this review short. Schneier’s first book I read, Applied Cryptography (2nd edition), left me fascinated by the art and science of cryptography. Another Schneier book, Secrets & Lies, told things many were not inclined to share. Practical Cryptography (co-authored with Niels Ferguson) presented such a clear, practical, and down-to-earth view of cryptography that I thought anyone who is lucky enough to read the book and follow the advice is going to really understand cryptography in context. Now, Beyond Fear. If it can be said that Practical Cryptography followed Applied Cryptography, then Beyond Fear follows Secrets & Lies. Once again, Schneier manages to describe complex security concepts and interdependencies without a word of technical jargon, so loved by many pseudo-experts trying to disguise their lack of clear understanding. Once again Schneier advocates “understand before you act”, which seems not to match some governments’ approach to security – security in a wider sense. Once again Schneier proves he is the one of few people who indeed understand security, and what is more important and more difficult, that he can explain complex security concepts to people not specializing in security. Whatever your trade and whatever your background, go ahead and read it because security affects your life…
Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World (Review)
“That is a good book to give to your boss so that his boss will see him reading it and think that he’s getting a clue,” said the geek beside me at the coffee shop where we were both working wirelessly.
”But to me, this book is just the right thing,” I answered. ”Look, Schneier not only covers all the bases, but he’s a very clear writer and he‘s witty to boot.”
“No code, no real book,” grumbled the geek.
”It is exactly his sticking to concepts that makes the book work for such a variety of readers. Look, you could give this book to someone who thinks that setting up a home firewall has made his cable-modem connected PC secure or to someone interested in being on top of security issues or even to someone who only surfs the net but wonders what dangers lurk there. None of them would be ill served. And all of them would be enlightened…
REVIEW: Bruce Schneier, Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World
Secrets and Lies has generated a great deal of interest in the security community this year. Much of this interest probably stems from the simple fact that it isn’t every day (or every year) that you get a general security book, written for the non-specialist, produced by a major name in the field. But one point seems to have been glossed over in the praise for this work. Schneier’s writing is lively, entertaining, and even playful throughout the entire book. Not only is this volume a realistic and useful view of the security enterprise, but it’s a lot of fun…
Secrets & Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World (Review)
If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you don’t understand the problems and you don ‘t understand the technology.
So sayeth Bruce Schneier, the guru in security systems circles. His statements are often blunt but he certainly backs them up with the right credentials. He authored one of the classic texts on cryptography (Applied Cryptography) and BLOWFISH , one of the most frequently used encryption algorithms used in business systems today. BLOWFISH is the algorithm used in the PRIMAR Security System. Although Schneier’s first book, …
Review of Secrets and Lies
There are a lot of misconceptions about computer security, and a lot of unrealistic expectations about what is and is not possible. The truth is that completely reliable computer systems are impossible to achieve, and secure computer and networking systems are equally impossible. When this is understood, one is, at last, in a position to recognize risk and manage it.
Secrets and Lies gives the clearest explanation we have yet seen as to the fundamental problems faced when dealing with technology. If you are responsible, directly or indirectly, for data security, you need to understand that it is impossible to make a program that is error-free. In addition, as programs become larger, more complex, and more connected with other programs on other machines, they become even more prone to errors and to errors caused by interactions among systems…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.