Hands-On Ethical Hacking and Network Defense

It's nearly impossible to pick up a newspaper or read your favorite online news source these days without seeing yet another article about identity theft or credit card numbers being stolen from unprotected databases. Cyber crime and the threat of computer-related attacks are growing daily, and the need for security professionals who understand how attackers compromise networks is growing right along with the threat. Government agencies and private companies rely on "ethical hackers"--professional security testers--to put their networks to the test and discover vulnerabilities before attackers do. If you have an understanding of computers and networking basics and are considering becoming a security tester, HANDS-ON ETHICAL HACKING AND NETWORK DEFENSE will show you how to get started in this fascinating, growing field. This book covers the gamut, from the legalities of ethical hacking to the details of malware, network attacks, cryptography, OS vulnerabilities, wireless network hacking, and much more. Successful security testers know their work calls for creative, critical thinking, and they enjoy the challenge of digging deep to solve complex problems. Step up to the challenge with HANDS-ON ETHICAL HACKING AND NETWORK DEFENSE.

About the Authors

Michael T. Simpson is president/senior consultant of MTS Consulting, Inc., specializing in network security and network design. Mike's certifications include CEH, CISSP, Security+, OSSTMM Professional Security Tester (OPST), OSSTMM Professional Security Analyst (OPSA), MCSE, MCDBA, MCSD, MCT, and OCP. He has authored or co-authored eight books and has more than twenty-four years of industry experience, including fifteen years with the Department of Defense (DoD), where he designed and configured computer networks and served as an Oracle database administrator, UNIX administrator, and information systems security officer (ISSO).

Kent Backman's expertise is in intrusion analysis, network vulnerability assessment, and opensource solution engineering. His interest and skill in ethical hacking developed while managing Web servers for Fortune 500 companies. An analyst for many security incident response teams, Kent spent several years in Baghdad as part of the advisory team to the Iraq Ministry of Defense, specializing in network security and Linux engineering. He holds RHCT, MCSA, CISSP, and CEH certifications and is a network security consultant in Honolulu.

James (Jim) Corley has more than twenty-five years of experience in IT as a systems analyst, network engineer, and security professional. He worked for the DoD for nine years as a database administrator and information systems security officer. For the past sixteen years, Jim has been a consultant to the DoD on dozens of IT programs supporting both classified and unclassified voice, video, and data systems. He has been a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) since 2002.