

Paperback: 832 pages
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (July 22, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0321246772
ISBN-13: 978-0321246776
Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.8 x 8.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #103,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #24 in Books > Computers & Technology > Certification > CompTIA #51 in Books > Computers & Technology > Networking & Cloud Computing > Networks, Protocols & APIs > Networks #83 in Books > Computers & Technology > Networking & Cloud Computing > Network Security

Here is a really cool security book, that made me lose half a nigh sleep when I first got it. Richard Bejtlich "Tao of Network Security Monitoring" ("Tao of NSM") covers the process, tools and analysis techniques for monitoring your network using intrusion detection, session data, traffic statistical information and other data. Here are some of the book highlights. The book starts from a really exciting and fun background on security, risk and the need to monitor networks and systems. Topics such as the classic "threat x vulnerability x value = risk" formula to threat modeling and limitation of attack prevention technologies are included. A nice thing on the process side is the "assess -> protect -> detect -> respond" loop, that defines a security process for an organization on a high level. Threat analysis material seems to have military origin, but is enlightening for other types of organizations as well. NSM is introduced as being 'beyond IDS' with some coverage on why IDS deployments fail and what else is needed (NSM process and tools, that is). A great and rarely appreciated idea expressed in the book is that the intruders are often smarter than defenders. It presents a stark contrast to all this "staying ahead of the hackers", which makes no sense in many cases as the attackers are in fact far ahead. NSM approach will indeed work against the advanced attackers, albeit a high resource cost to the defending organization. Such 'worst case' scenario preparations are extremely rare in other security books. Detecting such intruder is covered during their five phases of compromise (from reconnaissance to using/abusing the system).
Richard Bejtlich hits one out of the park with this terrific book. In one stroke, he moves the art and science of intrusion detection out of the little leagues and into the majors. If you've already run through articles and books with advice like "just load SNORT and start tuning", this book will shift you to an all-star level in which thousands of machines across enterprise networks can be monitored and protected.Network security monitoring (NSM) is the discipline of collecting and interpreting detailed network traffic to find and foil attackers. Although it may seem like Intrusion Detection (and IDSs), the relationship between IDSs and NSM is like that between Bonzo the chimp and King Kong. Almost anybody could handle a chimp for a few hours - or you'd think so from watching the movies - but bringing King Kong into your neighborhood means you really have to know what you're doing. He'll take a lot of feeding and special care. On the other hand, he does much more than Bonzo can to protect your assets. Network security monitoring is the King Kong of intrusion detection techniques.The author presents detailed information on a large variety of network traffic capture and analysis tools, techniques, and topologies. Nearly all are public domain and open source. The few exceptions are tools specialized for industry-dominating Cisco and its proprietary formats and protocols. A few hours on the Internet with this book in hand can give you just about all the tools needed to follow his examples and to build your own network security monitoring environment.Basic network activity capture is addressed through packages like the fundamental libpcap libraries, and the tools Tcpdump, Tethereal, Ethereal, and Snort (in its packet-capture mode).
This is a great book. With most geek books, I browse and grab what I need. With this one, I even read the apendices!At first, the author's tone put me off. He spends the introductory chapters talking about the "Way" of Network Security Monitoring, (capitalized) and how it's much better than other approaches. It felt a little like, "My Burping Crane Kung-Fu will defeat your Shining Fist techniques!" I really didn't see much difference between what he was talking about and other approaches. I admit to being much newer to this discipline than the author, and he has an impressive appendix on the intellectual history of intrusion detection (uncapitalized). So it may be that the lessons he advocates have already been internalized; my exposure may have been to a field that has already moved up to his standard. But I have a hard time imagining that intrusion analysts have ever been satisfied with a single approach with no correlation. As I understand what he means by upper-case NSM, it's basically the efficient use of multiple techniques to detect intrusions. I can't see trying to argue the contrary position.Ah, but then we get to the good stuff. He goes through the major types of indicators and the means of reviewing them. He covers the use of a number of important tools, but doesn't rehash what is better covered elsewhere. For example, he doesn't bother covering Snort, because there are plenty of books on Snort already. If you are reading the book, it's almost a certainty that you are familiar with Snort. Good call to skip over that. Instead, he covers some other tools that might be useful in the same area. He also refers to tons of other books. I made a lengthy wish-list based on his recommendations and they've been good.
The Tao of Network Security Monitoring: Beyond Intrusion Detection Guide to Firewalls and Network Security: Intrusion Detection and VPNs Network Marketing Success Blueprint: Go Pro in Network Marketing: Build Your Team, Serve Others and Create the Life of Your Dreams (Network Marketing ... Scam Free Network Marketing) (Volume 1) Social Security & Medicare Facts 2016: Social Security Coverage, Maximization Strategies for Social Security Benefits, Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security Taxes, Retirement & Disability, Ser Living the Wisdom of the Tao: The Complete Tao Te Ching and Affirmations The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching Adapted for a New Age The Tao of Joy Every Day: 365 Days of Tao Living The Tao Te Ching: The Classic of the Tao and Its Power Tao - A New Way of Thinking: A Translation of the Tao Tê Ching with an Introduction and Commentaries Fraud Analytics Using Descriptive, Predictive, and Social Network Techniques: A Guide to Data Science for Fraud Detection (Wiley and SAS Business Series) Network Marketing: Network Marketing Recruiting for Facebook: How to Find People to Talk to and What to Say When You Do (MLM Recruiting, Direct Sales, Network Marketing, Home Business) Network Marketing For Introverts: Guide To Success For The Shy Network Marketer (network marketing, multi level marketing, mlm, direct sales) Network Marketing : How To Recruit Prospect Step By Step From Newbies To Professional in network marketing: network marketing, multiple marketing, MLM, ... Step from Newbies to Professional Book 5) Nmap Network Scanning: The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning CompTIA Security+ Guide to Network Security Fundamentals (with CertBlaster Printed Access Card) SSFIPS Securing Cisco Networks with Sourcefire Intrusion Prevention System Study Guide: Exam 500-285 Linux Firewalls: Attack Detection and Response with iptables, psad, and fwsnort Iterative Detection: Adaptivity, Complexity Reduction, and Applications (The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science) Surveillance Detection, The Art of Prevention Bone Cancer: Current and Emerging Trends in Detection and Treatment (Cancer and Modern Science)