Foreword

If you are reading this foreword on a business weekday it's likely that before the day closes at least ten software vulnerabilities will be announced. In addition to these software vulnerabilities, the day will also see on the order of twenty viruses or virus variants released. To cap all this off, we will see a minimum of four million infected computers on the Internet diligently trying to attack other computers. These numbers are alarming and even more so if you consider that these are conservative averages based on empirical data in hand. What's out there that we don't know about?

The rising trend in terms of pure volume of network-based threats with which businesses and consumers are faced is not likely to abate any time in the near term and in fact is likely only to worsen. This leaves many of us struggling to reduce risk in the face of ever-growing threats both in terms of volume and sophistication.

To complicate matters further it seems that every device we use on a daily basis is becoming network connected using IP. It's not just about security of our servers, routers, and desktops any longer, but is expanding to our phones, PDAs, video game consoles, etc. Thankfully, security software plays a role in helping us defend our expanding networks, but it is not the panacea for which many of us would hope. The keystone to our ability to get in front of these issues is security knowledge in the hands of those practitioners tasked with protecting us from this ever-rising tide.

I sincerely hope that this book will allow you to do just that. The authors have a unique mix of industry experience not common in texts like this. Not only have the authors been responsible for securing large swaths of the Internet backbone, but they have also been at the forefront of security software product development, helping protect Fortune 500 companies and world governments for more than a decade . Much of this experience has been distilled and articulated into this book for the benefit of the reader. With it, I believe you will be better equipped to deal with the threat-rich environment we are all faced with.

Alfred Huger
Senior Director of Engineering
Symantec Security Response