Layout and Key Elements

The chapter layout of this book takes us from the perimeter of an organization all the way into performing digital forensic analysis of an employee laptop and many points in between. Part I, "Core Internet Infrastructure for Security Professionals," explains the often-overlooked perils of Internet routing and domain name service (DNS). It will help you understand how Internet service providers manage their networks and what you can do to create network safeguards, even if you don't control your own routing and DNS. Part II, "Defending your Perimeter and Critical Internet Infrastructure," covers topics such as packet filtering, intrusion detection and prevention, secure network topology design, and the defense of common critical applications such as e-mail. It also provides some guidelines for operating wireless networks, including a vendor- agnostic template for designing a reliable and secure wireless LAN, and introduces a new methodology for network anomaly detection. We hope you'll agree that Part III, "Network Vulnerability Assessments," outlines the most comprehensive process for performing vulnerability assessments you've ever encountered . Great consideration and years of experience with high-stakes network auditing went into designing this proven methodology. Finally, Part IV, "Designing Countermeasures for Tomorrow's Threats," explores digital forensics, malware, and the ins and outs of secure software development. It explains common software vulnerability etymology such as "buffer overflow" and "race condition" while teaching you how to avoid these and other devastating software problems.

Each chapter opens with a brief introduction and a bulleted list of key concepts and take-aways you're about to learn in the ensuing pages. Like most technical books, this probably isn't a page-turner so these miniature introductions will help you decide which chapters you want to read now and which you'll be saving for later. Another key element is the "Checklist for Developing Defenses" section that comes at the end of each chapter. The checklist supplies a brief "To Do" list of the most important actions you can take to strengthen your defenses with regard to subject matter discussed in the chapter.

We hope you find this text helpful and we welcome your suggestions. Please visit the book's companion web site (http://www.extremeexploits.com) for more up-to-date information or to get in touch with us.