Thinking Security: Stopping Next Year's Hackers

by Steven M. Bellovin

If you’re a security or network professional, you already know the “do’s and don’ts”: run AV software and firewalls, lock down your systems, use encryption, watch network traffic, follow best practices, hire expensive consultants . . . but it isn’t working. You’re at greater risk than ever, and even the world’s most security-focused organizations are being victimized by massive attacks. In Thinking Security, author Steven M. Bellovin provides a new way to think about security. As one of the world’s most respected security experts, Bellovin helps you gain new clarity about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. He helps you understand security as a systems problem, including the role of the all-important human element, and shows you how to match your countermeasures to actual threats. You’ll learn how to move beyond last year’s checklists at a time when technology is changing so rapidly. You’ll also understand how to design security architectures that don’t just prevent attacks wherever possible, but also deal with the consequences of failures. And, within the context of your coherent architecture, you’ll learn how to decide when to invest in a new security product and when not to. Bellovin, co-author of the best-selling Firewalls and Internet Security, caught his first hackers in 1971. Drawing on his deep experience, he shares actionable, up-to-date guidance on issues ranging from SSO and federated authentication to BYOD, virtualization, and cloud security. Perfect security is impossible. Nevertheless, it’s possible to build and operate security systems far more effectively. Thinking Security will help you do just that.

Genres: Technology

381 pages, Hardcover

First published November 16, 2015

About the author

Dr. Steven Michael Bellovin (PhD, Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.S., Computer Science, UNC@CH; B.A., Columbia University) is the Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University.

While a graduate student, he helped create Netnews (USENET); for this, he "and the other perpetrators" were given the 1995 Usenix Lifetime Achievement Award (The Flame). He was a member of the Internet Architecture Board from 1996-2002; he was co-director of the Security Area of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) from 2002 through 2004. In 2012 he was appointed Chief Technologist for the United States Federal Trade Commission.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title is accurate. This book assumes you know about basic systems and puts things into context on how to think about security concepts around those systems.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very helpful for network security engineers and architects. This will also help out cybersecurity professionals in general by describing the IT environment and all of the different aspects of security that should be thought of and have effort put to achieving a secure and resilient information systems infrastructure.

[Elynor Kamil · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read and very comprehensive if you've got a bit of security knowledge already. I wasn't expecting the humour but it was a welcome addition to break up quite an info-dense book.