With the advent of rich Internet applications, the explosion of social media, and the increased use of powerful cloud computing infrastructures, a new generation of attackers has added cunning new techniques to its arsenal. For anyone involved in defending an application or a network of systems, The Next Generation is one of the few books to identify a variety of emerging attack vectors.
You'll not only find valuable information on new hacks that attempt to exploit technical flaws, you'll also learn how attackers take advantage of individuals via social networking sites, and abuse vulnerabilities in wireless technologies and cloud infrastructures. Written by seasoned Internet security professionals, this book helps you understand the motives and psychology of hackers behind these attacks, enabling you to better prepare and defend against them.
This is not a book on how to hack, nor is it a book about pirates. It is not a tired rehashing of some step-by-step guide on how to break into systems, or a lightning tour of hacking tools of the trade. The reader is presumed to know these basic ideas, and is instead treated to a collection of case studies and examples of some of the more novel and interesting types of cyber attacks seen today.
The writing style is abysmal, as in "extremely bad or appalling" (not as in "very deep"). But, that tends to be a frequent criticism of hacking and computer security books in general, because generally hackers and security professionals aren't exactly scholars, or even usually very bright. The book could also have been made about half as long had the unnecessary screen shots of totally mundane log in screens been avoided.
The sections on web attacks and blended threats had depth and provoked some thought. Sometimes the authors treat you to some snippet of code that does one thing or another and that's helpful, but this is not a book about how to write shell scripts or exploits. It is also not a comprehensive survey of cybersecurity issues (nor is it meant to be), nor does it teach you how to command the high seas, board and seize a ship, or walk with a pegleg -- this text is a place to get a couple of ideas selected from a small patch of the cyber attack surface.
Required reading for everybody who uses a computer connected to a network. Frightening examples of the way attackers combine features/minor bugs in different applications to work up the privilege chain to own a network.
This is actually one of the first books on the subject that focus on explaining in great and user-friendly details about the current problems and security issues. This is what books on that matter need to look like! Great book, recommended it to a lot of IT-friends and they loved it as well!