The Little Black Book of Computer Security

Every day, new reports of viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, and just plain hacker mischief appear. If you're an IT manager, it is hard to keep up and can seem like a losing battle. The hackers are winning the war -- or are they? The Little Black Book of Security tells you how to go about keeping your network hacker-free. As a concise guide to IT security presented in an easy-to-read checklist format, this book provides a quick reference to the whole range of procedures required for keeping your networks and systems safe -- despite any future changes in your hardware or software technology. Ever wonder how a hacker could break into a computer system simply by using a screwdriver? That and other technical tricks are explained here. Moreover, this book goes beyond explaining such gimmicks -- it also makes clear why taking care of physical security, creating readable IT security policy, and maintaining best practices when hiring employees are just as important as understanding the dirty tricks that hackers possess in their toolkits. Social engineering -- the low-tech but most effective way to break into a computer system -- and how to defeat it are described in detail. IT security managers and auditors will find the checklists useful for organizing a comprehensive IT security program. However, even if you just need to secure your e-mail and Web servers or want a guide to intrusion detection and incident response, The Little Black Book of Computer Security offers something of interest to any IT professional, whether that person is a project manager, system administrator, or software developer. Handy references to useful Web sites and tools are included.