Amazon.com
Marilyn Hacker's dark, complex poetic vision has a strange, often formal, beauty to it. Yet, when she writes in Living in the Moment: "I try to be a woman I could love./ I am probably wrong, asking/ you to stay . . ." one feels a very elemental tension between hope and fear, self-loathing and the need for love. It's a tangled inner life that Hacker is opening up for our inspection, and these are beautiful and brave poems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I Want to Be Marilyn Hacker When I Grow Up!
I suspect she can rattle off blank verse in iambic pentameter without thinking about it. She can be as earthy as Sharon Olds ("Mother II"), self-deprecating as Philip Larkin ("Riposte") or amusingly Byronic ("Ballade of Ladies Lost & Found.") I appreciate her older poetry, but my admiration increases as I read the newer work, particularly the poems from the most recent collection in this book, Going Back to the River; I would mention "April Interval," "Nights of 1964-1966: the Old Reliable," "Elevens" and `Against Silence" as being particularly striking. She is a diva at my favorite forms: the sonnet and the sestina, and now, thanks to her I have found a new one, the canzone.

Truly Deserving of its National Book Award
Hacker is a master of the sonnet, sestina, and villanelle.I'm always amazed when I arrive at the end of one of her poems and discover that elegant and natural words are arranged in one of these structured ways. Her words and images pull you into the poems and into Hacker's mind. Elegant.Beautiful. ... Read more

Book Description

The early twenty-first century is witnessing a concerted effort to privatize risk-to shift responsibility for the management or mitigation of key risks onto private-sector organizations or directly onto individuals. Proposals to reform Social Security through the creation of private accounts are perhaps the leading example, but in a wide range of areas, similar trends are now playing out. Yet, ironically, pensions and other private systems for responding to risk also face severe challenges-and often for the same reason that public systems do: the risks that characterize our society and economy have changed more rapidly than the institutions designed to deal with them. From the burdens on pension funds caused by population aging to the pressures on corporate and government health programs created by rapidly rising medical costs, the institutions of risk management are increasingly buffeted by new and intensified pressures that are reshaping how all of us experience and deal with risk.

Broader questions about the future of the public sphere-in many different senses of the term-concern which public goods will be provided by governments through taxation; which will be provided by private philanthropy or organizations in civil society; which will be provided by market actors; and which will not be provided at all. These are basic questions for social science, and they are questions for a larger public discussion that needs to be informed by social science.

This series brings social science research to bear on these issues, cutting through the confusion and bias common to many policy discussions. Each volume, ranging from 80 to 100 pages, presents a concise review of the issues under consideration and offers empirical, evidence-based opinion from leading scholars in the fields of economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, and law. In general, the five books in this series tackle the relationship between the privatization of risk, but specifically they focus on, respectively: health care and health insurance; employment insecurity and labor markets; pensions, assets, and social security; the pharmaceuticals industry; and natural disasters and homeland security.

Book Description
In this provocative survey, a distinguished philosopher and a leading neuroscientist outline the conceptual problems at the heart of cognitive neuroscience.

• Surveys the conceptual problems inherent in many neuroscientific theories.
  
• Encourages neuroscientists to pay more attention to conceptual questions.
  
• Provides conceptual maps for students and researchers in cognitive neuroscience and psychology.
  
• Written by a distinguished philosopher and leading neuroscientist.
  
• Avoids the use of philosophical jargon.
  
• Constitutes an essential reference work for elucidation of concepts in cognitive neuroscience and psychology.

Customer Reviews (7)

Waste of time unless you are a Wittgenstein worshipper
This book is an anachronistic attempt to police the language used by neuroscientists. Don't waste your money.

Whileneuroscientists let data drive their models of the world, these authors, as is typical of those entranced by early 20th century Oxbridge navalgazing, get it backwards. They consider "our" (that is, their) concepts of mind and use these concepts to tell the neuroscientists how they should be modelling and talking about the brain. Scientists are world-focused, trying to understand the phenomena, while these authors are language-focused, and try to turn their armchair musings into prescriptions about how neuroscience should operate. Thankfully, this book has had, and will have, no effect on practicing neuroscientists.

One of their arguments, for instance, is that the term 'discrimination' is only appropriately applied to persons, that it is used to describe their behavioral dispositions. It is a mistake, these Quixotic language police aver, to import this language into the brain and describe brain processes as discriminating something. This is an inane argument. Let's say the authors are right that neuroscientists have extended the term 'discriminate' to something beyond which it originally applied. Big deal. Is it really helpful to arbitrarily sanctify certain linguistic conventions? You might as well say it is not appropriate to call something a computer because originally the word computer only applied to people like accountants who computed things for a living. I want to understand how the brain works, and I'm perfectly happy adapting preexisting words to do this. They need to go back to the drawing board and come back when they have something useful to say.

You will like this book only if you don't know anything about systems neuroscience, you like the linguocentric perspective of the analytic philosophers, and if you fetishize Wittgenstein (they use him as an authority in matters of linguistic overbearance).

The best thing about this book is its title, which is actually a misnomer. If you want to learn about the conceptual foundations of neuroscience, read a neuroscience text like Kandel and Schwartz (Principles of Neural Science), Purves (Neuroscience), or Kristoph Koch (Biophysics of Computation).

I give it two stars rather than one because it is such a clear example of philosophy that is completely irrelevant. I would never recommend that someone spend money on it.

practical guidance for research scientists
I concur with the reviews below. I would also like to advise reading Peter Munz's "Critique of Impure Reason" and "Beyond Wittgenstein's Poker" as prerequisites or complements to this book.

In addition, I would like to underscore the kind of practical guidance this book has to offer. For example, on page134 (paperback), the authors state--

"We are not suggesting that these considerations settle the a priori question of whether colours (and other secondary qualities) are objective qualities of objects or subjective modifications of our sensibility. The arguments are complex and ramified. [footnote here]What we are suggesting is that cognitive neuroscientists should not adopt a non-scientific, metaphysical doctrine of questionable philosophical ancestry, which is supported by philosophical arguments of questionable validity. This recommendation is by no means trivial, since the seventeenth-century conception of reality, of what is objective and what is subjective, of the nature of perception and its objects, has profoundly affected the ways in which brain scientists currently conceive of their investigations. This particular philosophical doctrine is not necessary for coherent, successful neuroscientific investigation, and neuroscientists' reports of the results of their investigations would benefit, not suffer, from bypassing this contentious conceptual matter."

If you would prefer bypassing the futile attempt to conduct twenty-first century research using seventeeth-century metaphysics, then you will appreciate this kind of guidance.

And the book is a treasure trove rich with examples of this kind of sage and practical guidance.

For the philosopher of mind, this is THE start of the road.
*disclaimer: I am writing this as a philosopher of mind so any parts of the book or chapters not related to this are not what I am addressing.*

I do not mean to say that Bennett and Hacker have all the answers, but their "ordinary language" approach, along with their debt to Wittgenstein, Ryle, Kenny and Strawson, says something about their book.Most contemporary philosophers of mind (Sprague, Strawson and Hacker, among others, excluded) have rightly dismissed the soul, but have decided that there is something "mysterious" about consciousness, or perception or emotion, or what have you.In response, Bennett and Hacker have shown what "consciousness" really is: the conscious acts of people existing in the world.This is why we know that other people are conscious actors: they do conscious things such as watch birds, or play chess, or eat ham sandwiches.

If Michael Tye's or David Chalmers' or Colin McGinn's problems of consiousness (e.g. that I can know that you feel the same pain that I feel, or that you see the same color that I see) are indeed problems for you, you should read this book; if it doesn't prove to you that they are not problems at all, at least it will give you a new way of looking at the problems so that you may come to your own interesting conclusions.

"Without language we are naked apes"??
I claim that with language we are nothing-but jabbering naked apes!

Seriously though, this is the best-written exposition of the Anglo-American analytical philosophical view of the current status of conceptualizing going on surrounding the new sciences of "mind and brain."It is written with extreme clarity.It is very readable in that one can start almost anywhere using the table of contents and the annotations throughout to find points of interest.You can almost read it as if it were web enabled after putting away the first chapter or two.The authors succeed in their goal in making the book very easy to use and understand.I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in philosophy of mind, or philosophy of neuroscience.All the arguments are up-to-date.All the major polarizing issues in the field are covered, and all the major players are given coverage.The footnotes and appendices are also well done.The clarity of exposition and good grammar is admirable.

The only problem with the book is that they are completely wrong.The authors' point of view is built almost entirely on a view of meaning that has outlived its usefulness.Ludwig Wittgenstein has the unique distinction of having lead two, going on three, generations of philosophers on two continents into semantic oblivion TWICE in one career, and the authors are bent on continuing that tradition.They criticize neuroscientists (and those philosophers who are tagging along for the ride) primarily for misusing concepts.They have nothing bad to say about the quality of research or the scientific achievements except where the wrong kinds of experiments get done or where results are misconstrued due to continuing conceptual confusion.Nevertheless, they exemplify the extreme unquestioning dedication to a rationalism based on how words are or should be used according to public linguistic norms.(A rule is a rule, right?)The book then amounts to 400 some odd pages of hand-slapping as the philosophers, like English teachers, take it upon themselves to discipline all those unruly slang laden neuroscientists.No wonder analytical philosophers are characterized as pompous or irrelevant all too often.(They give philosophy majors like mea bad name.)

I likewise do not have much enthusiasm for the naïve reductionist views that are prevalent among neuroscientists and the "eliminative" views that support them.I held both views myself some 35 years ago.But I finally outgrew it with good reason upon realizing how badly reductionism was doing explaining our natural world, particularly its failings in accounting for emergent behavior in systems, quantum phenomena and the relationship between them.Another reason was being turned off by all the uncritical go-go-science cheerleading from the sidelines.I worry for what the public will make of all the mind-brain breakthrough bragging going on.Reading this book provided me with a much needed philosophical tune-up and the realization that I'd better be more careful of what I say and how I say it.But it did not convince me that a blind allegiance to the "meaning is use" view will get us any closer to resolution of these issues.This is only going to lead to a stalemate, or worse - the winner will unfortunately be the guy with the most government funding and press time - not the one with the most sensible and meaningful philosophical outlook.The main contribution of the book is to accidently demonstrate how badly a new approach is needed.

To solve these problems and get philosophers and neuroscientists on the same page will require a new view of meaning, what it is, where it comes from, how it evolves, and what exactly it has to do with usage norms.Such a view is, I think, not too far off.Read this book, and then go read everything you can about cognitive semantics and cognitive linguistics by folks like Lakoff, Johnson, Turner, Fauconnier, Elman, Bates, etc, etc. Once the full implications of what this area of research has to say about concepts, language, language games and philosophy itself are known, some new ways of approaching these stale philosophical problems will surface.[OOPs, guess I blew it, areas of research cannot talk, sorry Hacker.]When that happens, I am sure we will all find the words to express it.

Superb critique of how Idealism confuses scientists
What are you, a ghost in a machine or a living human being? In this excellent book, the authors, a neuroscientist and a philosopher, answer the question.

They say that Rene Descartes' ideas still cause many muddles. He thought that we were all ghosts in machines, two things in one. This was because he believed that there were two basic kinds of thing, mind and matter (a theory called dualism), and that what we are depends on what our minds do (idealism).

The authors show that commonsense clears up the muddles. We are all living human beings. "The person... is a psychophysical entity, not a duality of two conjoined substances, a mind and a body."

The authors show that dualism - the ghost in the machine - can never explain how our minds relate to our bodies. Our minds are not things, so they cannot cause changes by acting on our brains.

Often neuroscientists wrongly ascribe to our brains the activities that Descartes and his followers like John Locke ascribed to our minds. But human beings - not our brains or minds - think, see, decide and feel. "The brain and its activities make it possible for us - not for it - to perceive and think, to feel emotions, and to form and pursue projects."

Too many neuroscientists trap themselves in idealism. For example, Francis Crick wrote, "What we see appears to be located outside our body. ... What you see is not what is really there. ... In fact we have no direct knowledge of the objects in the world."

But the authors reply, "What we see does not appear to be located outside us. What we see is necessarily located outside our body, unless we are looking at ourselves in a mirror, or at our limbs or thorax." We see what is really there, the real world, and we directly know objects in the world, which exist whether we see them or not.

This is materialism, which "in its simplest and warranted form amounts to a denial that there are mental or spiritual substances." Materialism does not mean that our minds are our brains. It does not mean that we explain things, even material things, by studying the matter of which they are made. Materialism does not reduce everything to physics, or reduce our minds to our nervous systems.

Colin Blakemore was wrong to write, "We are machines", Crick wrong to write, "You ... are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules." Our goals, motives and reasons - not our cells or molecules - explain our behaviour.

The authors show that scientists and philosophers do two different, useful jobs. Scientists analyse what's true and what's false. They create theories to explain and hypotheses to predict.

Philosophers analyse concepts and the rules for the use of words. They clarify what makes sense and what does not. And these authors have done this job superbly.

... Read more

Book Description
The Hackers Handbook: The Strategy Behind Breaking Into and Defending Networks, moves ahead of the pack of books about digital security by revealing the technical aspects of hacking that are least understood by network administrators. This is accomplished by analyzing subjects through a hacking/security dichotomy that details hacking maneuvers and defenses in the same context. Chapters are organized around specific technical components and administrative tasks, providing theoretical background that prepares network defenders for the always-changing and creative tools and techniques of intruders.

This book is divided into three parts. Part I introduces programming, protocol, and attack concepts.  Part II addresses subject areas (protocols, services, technologies, etc.) that may be vulnerable. Part III details consolidation activities that hackers may use following penetration.

Each section provides a path to hacking/security Web sites and other resources that augment existing content. Referencing these supplemental and constantly-updated resources ensures that this volume remains timely and enduring. By informing IT professionals how to think like hackers, this book serves as a valuable weapon in the fight to protect digital assets. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

It wasn't what I expected.
I found they print of the book isn't practical, pages too closed to each other. It speaks about Windows2000 exploits and tools used to hack into it, while Windows2003 is out from a while; but no one can deny the book had usefull things in it.

The Definitive Guide to Computer Security
Susan has presented a thorough guide to computer security and how to guard against internal and external vulnerabilities.She allows the reader to get inside the mind of both the nefarious hacker and the seasoned defender.

Recommended for the beginner through the advanced security consultant.....

Make sure you have a copy of this handbook close at hand!
...This book covers a wide array of topics, focusing on three aspects of each topic: technical background, hacking, and security. The coverage is both comprehensive and practical. The book explains the technical and conceptual foundations of computer security. Its information is organized in a way that makes it easy to find material relevant to any questions you may have regarding hacking and security. And every chapter points to additional materials if you want to investigate further.

You'll learn all about the anatomy of various types of attacks, including the five elements of attack strategy: reconnaissance, mapping targets, system or network penetration, denial-of-service, and consolidation. You'll also learn about the tools you'll need to defend your network, how they all work within a security framework, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Included are tools for the purposes of access control, authentication, auditing, privacy, intrusion detection, data integrity, and more.

If you are a network or security administrator, protecting your network's integrity is one of your most important tasks. Before you begin your chess match with the world's hackers, make sure you know the rules, the tools, and the possibilities of the game. Make sure you understand the strategies that will be used against you and that you can use against your opponents. Make sure you have a copy of The Hacker's Handbook close at hand. Hey, I do! - Raffiudeen Illahideen, IL, USA

Good solid work
"The Hacker's Handbook" is a comprehensive and entertaining volume on security. It has most of the defining traits of a great book, such as clearly stated goal (authors realize that lots of security books are out there and one needs to differentiate) as well as some unique content on application attacks.

The book is a technically sound volume, I found very few factual mistakes. I found some interesting content on central auth servers such as radius, which I haven't seen described well elsewhere. Defensive tool info is a bit jumbled and not new. For example, IDS coverage is too non-specific to be useful. I also found a couple of other chapters a bit weak on interesting content.

The book covers the security field on many levels - from concepts to scripts - and can be successfully used by entry-level people as well as experts. The book is better suited for technologists rather than managers. Security analysts/admins, hands-on security managers, security savvy system and network admins, students of computer security can benefuit from a book.

Anton Chuvakin, Ph.D., GCIA, GCIH is a Senior Security Analyst with a major security information management company. He is the author of the book "Security Warrior" (O'Reilly, 2004).His areas of infosec expertise include intrusion detection, UNIX security, forensics, honeypots, etc. In his spare time, he maintains his security portal info-secure.org

Great Book
I am a computer security consultant and I think this book is great.I found it complete and through.I would highly recommend it.It is like 800 plus pages.I wonder how many keyboards got worn out authoring this outstanding work. ... Read more

Product Description
A comprehensive writing handbook for students and professionals with access to companion online website. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In Hackers Beware, Eric Cole succeeds in explaining how hackers break into computers, steal information, and deny services to machines' legitimate users. An intended side effect of his documentary efforts is a feeling for how network-connected computers should be configured for maximum resistance to attack. Cole, who works with the attack-monitoring SANS Institute as an instructor and security consultant, conveys to his readers specific knowledge of offensive and defensive weaponry as well as general familiarity with attack strategies and good security practices. Hackers Beware is a good primer and really earns its price by going into enough detail to enable readers to actually do something to make their resources safer. It also enables its readers to understand more specialized security texts, including Stephen Northcutt's fine Intrusion Signatures and Analysis.

Cole's didactic style is largely conversational, embracing the fact that most computer exploits can be conveyed as stories about what hackers want and the steps they take to achieve their goals. He punctuates his prose passages with line drawings that clarify what gets passed among the machines involved in an attack, and pauses frequently to show programs' user interfaces and passages from their logs. Cole explains all the jargon he uses--a characteristic that alone distinguishes this book from many of its competitors. --David Wall

Topics covered: What motivates black-hat hackers, and the technical means they use to go about satisfying their ambitions. General attack strategies--spoofing, password cracking, social engineering, and buffer overflows, among others--are explained, and the tools used to carry them out are catalogued. The same goes for defensive tools and practices. Book Description

Hackers Beware starts with a roadmap of the various areas of hacking but quickly delves into the details of how specific attacks work and how to protect against them. Since most attacks we hear about either occur or are perceived to come from hackers, people are very interested "in how they do that" - the techniques hackers use to break into systems. Hackers Beware is unique in that it gives specific exploits, exactly how they work and how to protect against them. This book will help readers understand what security threats they are up against and what they need to do to protect against them. Some books cover this from a high level but do not get into the details of specific exploits and cover it in a case by case fashion. This book will cover the complete picture. It will not only describe how an exploit works but present the signature of the attack, what to look for on a network and how to protect against it.

Customer Reviews (25)

Good resource, but needs updating
This book is excellent source for understanding how hackers operate and how to protect your network from them.However, I would like to see an update.

Mostly like any other general hacking book.
This one cover almost every general aspect of IT security. Nice.

Good for CEH
The book is clearly thought as a companion to prepare for CEH cert. test.
Limited scope of topics, adequate level of detail, many real world logs are examined/explained.
TCP protocol knowledge is necessary and Unix-like also strongly suggested.
References to tools, vulnerabilities and OS releases obviously are useful but become quickly obsolete.

Dated material
very good book, but the material covered is dated for the price. Not one mention of windows 2003 OR XP.The material covered is at least 3 years old.i was told this was THE book to read, but after reading through, a little dissappointed.

Great reference!
Hackers Beware: The Ultimate Guide to Network Security by Eric Cole is a great book.

I have seen Eric at over 6 SANS conferences.He is no-hype, all help.

This book is a great security resrource. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An Extremely Careful Review of Wittgenstein's Investigations
Originally published along with "An Analytical Commentary on Wittgentsein" as "Wittgenstein:Understanding and Meaning" (note the flipped title words), this book is a must-read for those intrigued by Wittgenstein's thought but not needing all the exegesis of the original volume. For scholars and serious students of philosophy only. ... Read more

Product Description
FROM THE COVER: "Rarely does someone in the music industry come up with such a raw "warts & all" book as this. Whether in writing this Ron Hacker felt he had to purge his soul, or for whatever reason, he has waited until he was a 60 Yr. old to tell of his extremely tormented early life. Words of warning: this is not a book to lay around the house for those under age, or the easily offended. After undergoing an early childhood that may even overshadow that of Louisiana Red (Iverson Minter), Ron hustled, while going through life like a ball in a bagatelle, after a truly dysfunctional upbringing. The images of Indianapolis the author conjures in his book are as telling as those televised in Katrina battered New Orleans. Though the book often languishes in the sordid & torrid, I was drawn to a story as rich as any great American folk tale. The reader follows the author from his birthplace Indianapolis to Germany, Florida, San Francisco and many regrettable returns to Indiana that took thousands of miles and many years to cool a broiling fire, a man so ill at ease in society. Before finding music as a form of expression and release, Ron had a go at being a hippie, a thief, a carpet fitter, an army tank instructor, a bottle packer, a fast food fryer, a gardener, working in the later to be known as silicone valley, and as a pimp. James Dean portrayed an angry young man, and became a screen legend; off screen Ron Hacker and countless others lived that life, scarring inside & out. In retrospect not a path he would have chosen, nor a past I'm sure he is proud of, but a biography of baggage he inherited and that he made his own. Ron Hacker hasn't produced the biography of a blues musician, but the story of a man who would eventually be drawn to the blues, and one that has lived the life, irrespective of his colour or geographical background." - Billy Hutchinson, "Blues Matters" ... Read more

Book Description
Dr. K takes hacking from its beginning in the computer networks of the early 80's to the increasingly complex hacking of the 21st century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a waste of money and time
While the author seems to know a lot about many of the topics he writes about, he, alas, does not know how to write well about them. Therefore, this book is neither of interest to bad guys (crackers) nor to good guys.

Great Book!!!! I have both editions.
This is a great book. Before i knew anything about hacking i bought this book. Great buy!! helped me on my way! This book isnt for some person to learn everything there is to know about hacking. Its for someone knew to the world of hacking. Your right maybe other books give you more info but hey how many of them cost around 15 bucks! Yeah i remember the last time i had a spare 50+ dollers laying around...NEVER!lol This is a good book and should be on every hackers book shelf. Thanks Dr.K

Complete Handbook of Known Information
Although this book is informative for someone new to computer security, it tells no new tales for someone who already knows something about computer security.

Almost all the other books have the same information presented here; some of the other books even present the information better.This is NOT a hacker's guide.This is NOT a manual for computer security professionals.This is a book written to earn the author some quick bucks.

The author may very well be knowledgeable, but that knowledge was not presented here in the book.

For a good security book, look elsewhere. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (9)

Excellent reference book
Probably the readers who rated the book with 1 star did not know that they could download the electronic format of the book from hentzenwerke.com.
The Hacker's Guide to Visual FoxPro 7.0 is the exhaustive guide to every command and
function in the language. It is not intended to be read cover to cover as other technical books.

It says anything that you need to know and the manual doesn't tell you for every command. Not only describes the usage of the commands but groups the related commands/functions and do perfomance comparisons between them.
It refers every known bug for each command/function and also provides the necessary workarounds.

The book is still usefull for even VFP 9.0!

The electronic format of the book, a chm file can be linked to VFP itself.

Every serious VFP developer must have this book in its side.

waste of money
This is nothing but gibberish. More like someone talking about what they know about VFPro in the vaguest of terms. There is no chapter on, 'how to do your first program' or whatever as refered to by one reviewer. I wonder if those 4 star reviewers where paid pumpers or dear friends of the author. I will admit that I did not get past page 54 of the book. That is where I stopped because I found nothing of relevance that would help me improve my skills as a VFP programmer. I consider myself an advanced beginner, so if you are a beginner, do not even attempt to read this book. There is very little continuity, jumping from one useless tip to another without any real usefull or pratical application. It is as if it was put together haphazzardly from a pile of notes, jumpled in with the laundry list.
You can do better looking for free links on google than paying money for this.
However, on the up side, maybe some day when I have nothing else to do, I will spent a little more time reading the book.
Just my humble opinion.

Do NOT buy this book
This book is a complete waste of money. The book doesn't contain ANY relevant information. The authors just goes on and on about NOTHING. They have got to be payed by the number of words, why else put irrelevant quotes on every second or third page?
Do NOT buy this book!

Thousands of good tips and tricks
This is really good book. There is no chapter like "Your first Visual Foxpro application". Instead there are thousands of tips and tricks, all in systematic order. The main part of this book (about 800 pages) is in electronic file, so 372 pages are just a wrapper.If you really need to code in VFP, buy this book as reference. No doubt. To learn VFP from scratch try to find something else.

Thousands of good tips and tricks
This is really good book. There is no chapter like "Your first Visual Foxpro application". Instead there are thousands of tips and tricks, all in systematic order. The main part of this book (about 800 pages) is in electronic file, so 372 pages are just a wrapper.If you really need to code in VFP, buy this book as reference. No doubt. To learn VFP from scratch try to find something else. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent source
This book has everything you could even want and it comes w/ a great resource CD that is packed with great tools and useful little programs.If you are interested in knowing everything about hacking buy this BOOK!!! ... Read more

Amazon.com
A cookbook sure to please those whose refrigerators glow in the dark, Giga Bites is a romantic tour through the entrails of hacker culture, including the ins and outs of a Hacker Dinner Party; getting wired and staying wired; losing weight on a high-calorie diet; and new uses for Cheez Whiz.Put down that keyboard and break out theButterfingers! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Includes what the cover promises: recipes for the h4x0rs among you :)
From the title "GIGA BITES" (as in BITING, not BYTES) this book delivers what it promises... cooking recipes for the hacker way of life.

Bad, bad...
Attention!This is not a hacker's cookbook! There are only cook recipes based in the hacker way of live.

It was justfood recipes.Nothing interesting at all.
It is food recipes only, nothing about breaking into computers.Not that I would ever do such a thing, I am a law abiding citizen that really loves my Government. I feel victim of a questionable marketing tactic.Wasteof money.

A very comprehensive indepth look at what a hacker does.
I LOVED THIS BOOK IT GAVE IN GREAT DETAIL INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO CREATE AND BUILD YOUR VERY OWN PROGRAMS VIRUSIS AND PUNTERS, I RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN LEARNING HOW HACKERS DO WHAT THEY DO.MARVELOUS BOOK ON HACKING MADE EASY, IT'S LIKE A HACKING FOR IDIOTS HANDGUIDE, IT IS A MUST READ... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not impartial enough
Granted, Bennett and Hacker were the impetus behind this book's creation, but I feel they could have allowed more back-and-forth with Dennett and Searle, their two primary interlocutors.Instead, they republish sections of their own original arguments to give some context to Dennett and Searles' responses, which don't differ except in tone from their positions at the conference from which the book came.Then the book grants Bennett and Hacker another answer (composed, so far as I could tell, of almost willful misreadings of Searle's and Dennetts' criticisms), then a conclusion from a "referee" who, naturally, mostly judges them to have come out ahead in the argument.I expected more interlocution, but instead it seems to be a vehicle for Hacker and Bennett's position.

Conceptual confusions
That philosophy should unravel conceptual confusions in neuroscience or other sciences is a principal theme of the authors of Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience, which book is in the presently reviewed one discussed by those authors, Maxwell Bennett and Peter Hacker, and defended by them in response to criticisms by Daniel Dennett and John Searle.

However, major conceptual confusion characterizes the arguments of authors Bennett and Hacker themselves.

Let me begin by noting that all of these authors appear to subscribe to physicalism, describable as holding that all reality is reducible to physical phenomena. Consequently it is understandable that they will aim to fit their arguments into that straightjacket. A well-known expression of this attitude is the intense opposition to Cartesian dualism, the view by Descartes that mind and body, or mind and matter, are two distinct substances.

How derided this view is by the authors can be seen from the manner in which they speak of it: "crippling Cartesianism" (p.75, Dennett), "find themselves in bed with Descartes" (p.100, Searle), "the long, dark shadow of Descartes" (p.159, Bennett and Hacker). Only the commentator in the book, Daniel Robinson, expresses (pp.192-3) reservations about "how many kinds of different sorts of 'stuff' might be constitutive of all reality", but he considers such questions "best to leave unanswered".

They need not be left unanswered in philosophy, which with the aid of logic is here to try to resolve them. I may immodestly note that I deal with such questions in my On Proof for Existence of God, and Other Reflective Inquiries, but now I wish to point out confusions by the principal reviewed authors, whose object is to prevent confusion.

In their arguments they contend (p.208, note 6) that "the idea that the mind is a SUBSTANCE [I capitalized italics] of any kind is not coherent", i.e. that it makes no "sense" to speak of mind as contrasted with the body. But the authors are confused by words. "Substance" is usually defined by the likes of "essential nature", and the main issue, regardless of words used, is whether there is an entity customarily termed "mind" which is distinct from the body. The entity in question is obviously, in Descartes' and other discussions of interaction between mind and body, consciousness--leaving aside particulars like recent propounding of an unconscious. And it certainly makes sense to inquire about the relation between conscious and bodily occurrences.

But the most prominent area of confusion by the authors is in their primary contention of a "mereological fallacy" (e.g. p.22), regarding "the logic of part/whole relations". The authors repeatedly contend such as: "psychological predicates are ascribable to the whole animal, not to its constituent parts". The underlying dispute is with neuroscientists who ascribe "psychological predicates" to the brain, and the presently discussed authors insist: "Human beings, but not their brains, can be said to be thoughtful or to be thoughtless; animals, but not their brains..., can be said to see, hear, smell and taste things..." And the authors repeat: "psychological predicates apply paradigmatically to the HUMAN BEING (OR ANIMAL) AS A WHOLE, and NOT to the body or its parts".

It should be noted that the shift to the brain by neuroscientists is done from the traditional "mind" or consciousness, since the latter does not lend itself to their physical scrutiny. And the turn by the discussed authors to the "whole" of the animal is evidently born of the like physicalist presupposition that one cannot speak of a mind separate from the body. Ironically, their phrase "psychological predicates" itself relies on the word "psyche" for "soul", and it is easy to see that their arguments correspondingly confuse the concepts involved.

It is not the "whole" of the human or animal that thinks, sees, hears, smells and tastes things. The arm does not take part in thinking, or the leg in seeing. It is indeed a truism that it is the conscious part in us that performs those tasks, enlisting in cases some of the body. Try as they may, thinkers cannot dismiss the role of consciousness in our lives.

science intersecting with philosophy
Philosophy is one of the oldest intellectual pursuits. Yet it is only in very recent times that science is starting to provide an underpinning. The status of this is argued in this book. With some of the latest results and trends in neuroscience as the talking point.

The book is formatted with 2 scientists providing views on consciousness, as gleaned from experiments. While the contrary opinions are given by 2 philosophers. With the scientists then given space to issue a reply.

Whatever your own positions on all this, perhaps you can appreciate the excitement in the air. For the first time, philosophy has hard experimental observations to cogit over. And the problem of consciousness is surely one of the fundamental unknowns in science. ... Read more

Product Description
El arte de la intrusión ha sido incluso más dificil de escribir que nuestro último libro. En lugar de utilizar nuestros talentos creativos combinados para desarrollar historias y anécdotas que ilustren los peligros de la ingeniería social y qué pueden hacer las empresas para mitigar los riesgos, Bill Simon y yo hemos trabajado principalmente sobre las entrevistas de ex hackers, phreakers y hackers convertidos a profesionales de la seguridad. Queríamos escribir un libro que fuera a un mismo tiempo una novela de misterio y un manual que abra los ojos a las empresas y les ayude a proteger su información confidencial y sus recursos informáticos. Creemos firmemente que sacando a la luz las metodologías y las técnicas más comunes que utilizan los hackers para penetrar en sistemas y redes, podemos ejercer influencia en todo el ámbito para abordar correctamente los riesgos y las amenazas que suponen estos adversarios audaces. Kevin Mitnick Resumen del contenido: Intrusión en los casinos por un millón de dólares - Cuando los terroristas entran por la puerta - Los hackers de la prisión de texas - Policías y ladrones - El Robin Hood hacker - La sabiduría y la locura de las auditorías de seguridad - Su banco es seguro, ¿no? - Su propiedad intelectual no está segura - En el continente - Ingenieros sociales: cómo trabajan y cómo detenerlos - Anécdotas breves. ... Read more

Book Description

• Shows step-by-step how to complete a customized security improvement plan, including analyzing needs, justifying budgets, and selecting technology, while dramatically reducing time and cost
• Includes worksheets at every stage for creating a comprehensive security plan meaningful to management and technical staff
• Uses practical risk management techniques to intelligently assess and manage the network security risks facing your organization
• Presents the material in a witty and lively style, backed up by solid business planning methods
• Companion Web site provides all worksheets and the security planning template

Customer Reviews (9)

When Hackers Won't Take No for an Answer
excellent reference material has been invaluable to me in the last week and has steered me into making some difficult choices easily

Unique and on the mark
This book, especially if used in conjunction with the author's web site (see ASIN B0000C7RBX), is one of the most valuable additions to the IT security profession that I've read.My reasons for making this bold statement include:

- The book provides a coherent and focused approach to developing and implementing a security plan. You can find numerous books on writing and implementing policies and procedures, or establishing a security posture, but this is the first book I've read that steps you through the process of conceiving, implementing and keeping alive a viable security plan.

- By separating the process into three distinct domains (referred to as 'stacks') you ensure that your plan encompasses and integrates the technology, process and business elements into a coherent strategy.

- Artifacts in the form of a complete set of worksheets provide a set of tools that give a framework and speed up the planning process.

The planning approach set forth in the book is straightforward and realistic - you're led through the preliminaries, which includes conceiving a plan that matches your needs, and selling the plan to sponsors (an often overlooked, but essential activity when fighting for budget).The next step is to perform an impact analysis, and this is where the book shines, because the author focuses on business issues instead of technology.This promotes awareness and goes a long way towards getting buy-in and funding, as well as laying a solid foundation for a long-term security plan. Next the author shows how to select the correct security model and avoid common pitfalls.These lead to building organizational consensus - buy-in from all stakeholders.The difference between this step and the preliminary step of selling to a sponsor and obtaining funding, which is vertical, you need to promote the plan horizontally as well.The final steps are to implement and continuously refine the plan.

Of course, the overview above only describes the approach contained within the book. There is much more to commend it, such as clear writing, superb page design that portrays information in graphs, illustrations and tables, and the details the author provides.There is not a single statement or recommendation that is unsupported, and the material is both sensible and accurate.

Great security cookbook.
The truth is, hackers and other attackers won't take no for an answer, and while there is absolutely no way to stop attackers from trying; there are ways to stop them in their tracks.

With that, Mission-Critical Security Planner is a surprisingly good book, aimed at someone looking to start developing their information security infrastructure.Rather than having to reinvent the wheel, the book provides planners with the framework and tools they need to create their information security infrastructure.

One good feature of the book it is large collection of templates and worksheets on various security elements..../

The book is not overly technical and is quite good for those who need to get their security group up and running in a short timeframe.

For those that are serious about security, they will find that Mission-Critical Security Planner is like a cookbook.They can use it to prepare their security as needed.

Overall, Mission-Critical Security Planner is a very readable and useful book.Those who have an imperative to get their security groups up and running will find huge value in the book immediately.

Awesome high-level book
It is very rarely, that you'd see a good high-level security book nowadays. There are lots of great "worm-eye view" books with nice detailed descriptions of attacks, defenses, secure configuration options, tools and tricks. However, many of the high-level books resolve to quoting some outdated CSI/FBI survey, blabbering about security policy and giving out piles of outworldly advice on how to "mitigate risks".

This visionary book proves the opposite: you can have a high-level security book, which is not just practical, but actionable. "Mission Critical Security Planner" delivers a portion of the security process, packed into one toolkit. Make no mistake - this book is about planning how to do security, not how to tweak your scanner or configure a firewall. However, planning is indeed a critical (and, as the author points out, often missing) piece of security conundrum, and the book delivers on that.

An awesome component of the book is a large collection of templates and worksheets on "selling" security measures, planning the implementations, organizing security team, dealing with various business people and many other occasions. The book has the printed versions while its companion website criticalsecurity.com has the download.

The main part of the book is organized around "security fundamentals", large domains of security (such as authentication, encryption, integrity, privacy, etc), which are used to structure the security planning process, described by the author. For each of the fundamentals, the content is organized in sections: summary, security stack (covering various aspects from physical to application level), life-cycle management (from technology selection to response), business (on dealing with various categories of business people, such as suppliers and customers) and selling security (to execs, managers and staff). All of the above contain various templates.

Among the more fun parts, the section on negotiating with hackers is just exclusive and of the never-seen-before kind. Section in hacker profiling is also of interest, since it seems to originate from author's experiences (and not in just reading about it on the news). The book also demystifies such elusive notions as "impact analysis", "security ROI". PKI also has a prominent role in the book. While PKI (as it is defined today) might or might not fly, the book gives a great example of large-scale production implementation, running for many years. Another great feature of the book is author's "future 10 attacks list" with his predictions on threat landscape.

Overall, the book seems indispensable to those responsible for securing networks. Security managers and CSOs will likely gain maximum benefits from using it (due to the book targeting), but other security professionals will benefit as well. Notice, that the benefits can be derived from "using" it as opposed to just "reading" it, although even the latter will prove highly enlightening. The "selling security" templates alone are likely worth their weigh in gold. The book is well-written and, while not possessing the lively style of some recent security books, will beat some of them hands down in real-world applicability. After all, even if you very well know that IDS is valuable, who will help you to "sell" it to the CIO? This book just might!

Anton Chuvakin, Ph.D., GCIA, GCIH is a Senior Security Analyst with a major information security company. His areas of infosec expertise include intrusion detection, UNIX security, forensics, honeypots, etc. In his spare time, he maintains his security portal info-secure.org

Greenberg has done 1/2 the work for you
In Mission-Critical Security Planner, Greenberg lays out all the security elements that should concern you and what questions you should ask about them. With this book, half the battle is won because you at least know how to do the planning. You still have to do the planning, but with the worksheets and tips provided in the book, that will be much easier than it used to be.

I read the book twice: once to get an idea of what all the worksheets were about and once to really read them with all the technical and practical details provided by Greenberg.

Greenberg identifies 28 security elements, including 15 fundamental elements, (six of which are core elements), and 13 wrap-up elements. Core elements include things like authorization and access control, authentication, encryption, integrity, nonrepudiation, and privacy. Those may seem obvious, but Greenberg has a lot of useful things to say about them that others haven't said.

Perhaps the most valuable part of the book is all the other elements, which we tend to forget, including addressing and routing (with tips on how to get those right from a security point of view), configuration management, directory services, time services, staff management, legal issues, and so on.

I'd be interested to see some projects get implemented with Greenberg's methods. I think it should work quite well, although due to entropy, laziness, over-worked engineers, and other such factors, I would guess that some of the numerous worksheets will fall by the wayside. But I think Greenberg would be OK with that as long as most of the worksheets are maintained and the company adopts security as a way of thinking.

In summary, this book is definitely worth reading, probably numerous times! ... Read more