How This Book Is Organized

Although you could read this book cover-to-cover, it is designed to be flexible and enable you to easily move between chapters and sections of chapters to cover only the material you need. If you do intend to read them all, the order in which they are presented is an excellent sequence.

Chapters 1 through 12 cover the following topics:

• Chapter 1, “There Be Hackers Here”: Provides a glimpse into the mind and motivation of the individuals who attack your systems. This chapter covers tools, techniques, and attacks.

• Chapter 2, “Security Policies”: Starts the defense-in-depth concept with the foundation of securing your network, which is the security policy. This chapter goes over roles and responsibilities within your organization, defines various corporate policies, and then goes over industry standards in use that you should be aware of. When you finish with the chapter, you will understand the role that polices play and one of the ways to prepare/respond to incidents.

• Chapter 3, “Processes and Procedures”: Discusses common security operating processes and provides an overview of how to implement those processes and procedures from the ground up. This chapter also includes some industry best practices that are sure to help you and your organization.

• Chapter 4, “Network Security Standards and Guidelines”: Goes into depth on the industry standards and guidelines for security implementation within your organization for Cisco, Microsoft, and Macintosh products. It then gives some best practices for implementing and configuring various security devices, such as your Cisco IOS, firewall/ASA, and intrusion prevention system (IPS).

• Chapter 5, “Overview of Security Technologies”: Discusses the nuts and bolts of how to use security technologies from the most basic access control lists available in every router to global solutions such as PKI. Many of these technologies are used today without your needing to fully understand when or where they operate. After reading this chapter, you will understand the benefits of these technologies, where they operate, and some of the risks associated with them.

• Chapter 6, “Security Protocols”: Looks at security from an encryption protocol implementation point of view. In addition, it considers the limitations of each covered security protocol because nothing is perfect.

• Chapter 7, “Firewalls”: Covers firewalls and how they operate. It examines who needs a firewall and why they are an essential part of your network’s defense.

• Chapter 8, “Router Security”: If you have a network, you have a router; they have evolved over the years and are now effective security devices. This chapter discusses the expanded security capabilities of routers.

• Chapter 9, “IPsec Virtual Private Networks (VPN)”: Discusses the role of VPNs and how they are reshaping the public Internet, encrypting all information that flows across the Internet. This includes the functional characteristics and operational parameters.

• Chapter 10, “Wireless Security”: Discusses the hottest technology, wireless, and explains that all is not well in this IT nirvana. Hackers have also come here, and they bring a full complement of tools. Many think that wireless is safe and easy; this chapter ensures that those people become security conscious.

• Chapter 11, “Intrusion Detection and Honeypots”: Discusses how you can detect a hacker’s attempt to gain access into your network by implementing an intrusion detection system (IDS) or intrusion prevention system (IPS). It compares and contrasts the two so that you understand the role of each device. In addition, it discusses one of the ways to confuse a hacker—through the use of a honeypot.

• Chapter 12, “Tools of the Trade”: Chapter 1 warns you that there be hackers . . . this chapter helps you understand what you are up against by discussing the various methods and tools used by hackers to infiltrate computer systems. This chapter then examines the available tools for identifying weaknesses in your network and the anatomy of a security audit, which is a crucial piece for ensuring that a network is secure and thus foiling the bad guy.