Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists And Weapons Of Mass Disruption: Amazon.ca: Winn Schwartau: Books

Product Description

From Library Journal

One of the leading information security and electronic privacy experts in the United States, Schwartau (Information Warfare) here brings the perils of the Internet to life in an engaging style accessible to the average reader. Schwartau describes an Internet full of criminal hackers and cyberpunks who are clearly ethically challenged but clever enough and willing to use deception to establish and expand their power. He explains who these people are, why they hack, and how they crack passwords, break into systems, and maintain their anonymity. More importantly, Schwartau suggests what a user can do to deter such attacks and explains the fundamentals of how to protect oneself without having to become a security expert. With burgeoning concerns over privacy and security on the Internet, this is one book that everyone from systems administrators to casual net surfers should read. References to further readings are scattered throughout the work. Highly recommended for most collections.
-Joe Accardi, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Schwartau deserves much more credit than he has gotten from Congress or the military or the US business community. -- Robert Steele, former spy and creator of OSS, Inc

This book is a dose of reality combined with a thoughtful presentation of First Amendment concerns in Cyberspace. -- Congressman Tom Tancredo, Colorado

Winn Schwartau is a gifted, uniquely energetic visionary of cyber-security. -- Michael J. Zuckerman, Senior Writer, USA Today

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Worse book on the subject, Dec 28 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists and Weapons Of Mass Disruption (Paperback)

This is quite possibly the worse book I ever read on the subject. The author has a tendency to make unqualified statements with no supportive evidence. He thinks Hong Kong is an ".... emerging country around the Far East, having problems with software piracy. (Where have you been for the last 50 yrs ? Australia has a software piracy rates on par to Hong Kong. The highest is in Thailand and Vietnam.) He thinks when you start a web browser, and a small program running in the background, it is written in a "new" computer language called JAVA. Not knowing that JavaScirpt and JAVA has nothing in common, but share a name. He is not sure whether to called hacker as "immature bastards" with no real skills, or to take the high road and suggest that talented individuals like them should be nutured, and jail sentences should be reserved for murderers - so he did both.
The author has the hallmark of a typical sales/marketing/management type, knowing all the buzz words: risk management, business contingency plan, ..etc. CEO loves it, but can he tell the different between PPTP and IPSec ? and why should you use one and not the other ? I started questioning his credential after reading three chapters. If you want a better introduction to the subject, try Personal Firewalls by Lisa Yeo, Firewalls and Internet Security by Cheswick and Bellovin or Hacker's Challenge by Schiffman. Luckily, I only paid $4 for this paper weight.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Stuff, Nov 3 2003

By

Joshua M. Clark (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists and Weapons Of Mass Disruption (Paperback)

This book is a good explanation of hackers of all varieties, their techniques, and what ordinary people and businesses can do to protect against them. In a usually-even-tempered voice, Mr. Schwartau tackles common misconceptions and explains what hackers really are and what threats we should really be worrying about. He has had a reputation of being a Chicken Little with regard to hacking, but at least a respected Chicken Little. None of this is real knock-your-socks-off stuff. But it's good in an enjoyable sort of a way.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A Hacker's Thoughts on cyberSecurity, Jan 11 2002

By

Peter Mackay "surgeonsmate" (Campbell, ACT Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cybershock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists and Weapons Of Mass Disruption (Paperback)

Speaking as someone who once spent three months behind bars for computer hacking, I can vouch for the authenticity of this book. It should scare you right out of your socks.

And it's not the technical details that should scare you, though there's enough of that. It's the simple "social engineering" that can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. A good hacker doesn't need to touch a computer - he just picks his target, gains a bit of information and uses others to do the dirty work, all unsuspecting. By the time you work out you are under attack, someone has taken out a second mortgage on your home, cashed in your life insurance, raided your credit cards and had a hell of a good time at your expense.

Here are case studies to demonstrate it. people driven to bankruptcy, despair and suicide.

Get a firewall on your computer right NOW. And do all the other things this book advises.

Otherwise you are a mug.

Don't figure it won't happen to you - if you are at all active in cyberspace, then you are leaving footprints behind that can be picked up and exploited by a hacker looking for his next target.

Buy this book - it will be the best handful of dollars you ever spent.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One-stop course to common sense on the net
This book is a must read for "just the facts" about the seedier side of the internet. As a "netcop" for a large ISP, I have recommended it to several people... Read more

Published on Aug 10 2001

3.0 out of 5 stars It's not exactly bad, but...
I'm not saying not to read this book. If you're after info and facts, it's got a lot of them, and they're useful and thought provoking. Read more