Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems: Amazon.ca: Ross J. Anderson: Books

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Gigantically comprehensive and carefully researched, Security Engineering makes it clear just how difficult it is to protect information systems from corruption, eavesdropping, unauthorised use and general malice. Better, Ross Anderson offers a lot of thoughts on how information can be made more secure (though probably not absolutely secure, at least not forever) with the help of both technologies and management strategies. His work makes fascinating reading, and will no doubt inspire considerable doubt--fear is probably a better choice of words--in anyone with information to gather, protect, or make decisions upon.

Be aware: this is absolutely not a book solely about computers, with yet another explanation of Alice and Bob and how they exchange public keys in order to exchange messages in secret. Anderson explores, for example, the ingenuous ways in which European truck drivers defeat their vehicles' speed-logging equipment. In another section, he shows how the end of the Cold War brought on a decline in defences against radio-frequency monitoring (radio frequencies can be used to determine, at a distance, what's going on in systems--bank teller machines, say) and how similar technology can be used to reverse-engineer the calculations that go on inside smart cards. In almost 600 pages of riveting detail, Anderson warns us not to be seduced by the latest defensive technologies, never to underestimate human ingenuity and always use common sense in defending valuables. It is a terrific read for security professionals and general readers alike. --David Wall

Topics covered: how some people go about protecting valuable things (particularly, but not exclusively, information) and how other people go about getting it anyway. Mostly, this takes the form of essays (about, for example, how the US Air Force keeps its nukes out of the wrong hands) and stories (one of which tells of an art thief who defeated the latest technology by hiding in a closet). Sections deal with technologies, policies, psychology and legal matters.

Review

"While many of the chapter topics may sound unexciting, Anderson has a wonderful writing style and at times reads almost like a Tom Clancy thriller with its details of military command and control systems and other similar topics. Anyone responsible for information security should read Security Engineering." (UnixReview.com, July 2001)

"an eminently readable yet comprehensive book" (Network News, 12 September 2001)

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
Security engineering is about building systems to remain dependable in the face of malice, error, or mischance. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Unique in its genre, July 4 2007

By

Olivier Langlois "www.OlivierLanglois.net" (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems (Paperback)

The title is maybe misleading. It is not really a guide that will show you a procedure step by step 'how to do' to build secure systems as most engineering books do. It is rather a survey of the different security protocols used in various fields. Of course, you can learn from the success and errors described in the book and use this knowledge for developing a new system but you will have to connect the dots yourself.

The book is very dense in information and at first, its format was making it tedious for me to read. It did take around 3 chapters before I get accustomed to the format. Once, this aspect was out of the way, this book became amazingly interesting. It describes systems used in banking, by diplomats, military, for nuclear weapons, police, set-up box TV decoders smart cards and anti tampering devices in general, spies, biometric authentication, etc.. and focus on the security protocols used by these systems and then highlights the weaknesses of the systems and how people have figured out how to workaround these protocols.

The best quality of the book is that it will help you to better understand the mindset of a secure system designer and a system hacker.

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5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most definitive security books ever!, Sep 4 2003

By

Eric Kent (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems (Paperback)

Security Engineering is clearly one of the most definitive security books ever!

Ross Anderson writes on nearly every major security topic in great depth and with vast insight.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars not enough, July 2 2003

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E. Danielyan - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems (Paperback)

Five stars for Ross Anderson's Security Engineering are just not enough - you have to read the book to understand what I mean. I won't repeat what other reviewers here on amazon.com have said; instead I'd say that the author is THE security expert. His amazingly broad and in-depth security expertise and good writing style resulted in a book which is not only comprehensive and detailed, but also interesting to read. You can be an expert in one, two, well, three (out of 10) domains of information security, but it seems the author is equally at home when writing about all 10 domains. I wish I was his student!

Edgar Danielyan

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent substantive content but please leave out politics.
Mr. Anderson is a first rate, major league expert in his field and this comes across in the substantive, technical content of his writing. Read more

Published on Jun 20 2004 by Chas

5.0 out of 5 stars A watershed book for the security community
This book changes everything. "Security Engineering" is the new must-read book for any serious information security professional. Read more