This Is No Jokey

This book cover always elicits a laugh.



The idea that "hacking" is for "dummies" always bothered me. Is that all it takes to 0wn a system? Even a dummy could do it? Yes, that is a real book, with a second edition en route.

Today, I see this.



As we used to say when teaching at Foundstone, "this is no jokey." Are they kidding me? Who is the dummy here -- the person who is writing the rootkits or the person who buys this real book expecting to remove a rootkit? It's definitely not the former. For the latter, maybe the removal section is just this advice:

  1. Reformat hard drive.

  2. Reinstall from trusted media.

  3. Repeat as necessary.


Honestly, the number of people who could even try to recover from a real rootkit installation number in the dozens. Who is supposed to buy this new book? What is really in it? I don't plan to review it -- my reading list is already a mile deep and my wish list is almost as high.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Whenever someone at work leaves their workstation unlocked, we set their background to the "hacking for dummies" image.
2:23 AM
Anonymous said…
I don't know which is real and which is not but if you want you can create a fake "for dummies" cover here : http://www.signgenerator.org/books/dummies/
;)
6:29 PM
Anonymous said…
I actually saw "The Koran for Dummies" sitting in someone's car earlier this week.
1:32 PM
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