TaoSecurity Blog

It's time to name the winner of the Best Book Bejtlich Read award for 2012 ! I started seriously reading and reviewing digital security books in 2000. This is the 7th time I've formally announced a winner; see my bestbook label for previous winners. I posted yesterday that 2012 was the year I changed what I read . For example, in 2011 I read and reviewed 22 technical books. In 2012, which a change in my interests, I only read and reviewed one technical book. Thankfully, it was a five star book, which means it is my BBBR 2012 winner! As you might have figured out yesterday, this year's winner is SSH Mastery by Michael W Lucas . Feel free to read my Amazon.com review for details. Note that I bought a Kindle version from Amazon.com, and later MWL mailed me a print copy. Besides the excellent style and content, one of the reasons I read the book was to experience MWL's first release of a self-published technical book. I think it was a successful endeavor, although I...

It's time to name the winner of the Best Book Bejtlich Read award for 2011! I've been reading and reviewing digital security books seriously since 2000. This is the 6th time I've formally announced a winner; see my bestbook label for previous winners. Compared to 2010 (31 books), 2011 saw a decrease to 22 books. Remember all reading is neither equal nor fast . When I review a book, I am sure to read it and not just skim it. For 10 books last year, I chose not to read them but to instead post impressions . Posts called "impressions" provide my sense of the book but I do not publish them in my Amazon.com reviews. My ratings for 2011 can be summarized as follows: 5 stars: 10 books 4 stars: 7 books 3 stars: 4 books 2 stars: 1 book 1 stars: 0 books Please remember that I try to avoid reading bad books. If I read a book and I give it a lower rating (generally 3 or less stars), it's because I had higher hopes. Here's my overall ranking of...

It's the end of the year, which means it's time to name the winner of the Best Book Bejtlich Read award for 2010! I've been reading and reviewing digital security books seriously since 2000. This is the fifth time I've formally announced a winner; see 2009 , 2008 , 2007 , and 2006 . Compared to 2009 (15 books), 2010 was a good reading year -- 31 technical or security books, or my fifth highest total since 2000. Incidentally I read a decent number of "security history" books, meaning characterizations of "the scene." Many covered the 1990s and are fairly old, but I had always wanted to read them. My ratings for 2010 can be summarized as follows: 5 stars: 14 books 4 stars: 9 books 3 stars: 5 books 2 stars: 3 books 1 stars: 0 books Please remember that I try to avoid reading bad books. If I read a book and I give it a lower rating (generally 3 or less stars), it's because I had higher hopes. Here's my overall...

It's the end of the year, which means it's time to name the winner of the Best Book Bejtlich Read award for 2009! Although I've been reading and reviewing digital security books seriously since 2000, this is only the fourth time I've formally announced a winner; see 2008 , 2007 , and 2006 . 2009 was a slow year, due to a general lack of long-haul air travel (where I might read a whole book on one leg) and the general bleed-over from my day work into my outside-work time. My ratings for 2009 can be summarized as follows: 5 stars: 6 books 4 stars: 5 books 3 stars: 4 books 2 stars: 0 books 1 stars: 0 books Here's my overall ranking of the five star reviews; this means all of the following are excellent books. 6. Vi(1) Tips by Jacek Artymiak; devGuide.net. Every Unix admin should know how to use vi(1), and Jacek's book provides the right balance of commands and examples. 5. Web Security Testing Cookbook: Systematic Techniques to F...

If I read and reviewed a book you wrote in 2008, this was one of the better years to win my Best Book Bejtlich Read award. I only read and reviewed 20 books this year, compared to 17 in 2000, 42 in 2001, 24 in 2002, 33 in 2003, 33 in 2004, 26 in 2005, 52 in 2006, and 25 in 2007. My 2007 and 2006 winners are posted too. Although I've been reviewing books seriously since 2000 and blogging since 2003, I only started listing my favorite books in 2006. I did not spend enough time "hanging in the sky" (to quote John Denver) reading a book, and too much of my day job spilled into my evening reading hours. I prefer to avoid long-haul air travel, so I don't expect to read more on planes in 2009. Regarding work-life balance, I have more help at work for detection and response duties. We'll see how 2009 fares with respect to reading overall. My ratings for 2008 can be summarized as follows: 5 stars: 7 books 4 stars: 8 books 3 stars: 4 books 2 s...

Last year I posted my first year-end ranking of books I had read and reviewed in 2006, titled Favorite Books I Read and Reviewed in 2006 . I decided to continue the tradition this year by posting my 2007 rankings, and awarding Best Book Bejtlich Read in 2007 (B3R07). 2007 was not my most productive year in terms of reading and reviewing books . I read 17 in 2000, 42 in 2001, 24 in 2002, 33 in 2003, 33 in 2004, 26 in 2005, and 52 in 2006. This year I read and reviewed 25 books, several during the last week. My ratings can be summarized as follows: 5 stars: 9 books 4 stars: 11 books 3 stars: 4 books 2 stars: 1 book 1 star: 0 books The competition for the B3R07 award was intense. Keep in mind these are all five star books. 9. Designing BSD Rootkits: An Introduction to Kernel Hacking by Joseph Kong (No Starch). If you understand C and want to learn how to manipulate the FreeBSD kernel, Designing BSD Rootkits is for you. 8. Hacking Exposed VoIP: Voice Over IP Security Secrets ...

2006 was my most productive reading and reviewing year yet. I read and reviewed 17 in 2000, 42 in 2001, 24 in 2002, 33 in 2003, 33 in 2004, 26 in 2005. This year I read and reviewed 52 books. I was determined to make as big a dent as possible in the huge stack of books sent to me by publishers and blog readers, and I made a lot of progress. My ratings yielded the following: 1 star: 0 books 2 stars: 1 book 3 stars: 9 books 4 stars: 29 books 5 stars: 13 books Because I don't try to read every book, I'm glad my ratings are skewed towards the higher end. I don't intentionally read books I expect to be bad. I thought I would list the 13 books that I gave five stars, starting with my favorite and working down. 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Ed by Matthew S Gast: A first-rate technical book that dispels myths by speaking authoritatively and comprehensively. Running IPv6 by Iljitsch-van-Beijnum: A close second, this book nicely describes IPv...