Free Download PDF Ebooks

Ebook: Firewalls Complete

The Internet is an all pervasive entity in today’s world of computing. To cope with the “wild” Internet, several security mechanisms were developed, among them access controls, authentication schemes and firewalls, as one of the most secure methods.

However, firewall means different things for different people. Consider the fable from India about the blind men and the elephant. Each blind man touched a different part of the elephant and came up with a totally different description. The blind man who touched the elephant’s legs described it as being similar to a tree. Another blind man touched the tail and decided an elephant was like a twig. Yet another grabbed the trunk and concluded an elephant was like a snake. To some computer professionals, even to some of those in charge of Internet security, firewalls are just “walls of fire” blocking hackers outside of it. To some others, it is only a form of authentication mechanism. Some other folks consider firewalls to be synonymous with routers. Obviously, a firewall is much more than any of these individually.

The problem is only compounded by the fact that for a lot of computer and security professionals, firewalls was touched upon only fleetingly in their academic career, worse, they bumped into it at the computer room. Also, a lot of the important parts and features of firewall are recent innovations, and thus were never covered in an academic career or most of the 1995-1996 firewall books at all, which further aggravates the problem as of right now there is no one single book these professionals can turn to. Their only resource is to peruse a wide array of literature including textbooks, web pages, computer magazines, white papers, etc.

This book, the Complete Firewall Handbook, aims to become your companion book, the one you will always want to carry with you, as it does claim to be complete! I can assure you, there may be some similar books on the market, but none is complete as this one, none provides a reference guide as this one. The other titles I know are either discussing a specific technology and strategy or a product.

Although you can compare this book to those, as it also covers the firewall technologies, strategies and all the main firewall products on the market, this one goes beyond the scope of the other ones. In addition, it provides a complete reference guide of the various protocols, including the upcoming ones (IPV6, for example) and how firewalling fits into it.

In fact, this book adds a next level to your expertise by discussing all the components that makes the Internet, and any other network for that matter, unsecured: it discuss and describes in details all the protocols, standards and APIs used on internetworking, as well as the security mechanisms, from cryptograph to firewalls. Later on the book there is a “reference” section with a complete review of the major firewall products available on the market to date, a selection of tools, applications and many firewall demos and evaluations, which were all bundled together on the CD the accompanies this book.

This book is aimed primarily to network administrators, including Web, systems, LAN and WAN Administrators. But it is also target to the new breed of professionals, the so called Internet Managers, as well as to anyone in need of a complete reference book in firewalls. As you read this book you will notice that what separates it from others is that this one is comprehensive, and gives the technical information necessary to understand, choose, install, maintain e foresee future needs involving firewalls and security at a very informal level. It has a conversational style with practical information, tips and cautions, to help the Internet, network and security administrator to cope, and “survive,” their tasks and responsibilities.

As important as implementing firewalls at your site, it must be preceded of a security policy that takes in consideration services to be blocked and allowed. It should also consider implementation of authentication and encryption devices and the level of risks you are willing to undertake in order to be connected to the Internet. This book will discuss all of these topics and the issues it brings up when dealing with site security and administration. It will go over all the services, such as TELNET, FTP, Web, e-mail, news, etc.

By: Marcus Goncalves
ISBN 0-07-024645-9
© 1997 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Download Ebook Here

Similiar Ebooks

• Troubleshooting Linux Firewalls
• Configuring SonicWALL Firewalls
• Securing Your Business with Cisco ASA and PIX Firewalls
• Designing and Implementing Linux Firewalls with QoS
• Firewall Fundamentals
• Inside Network Perimeter Security - 2nd Edition
• Ebook: Practical Unix & Internet Security, 3rd Edition

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.

Sponsored Links