Product Description
"If I had this book 10 years ago, the FBI would never have found me!" -- Kevin Mitnick This book has something for everyone---from the beginner hobbyist with no electronics or coding experience to the self-proclaimed "gadget geek." Take an ordinary piece of equipment and turn it into a personal work of art. Build upon an existing idea to create something better. Have fun while voiding your warranty! Some of the hardware hacks in this book include:
* Don't toss your iPod away when the battery dies! Don't pay Apple the $99 to replace it! Install a new iPod battery yourself without Apple's "help"
* An Apple a day! Modify a standard Apple USB Mouse into a glowing UFO Mouse or build a FireWire terabyte hard drive and custom case
* Have you played Atari today? Create an arcade-style Atari 5200 paddle controller for your favorite retro videogames or transform the Atari 2600 joystick into one that can be used by left-handed players
* Modern game systems, too! Hack your PlayStation 2 to boot code from the memory card or modify your PlayStation 2 for homebrew game development
* Videophiles unite! Design, build, and configure your own Windows- or Linux-based Home Theater PC
* Ride the airwaves! Modify a wireless PCMCIA NIC to include an external antenna connector or load Linux onto your Access Point
* Stick it to The Man! Remove the proprietary barcode encoding from your CueCat and turn it into a regular barcode reader
* Hack your Palm! Upgrade the available RAM on your Palm m505 from 8MB to 16MB

· Includes hacks of today's most popular gaming systems like Xbox and PS/2.
· Teaches readers to unlock the full entertainment potential of their desktop PC.
· Frees iMac owners to enhance the features they love and get rid of the ones they hate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Warning: This book will consume your free time!
When I ordered this book, I planned to give it to my little brother in the hopes of interesting him in the delightful world of hardware hacking. I didn't expect it to contain anything I hadn't picked up doing E&M research for MIT, or engineering research for the Air Force. However, the things in the book were surprisingly advanced, even for people with experience. There are many excellent ways to kill time in here, and they can even turn out to be useful. They are explained clearly and presented without being intimidating, which makes it perfect for the motivated beginner as well. If you have the basic equipment and the drive, this book is great for you!

good, but not for everyone
The title is somewhat misleading since theres a fair amount of console repairing information here.The actual hacking information ranges from simple controller rewiring to completely gutting a pc. The chapters done by the main author are very indepth and maybe out of reach of some but the author knows his subject.The chapters concerning the Atari systems though are quite the opposite.All the information presented has already been published by others before or has been available online for free for years, and the author seems more concerned about promoting his website and selling homemade games.Overall there isn't much information here that is new to justify the price but it's a nice compilation with plenty of nice pictures.

This Book made My Hardware EVEN MORE fun to play with
This book is good for anyone who wants to get into either Electronics or Computers..A book like this would have been Wonderful for My Highschool years, when I started playing around with Electronics...If you have a Child in Highschool or College who likes to tinker & find out how things work in a hands on fashion, GET THIS BOOK for them...I would even recommend this books To Amatuer Radio enthusiasts

Major Hardware Hacks for the Hacking Inspires
The book contains 15 amazing projects that range from the truly useful to the legendary and wacky. You'll learn how to connect toasters and coffeemakers to a network; upgrade radio-controlled cars and talking toys such as the Furby; and build car-mounted periscopes and home video arcades. You'll see how to turn a classic Mac machine into an aquarium and harness ordinary batteries to power your laptop. You'll learn how to build an intruder-detection system for your office cubicle and how to track remote objects as they move around. There's even a project for hacking a 12-story building to use its windows as elements of a huge display screen.

Each project includes step-by-step instructions that even a novice hacker can follow, while also providing the necessary detail to satisfy an experienced hacker. The knowledge gained by building each project can easily be applied to your own projects. If you are unfamiliar with basic electronics, you'll find sections that teach you how to use the tools of the trade; you'll also learn how to read schematics and do basic soldering.

So, whether you're an electronics hobbyist who likes to learn by doing, a software hacker who wants to learn how the other half lives, or a neophyte who has only dreamed of hacking, "Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks" will inspire you to tinker with all kinds of gadgets and gizmos, and will serve as a jumping-off point for new and clever hacks.

Good stuff for the experienced hacker..
If you're the hard-core type that likes to take things apart and "fix" them, you'll like Hardware Hacking: Having Fun While Voiding Your Warranty by Joe Grand (Syngress).Your discarded toys will never be quite the same again.

Chapter list: Tools of the Warranty Voiding Trade; Electrical Engineering Basics; Declawing Your CueCat; Case Modification: Building a Custom Terabyte FireWire Hard Drive; Macintosh; Home Theater PCs; Hack Your Atari 2600 and 7800; Hack Your Atari 5200 and 8-Bit Computer; Hacking the PlayStation 2; Wireless 802.11 Hacks; Hacking the iPod; Can You Hear Me Now? Nokia 6210 Mobile Phone Modifications; Upgrading Memory on Palm Devices; Operating Systems Overview; Coding 101; Index

The first thing to know about this book is that it isn't a beginner's volume.There is some serious hardware modifications going on here.You should be comfortable with electrical theory, devices such as resistors and capacitors, and tools like soldering irons.Also, I'd recommend that you don't try these things on primary devices.I'd say there's a decent chance you could damage it trying some of these tricks.But having said all that, you'll enjoy the book if you meet the above qualifications.

Since I'm not a major hardware geek, I don't know that I could do many of these mods.One of the mods that would be useful even to non-geeks is the chapter on the iPod.You will learn how to replace the battery and how to upgrade the hard drive on your earlier generation iPods, and you don't even need to be that handy.That tip alone would probably pay for the cost of the book.Each hack is very well illustrated with excellent photos and instructions, so you don't feel like you're reading assembly instructions written by something that was run through an automatic translator.

So if you have some old video game consoles gathering dust in the basement, pull them out and see what you can do with them using this book.You'll end up being the envy of all your geeky friends.:-) ... Read more

Product Description
What do we do if our best efforts to limit the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere fall short?According to a growing number of environmental scientists, we may be forced to try an experiment in global climate management:geoengineering.

Geoengineering would be risky, likely to provoke international tension, and certain to have unexpected consequences.It may also be inevitable.

Environmental futurist Jamais Cascio explores the implications of geoengineering in this collection of thought-provoking essays.Is our civilization ready to take on the task of re-engineering the planet? ... Read more

Product Description

• Knoppix is an innovative Linux distribution that does not require installation, making it ideal to use for a rescue system, demonstration purposes, or many other applications
• Shows hack-hungry fans how to fully customize Knoppix and Knoppix-based distributions
• Readers will learn to create two different Knoppix-based live CDs, one for children and one for Windows recovery
• Teaches readers to use Knoppix to work from a strange computer, rescue a Windows computer that won't boot, repair and recover data from other machines, and more
• Includes Knoppix Light 4.0 on a ready-to-use, bootable live CD

Customer Reviews (7)

Knoppix reloaded
This book gives you real insight to the Knoppix workings. Be it trying to backup a windows partition or scanning it for viruses. It even teaches you how to remaster Knoppix and do it your way. If you want to get the most out of Knoppix this is the book to look for.

Mediocre rip-off of the O'Reilly title on the same subject
This is the first ExtremeTech title I've ordered - and if this is an example of their overall quality, it will quite likely be the last.

"Hacking Knoppix" is a mediocre rip-off of the much better O'Reilly title Knoppix Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools.

Chapter 1, for example, is entitled "Unraveling the Knoppix Toolkit Maze" which is nothing more than an overview of using several common Linux applications such as OpenOffice. Hardly "hacking" in any true sense of the word. From covering total basics, author Granneman then immerses you in "Asessing Security with Knoppix" and "Clustering with Knoppix". Let me see if I can grasp the logic of this: the first chapter is incredibly elementary and deals with the basics of a common application suite and within 150 pages is dealing with clustering and assessing security?

No.

This is simply a rip-off. It's a collection of "wisdom" gleaned from online sources and put between sazzy covers as a guide to "hacking Knoppix".

More like simply a device to separate you from a few of your hard-earned dollars. Leave this one for the dollar remainder table. As well, I would be extremely wary of any ExtremeTech title: judging by this example, it is a series intended only to exploit the O'Reilly hacks series which are far better.

Jerry

Not for the Adult Audience
I was very disappointed in this book.In each case, there is just enough information, some of which applies to a later version of Knoppix, to turn the package on and then there are references to internet sites which requires hours of searching to find the answers to questions.The author would have done well to explain the function of the commands that he uses.There is an attempt to cover much more material than is possible in a book of this length.The writing style is geared towards an eight grade level with the use of slang and cryptic names.I expect a book to educate the reader, not simply provide a semi-accurate road map to information.

a useful reference or virtual tool kit
I bought this in conjunction with the knoppix hacks book as it was published more recently than the other book. Like the Hacks book, this has a number of really useful tricks that really show off the use of Linux and Knoppix as a whole. The ability to use Knoppix to cloan PC's and even setup a Master machine to act as a cloan repository on a network is really handy.

I think both this book and knoppix hacks compliment each other very well.

The best.....
...book on linux I have bought in years!

Scott Granneman has written a book that gives you tips you can directly use within knoppix. The information on Helix OS is worth the purchase of the book alone.

It is also written in a very readable way.

I have honestly gained more knowledge from this book that any other on the subject.

A+ ... Read more

Product Description

Secure Your Wireless Networks the Hacking Exposed Way

Defend against the latest pervasive and devastating wireless attacks using the tactical security information contained in this comprehensive volume. Hacking Exposed Wireless reveals how hackers zero in on susceptible networks and peripherals, gain access, and execute debilitating attacks. Find out how to plug security holes in Wi-Fi/802.11 and Bluetooth systems and devices. You'll also learn how to launch wireless exploits from Metasploit, employ bulletproof authentication and encryption, and sidestep insecure wireless hotspots. The book includes vital details on new, previously unpublished attacks alongside real-world countermeasures.

• Understand the concepts behind RF electronics, Wi-Fi/802.11, and Bluetooth
• Find out how hackers use NetStumbler, WiSPY, Kismet, KisMAC, and AiroPeek to target vulnerable wireless networks
• Defend against WEP key brute-force, aircrack, and traffic injection hacks
• Crack WEP at new speeds using Field Programmable Gate Arrays or your spare PS3 CPU cycles
• Prevent rogue AP and certificate authentication attacks
• Perform packet injection from Linux
• Launch DoS attacks using device driver-independent tools
• Exploit wireless device drivers using the Metasploit 3.0 Framework
• Identify and avoid malicious hotspots
• Deploy WPA/802.11i authentication and encryption using PEAP, FreeRADIUS, and WPA pre-shared keys

Customer Reviews (4)

Book Review: Hacking Exposed Wireless
Hacking Exposed Wireless is built on the same template as the other excellent books in the Hacking Exposed series. I find the book very informative, and I'll keep it close, when I'll perform WiFi testing on the corporate network.

The Attack and Countermeasure sections in the chapters of the Hacking Exposed series, are one of the things I really like about books. They give you a good overview about the risks involved - and how to test and mitigate these risks.

The book consists of 11 chapters grouped in 3 sections: I) Overview, II) Hacking 802.11 Wireless Technologies and III) Hacking additional Wireless Technologies.

1. Section I - Overview.

* Chapter 1 gives you the fundamentals to Wireless technology and describes the common security problems.
* Chapter 2 is quite techie with some use of math for explaining how to calculate effect, antennas etc.

2. Section II - Hacking 802.11 Wireless Technologies.
This section explains from the basics of Wireless security to the more advanced and well protected implementations of Wireless security.

* Chapter 3 is a quite comprehensive guide to the history of the 802.11 protocol, and with that information, you are well equipped to go on to the following chapters. The description of the protocol is vital to understand how the vulnerabilities work.
* Chapter 4 is the description of how to discover and map wireless networks.
* Scanning and enumeration is the next step, and in Chapter 5 all the vital features are covered.
* Attacking `WEP secured WiFi networks' is covered in chapter 6, and I must say, I found this information useful. Having already done some pentesting on WEP secured Access Points (AP), I found the explanations and examples very interesting, and I'm going to try out some of the techniques explained here, next time I have an AP to test.
* WPA and WPA2 are normally considered to be pretty safe, if you choose the right password. But still the techniques described of how to deal with wireless enterprise setups, surprised me, and they should be taken in consideration, when documenting the risks in the corporate wireless network.
* Deploying security as described in chapter 8 covers the finer art of securing your wireless network.

3. Section III - Hacking additional Wireless Technologies

* A few acquaintances of mine have bragging about how weak the security is on hotels - and how they got free internet during their stay. Chapter 9 covers many of the weaknesses of public AP's like the ones in hotels, airports etc.
* The Bluetooth attack on a Mac from chapter 10 was quite new to me. I haven't done much in relation to Bluetooth. I have been aware of the fact, there is a risk involved with opening a Bluetooth connection in the public, but not that it could be exploited like that. It was a kind of eye-opener for me.
* The advanced attacks in chapter 11 are some of the issues I'll pay some attention next time I am to test a network. Especially the attacks that can be launched from Metasploit 3.0 sounds interesting (aka scary).

The book also covers threats like rough access points (and how to deal with them). I found this so much of an inspiration, that I want to try it out on one of the educational institutions in the town - of course with a formal approval.

If you work with issues of wireless security, I find this book a must have, and in my opinion, it is sufficient for penetration testers and technicians who are to install corporate networks. With the book in hand, they can do, what has to be done. The book is clearly not targeted against end-users.

Doesn't live up to the Hacking Exposed reputation
I have a ton of those red covered books on the book shelf.The Hacking Exposed series has been good to me and good to every person trying to learn security. So, I was excited to have my new green covered Hacking Exposed Wirelessbook show up at the house so I could learn some wireless hacking.The first 60 pages or so of background technical content is interesting but not totally necessary to get going with the topic.I do realize to be a good "hacker" you need to understand the technology, but the other HE's have been able to balance giving us the background and still able to use the tools for some hacking action.

I felt that once we finally got into the technical content (starts with 802.11 discovery) that they talked around topics but really didn't cover how to actually "do" anything.There isn't much to running kismet after configuring the one or two lines of the conf file.Thenits a simple #kismet or $sudo kismet and it runs.Netstumbler is even easier since you have GUI to help you out and its on Windows andsame same with KisMAC on OS X.

The cracking WEP section starts out with saying use an old kernel and the madwifi-old drivers.That may have been great advice when the book was published but it is certainly not useful for the average user today especially since it appears the bugs have been worked out of the new madwifi driver and aircrack-ng. (We do have to take into account that I read the book in Sep 07 and it was published in March 07). The section onusing aircrack to break WEP on linux on pages 180-182 was decent but certainly not anything you cant get on the aircrack-ng homepage.A little more content on how we do fake authentication attempts and then why and how we have aireplay send our ARP packets would have been nice.The current version of aireplay when you run that capture makes you pick which capture we want to use, since they don't cover what packet to use it may be difficult for the person following along.The shell of the instructions are there, but the details are missing.
The opportunity to shine by talking about the Fragmentation and ChopChop attacks is devoid of actually using aircrack-ng or other tools to launch the attacks, so it falls short.

The Hacking Hotspots section (CH 9) looked to be the redeeming section at first glance but much like the WEP cracking sectionis lacking any useful screenshots or how to use any of the tools they mention. The most frustrating part was the author telling us how they have a slick SSH set up to use public hotspots but provides no information on how to set up one of our own.The tunneling using ozymanDNS attack gives no useful information on how to use the tool, the billing attacks section gives no useful information either.While I understand its illegal to steal wifi, if you aren't going to actually cover it, don't bother talking all around it.The client attack section consisted of installing nmap and nessus and running it against clients on the LAN.That section was the perfect set up to really cover KARMA in-depth, sadly a missed opportunity.

The bluetooth section (CH 10) that looks to be written by Kevin Finisterre was excellent and met the high standards previous HE books set.He walks us through a fictional scenario with real code and explains how we can use the code to exploit bluetooth vulnerabilities on OSX and gives us the link to the code :-)

Overall I was disappointed in the book which is unfortunate because the authors are known to be very knowledgeable and skilled people in the security industry.It can be a good reference on wifi background and hardware if you need one but it falls a bit short IMO of being as useful as some of the other HE titles.

Current Info On Wireless Network Security
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the Hacking Exposed series was in an extended hiatus. It has emerged with a vengeance. Hacking Exposed - Wireless is just one of a series of new Hacking Exposed books and there are more to come throughout the coming months.

While it has been a while since there were new Hacking Exposed books, it seems like it has been even longer since we have had a new book on wireless network security. A topic as rapidly changing and evolving as wireless network technology and security needs updates and new contributions frequently to keep readers informed.

Cache and Liu do a respectable job of bringing the latest and greatest wireless attacks and security measures to the reader. The first chunk of the book- the first 3 chapters- are dedicated to providing a sort of overview of wireless technology and the history or evolution of network communication via RF, but then the book gets down to business.

The authors discuss how to enumerate and identify targets, and how to attack wireless networks, including ways to attack networks 'protected' with WPA encryption. Further into the book, they also provide coverage of wireless security in public hotspots, and a chapter on Bluetooth security.

Hacking Exposed - Wireless covers how attackers use various tools such as Kismet or Airopeek to identify vulnerable wireless networks, and how the Metasploit 3.0 Framework can be used to exploit and attack wireless networks. It also discusses packet injection and DoS (denial-of-service attacks).

Overall, I think the book covers the information well. It provides a good amount of detail about the flaws and weaknesses of wireless networking that can be exploited, and also instructs the reader on security countermeasures to defend against such attacks. Being the most current available also makes this book a must read.

Solid but not exceptional
When I read and reviewed Wi-Foo: The Secrets of Wireless Hacking three years ago, I was really impressed.Wi-Foo is obviously showing its age now, but a second edition is in the works.I was excited to see Hacking Exposed: Wireless (HE:W), green cover and all, because I hoped it would be just as good as Wi-Foo but covering newer topics.Overall I think the next Wi-Foo will be better than HE:W, but HE:W is currently the most up-to-date book on wireless security available.

Most readers can avoid the first 60 pages or so of HE:W.It seems the different authors wrote the first two chapters, and I doubt most of us need radio, cryptography, and other history lessons.This is supposed to be a Hacking Exposed book, which should mean introducing technologies with a security spin and hands-on exercises from the first page onward.If you want to really understand wireless, read 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Ed by Matthew S Gast, which was my 2006 book of the year.

HE:W begins to be interesting on p 61 with a discussion of "802.11 Packet Types."From this point forward the authors share many unique insights which are either obscure or not well covered elsewhere.I appreciated reading items like the fact that all access points on a channel should honor frames with CTS bits set -- even if the APs belong to different enterprises.Chapter 6 offered great insights on wireless zero configuration in Windows.The authors also demonstrate a powerful ability to explain the workings of various complex security technologies and their weaknesses, e.g., PEAP certificate failure attacks in chapter 7.Chapter 10 offered a story similar to that found in Syngress' Stealing the Network series, where an obsessed hacker exploits Bluetooth on a woman's Mac laptop.

I recommend reading HE:W if you want a modern treatment of wireless security issues.The authors cover many aspects of up-to-date features and weaknesses of wireless technologies, although the focus is mostly 802.11.While I liked the story in chapter 10, I would have also enjoyed reading more traditional HE coverage of Bluetooth outside the story format.Overall I think Wi-Foo II (arriving in November) will be the book to beat.If you can't wait that long, I recommend reading HE:W. ... Read more

Product Description
IT certification exams require a lot of study and practice. Many of our customers spend weeks, if not months preparing for the exam. While most classroom training and certification preparation software..... ... Read more

Product Description
Beat hackers at their own game — The world of a hacker revealed by a corporate hack master
Hack Attacks Revealed

Take a technogothic journey inside the world of a hacker as seen by security expert John Chirillo. Drawing on his own experience as a hacking consultant for Fortune 1000 companies, Chirillo shows how hackers can exploit network security holes and how you can recognize an oncoming threat to your security. The book features details of the powerful Tiger Box® system, used by hackers to penetrate vulnerable networks, and teaches you how to use that same tool to your advantage.

In this highly provocative work, you’ll discover:

• The hacker’s perspective on networking protocols and communication technologies

• A complete hacker’s technology handbook, illustrating techniques used by hackers, crackers, phreaks, and cyberpunks

• Information discovery and scanning tools for hacking into known and unknown ports and service vulnerabilities

• Detailed instructions for customizing the Tiger Box for your needs and using it to search hack attacks ... Read more

Customer Reviews (269)

Takes too much to say too little
I really don't understand this book.

The author takes too much time to say too little discerning information.

Go with other books, this simply is too expensive and of too little value.

Good Book - but not quite what I 've expected
This is a strange book to review.I'd give a 50% recommendation mostly because some chapters (perhaps half the book) could have been stripped with no real loss.

There are some good ones, in the beginning and at the very end, but the ones in the middle simply reprint names and usage of trojan/worm/virus kit software found on the net. Besides not being a complete list is useless since needs to be updated in a daily bases.

The good chapters explain you a lot of the protocols and how they interact, common techniques used by intruders.

If you do not have any other security/tcp-ip related book you should buy this since it's a good start.If you already have others you can safely skip this one.

Know the Enemy
For network administrators and security managers who want to know the enemy, HACK ATTACKS REVEALED is essential reading. Don't leave your network without it.

Not all that useful for security professionals
If you are a security professional, then this book is not for you.Its content is too scattered.

NO, NO, NO ! ! !
Dated, boring, with a lot of repetitions, and full of almost useless information.
If you are really interested in 'Hack Attacks Revealed' then try the very recent 'Hack Proofing Your Network (2nd Edition)', quite up to date and comprehensive. ... Read more

Product Description
Vista is the most radical revamping of Windows since 1995. However, along with all the fantastic improvements, there are a couple of things that likely drive you up the wall. Don’t worry, though—just join forces with author Steve Sinchak and you’ll end up feeling as though Microsoft designed Vista just for you! He shows you how to tweak logon screen settings, build custom Sidebar gadgets, personalize Aero Glass with themes and visual styles, turn your PC into an HDTV media center, fine-tune your firewall, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Skip it!
If you are looking for an in depth into Vista - this isn't the book. It's pretty much a rehash of the built in pieces to Vista and how to use them.

Steve Sinchak
Steve Sinchak wrote Hacking Windows XP which is a great book and it convinced me to buy this version for Vista.I've used it some for tuning up Vista, but have not tried all the features as in XP.Still a great source for tuning Vista just the way you like it with excellent explanations on what your doing.

Hacking Vista short review
Amazing book ...very helpful and well written.

Everything you need is in the book.

New user of Vista and I must say I made excellent progress to make them
work well with this book.

Hacking Windows Vista - Not Hacks, Just Basic Settings
Hacking Windows Vista: ExtremeTech

Did I read the same book?

For those who are completely unfamiliar with Windows Vista, this book does hold some useful instructions on how to change basic settings.However, this book is grossly over-titled.Nothing in this book rises to the description of "Hacking." Indeed, if you are technically experienced, you will find, as I did, that many basics are missing from this text.

Pros
+ Nice writing style and seems well edited with usable visual aids
+ Well organized sections with a useful index
+ A few useful tips and tricks
+ Good for beginners

Cons
- Focuses more on basic settings than anything really in-depth
- Misses many basic settings altogether and glosses over many more areas
- A lot of XP knowledge is included, not all tips are new to Vista
- Title is a gross exaggeration
- Not useful for experienced tech professionals

All one has to do is review the list of topics from the description to see that this book is one of basic settings at best.
- Logon screen settings - window dressing at best, very similar to XP configuration
- Build custom Sidebar gadgets - Was out in beta before Vista, but Vista is the first version to include this.Still, the help files included in Vista walk you through this.Nothing special.
- Personalize Aero Glass with themes and visual styles - more look and feel stuff
- Customize Internet Explorer® 7 - Actually has some useful tips, yet once again, not too different from XP
- Configure BIOS for maximum boot speed - Ok, anybody with basic A+ knowledge should know this.Once again, not that different from XP
- Crank up Windows® Explorer - Somewhat useful
- Turn your PC into an HDTV Media Center - Also available with XP.Once again, Vista Premium and Ultimate include software pre-installed, but there's nothing too technical here
- Fine-tune your firewall - There are some nice improvements here, but once again, if you knew how to set it up on your XP box, nothing that different here.

I was surprised that some basic things were excluded or glossed over in a book with the title "Hacking Windows Vista."For example, how do you get beyond the stripped down version of Disk Manager included here to make changes to your boot partitions?What are the different types of partitions that can and can not be changed?A very fundamental topic.No real discussion here.How do you adjust UAC settings and why should you or should you not?Once again, big issue discussed with Vista, with a very light treatment here.How do you combine Vista security with other anti-virus products that have overlapping features?Why is the system configuration manager needed to perform administrative tasks?The list of lightly treated topics goes on.

No book can cover everything, I understand.And I go out of my way to give authors the benefit of the doubt.But when you have a book titled like this one that only covers basic configurations, it's clear that they were trying to cash in on the buzz around Vista and the need for some to feel they are "hacking."And I normally wouldn't mind them cashing in, but they provide much less value in return to a large part of the audience.

Like I said, great book for beginners.If you have any experience with Windows Technology or work in the tech industry, you should really already know this stuff.

Enjoy.

Don't waste your money
This is a review of the digital edition.
Don't waste your money on the digital edition of this book. This is my first digital edition through Amazon and its totally disappointing. The default portion of the screen that is visible for reading the book is only the middle horizontal third and the bottom third of the browser window. There is a view drop down letting one zoom in, but even completely "zoomed in" the width of the page is 3/4 of my monitor width (1024x768) and just a little over 3/4 of the height. For comparision, consider a pdf file in Adobe Reader (8.1.1). A page can be viewed so that it is nearly as wide as the screen and only my Windows taskbar and the adobe menu take up valuable reading space.
The small page size means I have to lean forward to read the book on my monitor. I spend a lot of time reading pdf etc files on my computer and write programs for a living. So I actually was looking forward to being able to read the book without having to hold the heavy tome in my hand. When Amazon offers you a digital edition for an extra $5.00. Say NO!
The digital edition isn't really yours. You have to have internet access in order to read it (even though you paid for it). Its not searchable. If it was my book in a pdf or similar file on my hard drive, Google desktop would turn it up if it had any interesting information to a desktop search (another reason I thought I would try out the digital edition).So I suppose it will evaporate if Amazon ever crashes. But wait, didn't I pay for it?
I haven't recieved the paper version of the book, but the digital version is in black and white. I really can't read Figure 2-2 which is a Start Panel in Vista.
The book itself looks like it might be pretty good. But I also hope that anyone involved in its production and sale to Amazon for digital rights reads this review so they will be aware of what a poor product Amazon has to offer in this regard. ... Read more

Product Description
Here's an even better way to get your BlackBerry fix


Admit it. You're addicted to your BlackBerry. That's okay. Most usersare, and this book is just going to make it worse. Now you'll discover how to use your BlackBerry to retrieve documents, weatherforecasts, and Web infor-mation; use it as a wordprocessor or drawing tool; even control yourcomputer over a network with it. And we haven't even gotten to theway-out stuff.

Pick a few of these hacks
* Play games with BlackBerry
* Search the Web
* Connect to your PC wirelessly
* Use BlackBerry as a USB thumb drive
* Install custom ringtones
* Supersize security
* Draw sketches on your screen
* Play your BlackBerry like a piano
. . . and more!


Tweaks, tricks, and add-on apps to customize your BlackBerry--plus Java code for even cooler hacks

Companion Web site
At wiley.com/go/extremetech you'll find source code, project materials, and more information ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

VERY GOOD READING
THE BOOK HAD ALOT OF GREAT INFORMATION IF YOU ARE NEW WITH A BLACKBERRY. I REALLY RECOMMEND TO ANY ONE THAT HAS A BLACKBERRY TO USE IT'S FULL POTENTIONAL.

Really not well written
Obviously this book is old, and I take that into account . But this book is just ridden with bad information. Most of the information it posts is really common knowledge, and unlock O'Reillys BlackBerry hacks, I really found no useful information in this book. It was repetitive, most steps were confusing. And I had a really hard time finishing it. Really should not get this if you want to get a step up on the devices, your better off checking out some forums. Huge Let down.

Very Helpful
Contrary to the previous reviewer's comments, I found this book to be very helpful.I'm new to the BlackBerry wold and this book helped me quickly get up to speed and learn about tools and techniques that aren't mentioned in the BlackBerry manuals.

Use Google and save your money
I eagerly awaited the arival of this book, only to be faced with a manual on where to find shareware or commercial applications! As an example, the cover boldly states "Download and install custom ringtones". I then looked up the chapter only to be faced with the fact that I have to go subscribe to a service for $19.95(US) per year to load ringtones! That's not a hack, that's an excuse to push product! In this case I found all the information I need on Google to do this for free - that's a hack. The rest of the book is filled with commercial software recommendations and I was amazed that all the real hacks I found elsewhere on the Internet are not mentioned or explained?!

Seriously, save your money if you know how to use your BlackBerry and look elsewhere at the books available on Amazon. ... Read more

Product Description
Web Services are an integral part of next generation Web applications. The development and use of these services is growing at an incredible rate, and so too are the security issues surrounding them. Hacking Web Services is a practical guide for understanding Web services security and assessment methodologies. Written for intermediate-to-advanced security professionals and developers, the book provides an in-depth look at new concepts and tools used for Web services security. Beginning with a brief introduction to Web services technologies, the book discusses Web services assessment methodology, WSDL -- an XML format describing Web services as a set of endpoints operating on SOAP messages containing information -- and the need for secure coding. Various development issues and open source technologies used to secure and harden applications offering Web services are also covered. Throughout the book, detailed case studies, real-life demonstrations, and a variety of tips and techniques are used to teach developers how to write tools for Web services. If you are responsible for securing your company's Web services, this is a must read resource! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Hacking web service review
Very good book for people that want to know more about cyber security but not great for coding of web services.

Good book for developers and security people
I bought this book back in 2007 after looking for a concise book on web service security.I couldn't find anything at the time that didn't provide more filler than valuable content.This book does the exact opposite.Not only does it provide valuable content that is easy to follow and not too verbose, the examples and list of tools that can be used to interrogate web services were very clear, accurate, and very beneficial for gaining a good understanding of SOAP, WSDL, etc.I highly recommend this book for any .NET or Java developer working with web services, as well as IT security professionals who do not have a programming background.

Good basic info, but too Windows focused
Pros

On the good side, the author (Shreeraj Shah) does a good job of establishing the foundations. He covers all the concepts, the alphabet soup (SOAP, WSDL,UDDI, etc.. There's plenty of real, live XML in the text. Although it sometimes feels like fluff, most of the time I find it helpful. Since I'm pretty unfamiliar with this subject, it was handy to have some of the examples written out. I have to perform software assessments for a living, and sometimes I run across web services. I'm better armed for those services having read this book.

Cons

There's a lot to be said that is negative about this book.

* It's very "hack" focused. Duh, that's the title of the book. But at the same time, I don't find it that useful to have yet another book that shows you how to break an application. What about fixing them? He has some suggestions there. I'll get to that.

* Everything is Microsoft and .NET focused. He makes mention of J2EE-based web services, and Perl and Python based scripts, but no significant part of the book is built on those things. If you're totally Windows-centric, this book will be fine. If you're on another platform, it's up to you to adapt what you learn here.

* He has a suite of tools that look to be really useful for monkeying around with web services. They're written in .NET, but unfortunately, they're closed-source. Even though lots of .NET apps run on MacOS and Linux under Mono and other emulations, he hasn't released his tools that way. One tool is released in a "Linux" binary that runs under mono. What about the rest of us?

* The text is poorly typeset. This isn't a nit picking criticism. When you're displaying lots of XML or .NET code, indentation is important. Some specifics:

*o Most of the XML is indented well when it shows up in the text, but if it has to wrap from one line to the next, the indentation is usually poor. The second line might begin right at the left margin.

*o The .NET code is almost always not indented at all. That is, everything is lined up on the left margin. That makes reading example code harder than necessary.

*o Some line breaks are just handled badly. In the chapter where he introduces HTTP headers, one of his example HTTP headers is too long to fit on a line, so it wraps to the next line. This, of course, is not what it really would look like.

* He gets definitions and word usage wrong in a few places. For example, his definition of a web service is really awkward and needlessly complex. He calls hashing a value with SHA1 "encryption" in at least one place.

* There's a lot of motherhood-and-apple-pie security in here. It's the same old tired advice like "developers need to code securely" (whatever that means) and "go build a threat model." These are not new ideas, they're not specific to web services, and they're a waste of paper in this book. It's not this book's job to teach those things, so just don't bother mentioning them in an impotent way.

* His example code for using WSEsecurity (p.277, Chapter 11) is vulnerable to SQL injection, a hack he has been demonstrating over and over and over. This just goes to show how (a) it's not easy to get it right, and (b) when authors focus on demonstrating one piece of functionality, they can overlook another. It's just especially unfortunate in this book, since he's theoretically telling you how to be more secure. Woe to the developer who simply copies and pastes this code and doesn't realize the SQL injection error lurking in it.

* Finally, there are lots of little places where it's clear that the editors were asleep at the wheel. The author has written at least one other book, but his vocabulary and grammar are awkward sometimes.

So, the final analysis is: I like it as a starting point, but I found myself mentally noting a lot of flaws as I went. Since I'm not a Windows user, I also found it a lot less relevant than I had hoped. Web services are not .NET or Windows specific, but this book really is.

From common vulnerabilities and built-in problems to handling commercial loss
The development of web services is growing, along with security issues relating to web sites and their management - and HACKING WEB SERVICES is a recommended pick for any concerned with ongoing security issues. Intermediate to advanced security pros and developers receive a detailed look at the foundations and tools for web services security, from the evolution and historical background of their development to using the latest open source tools and techniques. From common vulnerabilities and built-in problems to handling commercial loss, HACKING WEB SERVICES also includes a cd-rom for maximum detail.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Very useful if a minorly flawed
Although I dont agree that it is anything more than a minor quibble, I do agree with the other reviewer who said that the book could've used a bit more grammatical editing.

Despte that, its a very good book. Its still a very real-world, informative book on web services, very indepth, and stuff I could apply to work right away.

My edition, which is also a first edition, must be a later printing because Ive found NO typos that are actually content-related, just some clumsy sentences here and there. ... Read more

Product Description
David Litchfield has devoted years to relentlessly searching out the flaws in the Oracle database system and creating defenses against them. Now he offers you his complete arsenal to assess and defend your own Oracle systems. This in-depth guide explores every technique and tool used by black hat hackers to invade and compromise Oracle and then it shows you how to find the weak spots and defend them. Without that knowledge, you have little chance of keeping your databases truly secure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

70% satisfied
The book contains interesting Oracle security topics, but it is old and not all the topics are still valid, I would suggest to buy the book just if you don't have much idea of Oracle DB security.

Required Reading for Breaking into Oracle Databases
I've been doing some Oracle research and of course this is the only book on the market that really covers breaking into Oracle with the exception of The Database Hacker's Handbook which came out in 2005.Justin Clark's (and others) SQL Injection Book published in 2009 also covers some Oracle material but not enough to make this book obsolete.

I bought this book immediately when it came out in 2007 (yeah I'm super late on the review) but frankly put it down because it was confusing and definitely not suited for anyone that didn't already have a basic exposure to Oracle.I picked it up again in late 2008 after doing the background research on Oracle security and administration. Armed with a better understanding of Oracle in general I attacked the book again, focusing on SQL Injection in the Oracle PL/SQL packages with the goal of going from locating an open TNS listener to getting a shell on the system.

The author is well known in the security industry and one of only a handful of Oracle Security "experts", so the skill level was definitely there.

Breakdown of the Chapters:
Introduction.
Chapter 1 Overview of the Oracle RDBMS.
Chapter 2 The Oracle Network Architecture.
Chapter 3 Attacking the TNS Listener and Dispatchers.
Chapter 4 Attacking the Authentication Process.
Chapter 5 Oracle and PL/SQL.
Chapter 6 Triggers.
Chapter 7 Indirect Privilege Escalation.
Chapter 8 Defeating Virtual Private Databases.
Chapter 9 Attacking Oracle PL/SQL Web Applications.
Chapter 10 Running Operating System Commands.
Chapter 11 Accessing the File System.
Chapter 12 Accessing the Network.
Appendix A Default Usernames and Passwords.

I think most of the background chapters are "adequate" and the exploitation chapters are very good. At the time of publishing the author released code for vulnerabilities that were brand new.I do have issues with Chapter 5 Oracle and PL/SQL.I think the coverage of PL/SQL is only adequate if you already know PL/SQL. It took me going and reading a lot of other material on the net about PL/SQL to understand things that are glossed over in the chapter.The chapter is good and covers tons of material but from an attackingOracle perspective more time should have been spent on teaching the reading how to use the "describe" package option in PL/SQL to describe the package to learn how to craft your queries correctly as well as how to research and write your own SQL Injection queries based on published vulnerabilities. More coverage on default privileges and roles would have been useful as well.Again, if you have been an Oracle DBA, you understand this already. If you are an Oracle security researchers you know this already. If you are a pentester trying to get some Oracle under your belt you'll have to go pick up another book or hit the internet to get the background material.

The other chapters are good and they cover their stated topics.More examples would have been nice of course.A couple of times we are told to check out the Oracle coverage in The Database Hacker's Handbook. That's just frustrating.While I'm not a huge fan of republishing materials, if information is needed to understand or better understand a topic then include it, its not like OHH was "running long" its very slim for a security book.

What knocked the book down to 4 stars was when I went and read the Oracle sections of The Database Hacker's Handbook and it had material that wasn't included in OHH.Given the "slimness" of the book, it wouldn't have hurt the book to reproduce the content from DHH as it is relevant and helps explain the concepts better than the coverage in OHH.

Excellent Book
I found this book to be an excellent resource, and use it quite often at work.

Interesting Reading
After reading it I thought "...well what were you expecting?, the keys to the house of Larry Ellison also?". It has interesting information for a non hacker like me, but much of the security problems are in the Oracle source code, and therefore there is not much I can do about it. Yes, now I know what not to do in the new code I program. You have to be a programmer to make sense of the code listings and have seen like dumps of snifers before. The language used by the author is clear for me.

Hope this helps

Nice to read a book with no waffle !!!
Have just read this book this week and it was a nice read, especialy after some of the c***p I have been reading lately!

Basicaly - If your systems estate has Oracle - Then you MUST read this.

I like this book, its good and the author really does know his stuff - its a light weight (easy to carry) book and good value for money

Some nice C / Java Snipets - so it helps if you know C. ... Read more

Product Description

Recounting the three weeks of blood, sweat, and tears that make up a 7,000 mile journey from the glitzy streets of Paris to the hinterland of northwestern Africa, this incredible tale highlights the most arduous and notorious off-road motorsports event on the planet, the Paris-Dakar Rally. Since its inception in 1979, the rally has attracted more than 3,000 participants from all walks of life. Fully detailing what is considered by many to be one of the world's top five adventures, this book reveals amazing true tales of danger, from blinding sandstorms to endless vistas of towering dunes. Enduring these incredible hardships with perseverance, tenacity, ingenuity, and sometimes tragedy, the adventurers profiled here truly embody the triumphs of the human spirit.

Customer Reviews (4)

ADVENTIURE OF A LIFETIME
AS YOU READ THIS BOOK YOU FEEL AS YOU ARE THERE THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES AND GREAT TIMES

Dakar
This was actually my first kindle book.

As a long time fan of Dakar it was never going to be difficult to hold my attention on this topic. the writer does a good job of detailing just how exhausting this epic event is. Some technical detail but nothing to put off the less mechanical.

Canadian Superstar
Lawrence Hacking proves that some of your life's goals can be done in your 40's.He studied,prepared,and attacked the Dakar Rally.

gutsy privateer
The author shows his gutsy determination to finish the Dakar. A great read for all of us Walter Mitty's . ... Read more

Product Description
* Get ready for some down-and-dirty hackin'! Over 200 serious hacks readers can use to force Windows XP to do it their way, written in the ExtremeTech no-holds-barred style
* Sinchak doesn't waste time tweaking Movie Maker or Instant Messenger-these hacks are heavy-duty, detailed instructions for squeezing every drop of power from Windows XP and maximizing speed, appearance, and security
* Not for the faint of heart! This book is written for users who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves, risk voiding their warranties, take total control of the task bar, uninstall programs that are supposedly permanent, and beef up boot speed
* Mines gems like unlocking hidden settings, customizing boot screens, supercharging online and program launch speed, maximizing the file system and RAM, and dumping hated features for good
* Written by the creator of TweakXP.com, a site considered Mecca for Windows hackers and trusted by more than ten million Windows XP users worldwide
* Includes a hacker's dream CD-ROM with a set of ready-to-install hacks, theme creation tools, custom boot screens, "undo" files that help the reader tinker with Windows XP's registry, and a whole lot more ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

hacking xp
Book's table contents and actual pages did not match.But other than that the book had good info on the resource hog xp can become and how to trim it down.

Best XP book I've ever come accross
I don't usually write reviews, but this is by far the best no-nonsense windows XP book I have ever put my hands on.

It's not about hacking, it's about tweaking Windows XP
I grabbed this book because I thought it might be about, well, hacking. (Well okay, that and the fact that it was cheap). As a professional hacker I can assure you that there is nothing about hacking in here. (In fact, there are a few suggestions, such as making user accounts with no passwords, that made me cringe). Most of the information in here is available in other places, and could be found relatively quickly with google if you knew what it was you were looking for. Most average users though don't know what they're looking for and therefore having a book which tells them that they can change their logon screen, startup screen, disable timestamps, and turn off unneeded services is useful. If you're a power user or sysadmin this book is a waste of your time. If you're a casual home user that just wants to have more control over your OS environment, this book is probably a good fit.

Worthless
This book's title is analogous to having scantily clad women on book covers to lure adolescent boys into buying.There is no hacking of Windows.No information that you would not already know if you were an experienced user or can obtain for free using a web search.Do not waste even a penny on this book.It is truly junk.

A model of clarity - and very useful.
Strikes a perfect balance between explaining too much and explaining too little.An XP manual for Everyman, - and Everywoman.A huge goldmine of technique.Down-to-earth and practical, Sinchak's book gives clear rote instructions for people in a hurry. But context is never ignored, and the author makes you feel safe by providing the pros and cons before you act.The book is designed to be read from beginning to end but also works well if you pick and choose.I formerly thought the O'Reilly books were the model of usability; but now I wish all computer books were like this one.I think it is a treasure.
... Read more

Product Description
This book provides detailed coverage of advanced Java topics for experienced users. It focuses on answering specific questions with useful applications, combinations of technologies for more advanced applications, and real world practical advice. The CD contains all of the code and tools used in the book as well as additional tools and examples. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A must-have for any Java programmer
This is an excellent book.There are many topics covered in a straightforward manner that you won't find anywhere else.Many clever solutions - I learned a lot from using this book and I've been programmingin Java for a while.One of the few computer books worth the steep price.

Great value for intermediate/advanced
You will not be sorry if you buy this book. The book uses a straightforward approach to some of the complicated as well as simple issues. The book is very well organized, and explanations are very clear. Iwould not recommend it for the beginners, but even if you are just gettingcomfortable with Java, this book would be an excellent value. CD that comeswith this book is also very helpful.

Excellent book
I really liked this book. It deals with very important topics from basicto quite advanced in a very straightforward manner. I use it all the time.

Excellent book for professional Java development.
This book delves into some of the tough real world issues you will run into when building a java application, not just an applet with cute animation.I especially liked the CORBA ORB demonstration to deliver real multi-tiered client/server applications in java.In addition to this being a fine book by itself, on the CD-ROM enclosed with Hacking Java, you receive the complete text of another good java book Special Edition Using Java, plus 4 other books AND a "publisher's edition" of Microsoft Visual J++ Java development environment.This book is a great value ... Read more

Product Description
Hacking the Cube is a straightforward and sometimes comical look into the everyday world of information technology. It answers questions that many IT professionals and newcomers ask about the tools and skills needed to survive one of the most complex career fields in the world. Most computer books deal with configuring software and do little to help you learn what you need to know to work in a network office environment. Most people are rarely prepared for the social, political, or psychological aptitude needed to survive the office workplace. Most computer books are software proprietary and never tell you what types of programs you will really need to know.

Many of the topics in this book are situations based on my experience and the experiences of other computer professionals that you would not typically have access to without actually having a job in an IT department.It also contains notes sent to me from well-established IT professionals about their experiences.This book is a mix of fact and story, humor and frustration. So, if you are new to the field of computers, Hacking the IT Cube is going to give you a unique insight that only experience can teach. On the other hand, if you are a seasoned veteran, you will laugh and cry at familiar situations that have sent you to a place of liquid intoxication. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A good book for a novice user
I am really glad that there are books written by people of my industry that share their professional experiences in them.This book is indeed one of them. Out of the whole book, the only chapters that fascinated me were chapter 6 and chapter 7. It talks about IT politics and career options that have assured me that I am taking a right decision in terms of my career life. I would recommend this book based on its last two chapters to others.

A must book for IT Beginners
I wouldn't find another book that explains most of the IT terminologies and provide real life scenarios to what actually happens in the technical field.

once again Good Job Mr.Doglaus ... Read more

Product Description
Many people find themselves dissatisfied with recent linguistic philosophy, and yet know that language has always mattered deeply to philosophy and must in some sense continue to do so. Ian Hacking considers here some dozen case studies in the history of philosophy to show the different ways in which language has been important, and the consequences for the development of the subject. There are chapters on, among others, Hobbes, Berkeley, Russell, Ayer, Wittgenstein, Chomsky, Feyerabend and Davidson. Dr Hacking ends by speculating about the directions in which philosophy and the study of language seem likely to go. The book will provide students with a stimulating, broad survey of problems in the theory of meaning and the development of philosophy, particularly in this century. The topics treated in the philosophy of language are among the central, current concerns of philosophers, and the historical framework makes it possible to introduce concretely and intelligibly all the main theoretical issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not an Introductory Book
As with all of Hacking's books, it is well written and researched. However, it is not nearly as simple to understand as some of his other writings. I have taken courses one course each in logic, philosophy of psychiatry, and linguistics, and have done a good deal of reading on my own. That did NOT suffice. There is much discussion of early modern philosophy. I would not recommend this book unless you have some background in Hobbes, Locke, Descartes, etc., as well as some knowledge of twentieth century contemporary analytic philosophy.

This book is just barely out of the reach of someone who is interested and an avid reader. Something along the lines of a minor in philosophy is needed. ... Read more

Product Description

From personalizing Vim to productivity optimizations: Recipes to make life easier for experienced Vim users

• Create, install, and use Vim scripts
• Personalize your work-area
• Optimize your Vim editor to be faster and more responsive

In Detail

Each chapter of this book deals with a different aspect, and provides recipes for easy-to-use hacks to customize and simplify your Vim experience. After an introduction covering the derivation of Vim and its relatives from the vi editor, the author explains basic changes that you can make to the appearance of the Vim editor. Further chapters cover improved navigation through files and buffers in Vim; speeding up your work with templates, auto-completion, folding, sessions, and registers; and formatting text and code, including using external formatting scripts. The final comprehensive chapter covers everything about using Vim scripts and scripting to extend functionality.

Vim stands for Vi IMproved and is the editor of choice for programmers looking for a highly configurable, stable, open-source, multi-platform text editor. It is included with almost every Linux distribution as the standard text editor, and can be used to work with source code from any language. A big advantage of using Vim is that it can be extensively customized; you can control the basic interface, define personalized key mappings, implement macros, and call external or user-defined scripts. Vim has its own scripting language that allows for plug-in like extensions to enable IDE behavior, syntax scripts and highlighting, color schemes, themes, and utility scripts that can add a wide range of features and functionality.Vim 7.0, for which this book is written, includes spell-checking, code completion, document tabs, current line and column highlighting, undo branches, and more.

What you will learn from this book?

Customer Reviews (15)

Good Book
Hacking Vim by Kim Schulz, a book truly suited for the average Vim user looking to find his or her way into the advanced and wonderful world of Vim.From basic customization to fully advanced scripting, this book has it all.
To begin the book shows you what I consider to be the most important part of Vim, making it pretty! Of course in the process it also outlines a number of useful tips in order to increase usability and productivity. The book also devotes what seems like a small chapter on GVim, Vim's GUI counterpart, and some of the more advanced menu options it has available. Although this chapter didn't appeal to me directly it wasn't so intrusive that it actually got in the way, just skip a few pages and we're back to hacking the core of Vim again.
The book continues by showing you a better way to navigate Vim, faster searching, multiple files. It introduces you to the tabbing features of Vim and how to use them effectively. From this point the book takes a bit of a turn and begins to focus more so on using Vim while in a programming environment, specifically C/C++. Many of the tips given could be easily applied to other languages, Perl, Ruby, etc., however specific examples do not exist which at times can make some of the concepts being taught a little tricker to follow.
The final chapter of the book goes into the Vim scripting language and the power and versatility it has. In fact the final chapter could be expanded into a new book and still only begin to scratch the surface. Luckily, just like Hacking Vim itself the scripting chapter starts off by showing you how to set up your scripting environment effectively and then moves you through the syntax of the language. The book finishes on a high note by showing a handful of "useless" yet important Vim scripted games that show the full capabilities of the Vim scripting language.
All in all this book showed me the parts of Vim that I had only previously heard about but never understood. This book has showed me a number of improvements for my own .vimrc as well as how to use Vim effectively when handling any task. In fact this very review was written in Vim, something I never would have done before reading this book, spell checking and all.

Hacking Vim Review
The book has a good content, well written. I disagree with the price, because the quality of paper used.

Great book on Vim, does exactly what is says...
Based on some of the other reviews I thought that this book would be less "technical" than it appeared.Those reviews were clearly wrong.The author does exactly what he says he is going to do.He teaches you productivity technics to help you in your daily vim escapades.

The author makes more advanced techniques in vim easier such as auto-completion, vim scripting, and debugging.One section that I found very useful was one of the first "beginning" sections on vim customizations.In it the author clearly and concisely allows the reader to learn how to customize their vim environment.

The author uses clear and concise language that I believe anyone can understand.He starts with the basics and works to bigger concepts such as the example I gave before.This in my opinion is not a vim complete reference.Rather it is for those who use it as a regular user and want to upgrade their skills to a real Power User.I would highly recommend this to anyone.It really does give you recipes for everyday productivity.

Improving Your Vim Experience
The book "Hacking Vim" provides a number of tips, hints, setup ideas, scripts, functions, and ways of improving the Vim experience. There are many topics covered, from heavy-duty Vim use for programming to cosmetic aspects of Vim set up. Whether you will get enough out of the book to warrant its $39.99 list price tag depends on your current level of Vim usage, but from my experience most Vim users will find something of use.

The book assumes the reader has a generous familiarity with Vim. Hacking Vim is not a Vim instruction manual or tutorial on basic Vim usage. It will tell you how to use some of Vim's more involved or complicated features. It will not instruct you in basic movement and editing skills.

You must be adept enough with Vim to not be afraid to change its settings and or to learn and use more advanced features of the editor.Intermediate and more advanced users of Vim should have no problem getting useful tips from this book. Beginners with Vim will still find useful information, and may grow into understanding other information the book provides, but make sure Vim is something you want to dedicate a significant amount of time to before buying a book like this.

The book is written in a rather concise style, though the 'tell them what you'll tell them; tell them; tell them what you told them' format is a little pedantic. Part of the book is used to tell the history of Vim, vi, and other vi-like editors, which is marginally useful especially if you are a Vim user for a long time. You may learn something, though, if you have not used other vi-like editors.

Some of the tips in the book cover standard Vim commands, so in this respect the book overlaps with Vim's help system. However, the logical organization of the book into functions helps the user find and understand the material faster and easier. The Vim help system is often confusing to navigate, even for intermediate users. Note that this book does cover using and searching the Vim help system.

The book is mainly written for Vim version 7+. For previous versions of vim and gvim, icons are provided to indicate which are able to use the discussed recipe, tip, or map. This is a nice feature for those using older versions of vim.

Personally, I wanted to read this book just to see if it would teach me something I didn't know. The book was successful in this regard. I learned several things from reading this book, and reminded myself of some things I had forgotten, so it was a worthwhile experience. Seeing how someone else uses Vim, as in this book, is also useful even though I may not always use Vim in the same fashion for my own editing tasks.

So underwhelmed
Do not buy this book.

To quote another, what's original is not interesting and what's interesting is not original. ... Read more

Product Description
Beyond Popper and Kuhn to an anarchist philosophy of science.Paul Feyerabend’s globally acclaimed work, which sparked and continues to stimulate fierce debate, examines the deficiencies of many widespread ideas about scientific progress and the nature of knowledge. Feyerabend argues that scientific advances can only be understood in a historical context. He looks at the way the philosophy of science has consistently overemphasized practice over method, and considers the possibility that anarchism could replace rationalism in the theory of knowledge.

This updated edition of the classic text includes a new introduction by Ian Hacking, one of the most important contemporary philosophers of science. Hacking reflects on both Feyerabend’s life and personality as well as the broader significance of the book for current discussions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Mr
Whether or not you agree with Feyerabend's fundamental premise, this book should be compulsory reading for all scientists.

Very satisfying. Necessary. But how does a dead man keep updating a book?
Feyerabend is pretty good at updating books from beyond the mortal veil. Nonetheless, I am reading an older copy. It is really awesome. I agree with most other reviews. I do agree that it stronger in urging "scientists" to be less rigid with method, and that the polemic has less focus on declaring how an anarchistic science should be favored over other strategies for gaining knowledge, such as superstition, rumor, tradition, new age insights, and so on.

Myself, this is helpful as I see medical / biological / health care research desperately grabbing for methodological security from the "gold standard" of the RCT, the peer-reviewed journal, the imprimatur of the "expert as in climate science lately, and so on, while ignoring and even detracting from more fruitful pursuits. Lately, commentors have gently noted this, and have gently urged more exploration of "pragmatic trials," subset analysis, post-hoc exploartional analysis, and so on. But it is vauable to have the Feyerabend viewpoint put forth strongly.

Normally, I dislike reading various "critical," or "structural," or marxist evaluations of various topics, but it works here - back on Hegel's home turf of epistemology.

common sense at my home town
I really have a good time in finding and reading "Against Method" and felt comfortable in 'anything goes' rationale.
I can't agree in call the author anarchism.The author's view is very common in Confucian country like Korea.

Very impressive work!
When I first started getting into the philosophy of science I had several of feyerabends thoughts and objections in mind, but this was before I had read him so I didnt exactly have a steady foundation for myself when it came to sourcing academics (which, for one reason or another, is a keystone of argumentation these days). After reading this book I was astonished that there was someone in the field of academia who had the same ideas as me, and elaborated on them ten fold! When I picked this up I didnt put it down till I was finished, and after that I was so sold to the idea of epistemological anarchism I went out of my way to make all sorts of additions to the internet that included his work, and even lended this book to one of my old science teachers (who, from what I've heard, loves it just as much as me). If I ever ran a science or a philosophy class this would be on the reading list every year. The only thing that gets me is why this isnt more widely read already. I highly recommend this to everyone, whether they're new to or already into scientific philosophy, or even philosophy in general. This is one of my favorite books i've read, definitely a must read.

If you're an empiricist, this book will shake your faith
In Against Method Paul Feyerabend argues for an "open" approach to epistemology.His idea that scientific truth is only one kind of truth is certainly not original, but few have argued it with the force and style that he is able to bring to this book.With regard to his style, he makes philosophy entertaining, although his irreverence toward many icons of modern thought may shock some readers. One doesn't have to agree with everything he says to see the basic humanism that animates his arguments.Perhaps the most important statement in this book is his protest against the way that scientists and political leaders use science to justify cultural genocide. (We, the experts--scientists, and the politicians who rely on us as "their" experts--know better than yourselves--"primitive" people--what is good for you.We want to replace your "superstitions" with our "truth" for your own good.)Feyerabend recognizes that there are truths that exist independent of Western science, including artistic ideas, mystical ideas, other sciences that Western science sees as unscientific (like Chinese medicine, or Native American ecology), and that much of the hegemony that Western science has in the world today comes from the fact that it serves the interests of the politically powerful (and gives them the best weapons).Feyerabend makes his case for an all-inclusive methodology in science, his famous "anything goes," with humor, passion and a brilliance drawn from his own multi-disciplinary background. ... Read more

Product Description
Asterisk Hacking shows readers about a hacking technique they may not be aware of. It teaches the secrets the bad guys already know about stealing personal information through the most common, seemingly innocuous, highway into computer networks: the phone system. The book also comes with an Asterisk Live CD (SLAST) containing all the tools discussed in the book and ready to boot!

This book shows readers what they can do to protect themselves, their families, their clients, and their network from this invisible threat. Power tips show how to make the most out of the phone system and turn it into a samurai sword - for defense or attack!

*Asterisk Live CD (SLAST) containing all the tools discussed in the book and ready to boot!
*Contains original code to perform previously unthought of tasks like changing caller id, narrowing a phone number down to a specific geographic location, and more!
*See through the eyes of the attacker and learn WHY they are motivated, something not touched upon in most other titles ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not a hacking book at all
This book was an utter disappointment.Its editorial review suggested to me that I would learn about the deficiencies of VoIP and/or Asterisk, but in reality its main focus is on implementing an Asterisk PBX.

Only chapter 7, "Threats to VoIP communications systems" uses 19 pages to address this issue, but only poorly: Most text addresses generic network problems that we already know from other networking books, like ARP spoofing.It spends as little as half a page each on SIP-specific attacks and H.323-specific attacks.These descriptions are, of course, rather general pointers to a few documented bugs.

This book has been a waste of money for me.The editorial review sends far too much praise.Amazon however, accepted this reaction and took the book back at their expense.

asterisk pseudo-developer
Just what I was looking for.The book gives a lot of insight on the internals of asterisk and tips on how to protect against hackers.Very good value for money. ... Read more

Product Description
Hackers get a bad rap. Businesses, industries, and even society as a whole covet their skills, yet they are often misunderstood and frequently despised. Is their vilification justified? This is the first book to use previously validated psychological inventories to explore and profile the personalities and behavioral traits of more than 200 self-admitted hackers. Many of the profiled are at the top of their game, revered by both the good hackers ("white hats") and their more malevolent peers ("black hats"). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting
Actually a paper or thesis, it gives some good insight into the truths around hackers, crackers, and the "scene" around them. The survey they undertook at H2K and DEFCON 8 gave great insight and disproved the common myths and perceptions of thehacker/cracker culture.

A chapter written by Carolyn Meinel, insight and background to some of the more public "hacker" cases and how the scene has developed, give this a good read for anyone in Information & network security or IT for that matter. What is the beginnings of 2600? Detailing the White, Black, and Grey hats or the scene and culture, this is a definite read. ... Read more

Product Description
Tighten holes and maintain security on your Linux system!

From one of the authors of the international best-seller, Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, comes a must-have security handbook for anyone running Linux. This cutting-edge volume shows you how to think like a Linux hacker in order to beat the Linux hacker. You'll get detailed information on Linux-specific hacks, both internal and external, and how to stop them.Amazon.com Review
"Throw up a Linux box," comes the chorus whenever there's a need to provide some network service or other without impinging upon the boss's martini budget. Fair enough, but by doing so are you opening security holes you don't know how to find or fix? The newest edition of Hacking Linux Exposed helps you answer that question and solve many of the security problems you find. To a certain extent this book is a recipe collection in that it describes weaknesses in Linux (calling attention to specific distributions where appropriate). The authors stop short of explicitly showing you how to wage most kinds of attacks, a reasonable thing to do from an ethical point of view even though the instructions can be found easily on the Internet. Rather than do that, they give step-by-step instructions on how to defend against the attacks they catalog. The point is not, "Here's precisely how to bring down a server by means of an ACK storm," but rather, "Here's how to defend against such problems." They do demonstrate plenty of weaknesses, though, as in their coverage of the conversation that goes back and forth between an FTP server and its client.

This book covers pretty much everything you'd want to do with a Linux machine as a network server. Read it and see some of the weaknesses in your system--and do something about them before someone else does. --David Wall

Topics covered: Security best practices, approached from the perspective of what can go wrong and what can be done about the problems. Specific coverage goes to all major services, including user management, FTP, HTTP, and firewalling. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

Ding, Ding, We have a winner.
First, this book does _NOT_ have a installation walk through...YES!!!

You will not find another book this comprehensive in the length in HLE has accomplished. i found the book to be on point, and not overdrawn on any specific topic. The authors usage of gender is something of a mystery aswell. For the first 10 chapters or so the cracker is a woman, then in later chapters it becomes a man, then in even later chapters a woman, then back to a man :-).

i found the book to be very well written, it feels like a very good naration. There is only a few plugs of direct humor (1 about using word for the publisher, another about the shortest sentence using all letters) but these few are lightening.

Technically this book is sound. it does very good in keeping the basics of security alive through the book (chattr +i, only use what you need, upgrade, etc...).This is very helpful to a beginer for reinforced learning.The software packages it mentions for firewalls, logging, etc. are very nice and descriptive.

All around great book. BTW, did i mention that is does _NOT_ cover a Linux installation from CD/DVD? That alone should be enough to buy it.

Must-Read Info For Linux Admins
The Hacking Exposed books have set the bar for this genre of security book. Hacking Linux Exposed - 2nd Edition doesn't fail in meeting that bar as well. If you've read Hacking Exposed - 4th Edition and think this book can't tell you anything you don't already know- think again. For those who administer Linux boxes this book provides an in-depth look at specific hacks and vulnerabilities unique to the Linux operating system and the accompanying fixes and workarounds to protect yourself. The book is overflowing with examples and sample commands that users can immediately put to use to better understand the risks and how to mitigate them. Hacking Exposed is a must-read for security- this book is a must-read for Linux security.

(...)

Don't have this book?You're BEGGING for trouble...
When I first starting using Linux systems and putting them online I had NO idea what sort of grief I was in for.The reason for that grief: I had NO clue how to 'harden' a system or what that term even meant.By not knowing that I put upsystems that were quickly exploited by script kiddies and SPAM houses looking for open relays to use for SPAM and for 'zombies' to use in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.I bought this book, read it, and haven't had those problems since.If you are going to do *anything* with Linux on the internet then GET THIS BOOK NOW.Unless, of course, you *want* to have your computers destroyed on a weekly basis...

The best hands-on Linux security book just got better
I'm a big fan of the Hacking Exposed style of writing.All offensive theory is backed up by command line examples, followed by defensive countermeasures.Hacking Exposed: Linux, 2nd Ed (HE:L2E) follows this tradition, updating the content of the first edition and adding 200 pages of new content.Although I reviewed the first edition in Sep 01, reading the second edition reminded me of the challenges posed by securely configuring and deploying Linux systems.

The best way to learn while reading HE:L2E is to try the sample commands.I also recommend visiting the links mentioned and installing many of the tools described by the authors.I found programs like raccess, nsat (ch. 3), sslsniff (ch. 7), nstx, and httptunnel (ch. 15) particularly interesting from an attacker's point of view.From a system administration standpoint, coverage of passlogd (ch. 2), lilo and grub (ch. 5), and X (ch. 6) were very helpful.

The authors share many novel ways to abuse Linux systems, but counter those exploits with little-known features or third-party tools.I never knew I could use bash's HISTCONTROL feature to selectively remove entries from shell history files.HE:L2E goes the extra mile to help secure your system, such as including sample C code in ch. 13 to allow one to compile TCP Wrappers support into one's own programs.Other clear, concise defensive measures were introduced in excellent chapters on keeping the kernel and packages current (appendix B) and pro-active security measures (ch. 2).The last appendix gives a short yet powerful description of the damage an intruder can perform, showing how he hid unauthorized programs and how those programs were discovered.

If you use Linux, you'll find HE:L2E indispensable.I even applied many of the tools and techniques to my FreeBSD system, showing that that good security advice can be a cross-platform endeavor.

Great book.
I just finished going through the entire book line by line. I am extreemly new to Linux and security, and this book made it all very clear. I only wish I realized that there was a second edition out when I bought this one. Everything in this original edition was still completely correct and appropriate, three years later. ... Read more