Security book recommendations?

Took a look at B&N for some Linux security books, and was hoping to get
some recommendations from actual users.
Can anyone offer any advice on the following, or recommend a different
one you think is better?

Linux Security Cookbook (O'Reilly)
Linux Server Security (O'Reilly)
Hardening Linux (Turnball)

I'm a little uncertain about that last one. Evidently it doesn't cover
Apache or mySQL security, and I'd kind of like to have something that
does, at least a little.

Any feedback would be really appreciated!
Liam

"news@celticbear.com" <news@celticbear.com> writes:

>Took a look at B&N for some Linux security books, and was hoping to get
>some recommendations from actual users.
>Can anyone offer any advice on the following, or recommend a different
>one you think is better?

>Linux Security Cookbook (O'Reilly)
>Linux Server Security (O'Reilly)
>Hardening Linux (Turnball)

>I'm a little uncertain about that last one. Evidently it doesn't cover
>Apache or mySQL security, and I'd kind of like to have something that
>does, at least a little.


You've asked about a *Linux* security book, not explicitly one covering
Apache or mySQL, which are applications/programs that interact with an
(many) operating systems. It's all a huge field out there, so my advice
is not to expect a single book to meet all of your requirements.

You may find some (dated?) assistance from:

http://www.accu.org/bookreviews/public/reviews/0sb/

--
Chris.

Chris McDonald wrote:
> "news@celticbear.com" <news@celticbear.com> writes:
>
> >Took a look at B&N for some Linux security books, and was hoping to get
> >some recommendations from actual users.
> >Can anyone offer any advice on the following, or recommend a different
> >one you think is better?
> [..]
> >I'm a little uncertain about that last one. Evidently it doesn't cover
> >Apache or mySQL security, and I'd kind of like to have something that
> >does, at least a little.
>
>
> You've asked about a *Linux* security book, not explicitly one covering
> Apache or mySQL, which are applications/programs that interact with an
> (many) operating systems. It's all a huge field out there, so my advice
> is not to expect a single book to meet all of your requirements.
>
> You may find some (dated?) assistance from:
>
> http://www.accu.org/bookreviews/public/reviews/0sb/

Ah! Good point! I knew that, but didn't think about it. I'm so used to
thinking of Linux and Apache and other common packages as going hand in
hand.
I'll be sure to keep that in mind. =)
Thanks for the tip!
Liam

On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:26:19 -0800, news@celticbear.com wrote:

> Took a look at B&N for some Linux security books, and was hoping to get
> some recommendations from actual users.
> Can anyone offer any advice on the following, or recommend a different
> one you think is better?
>
> Linux Security Cookbook (O'Reilly)
> Linux Server Security (O'Reilly)
> Hardening Linux (Turnball)
>
> I'm a little uncertain about that last one. Evidently it doesn't cover
> Apache or mySQL security, and I'd kind of like to have something that
> does, at least a little.
>
> Any feedback would be really appreciated!
> Liam

In general, the O'Reilly books are excellent. Have you looked at the Linux
sys admin tutorials at www.iosn.net?

ray wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:26:19 -0800, news@celticbear.com wrote:
>
[..]
> > Any feedback would be really appreciated!
> > Liam
>
> In general, the O'Reilly books are excellent. Have you looked at the Linux
> sys admin tutorials at www.iosn.net?

Thanks for the tip.
And no I hadn't. Looking now.
A lot of material to sort through. Thanks for the reply!
Liam

A book was just mentioned on slashdot "Hardening Linux" by James Turnbull
--

jhhaynes at earthlink dot net

news@celticbear.com wrote:

> Took a look at B&N for some Linux security books, and was
> hoping to get some recommendations from actual users.
> Can anyone offer any advice on the following, or recommend
> a different one you think is better?
>
> Linux Security Cookbook (O'Reilly)
> Linux Server Security (O'Reilly)
> Hardening Linux (Turnball)
>
> I'm a little uncertain about that last one. Evidently it
> doesn't cover Apache or mySQL security, and I'd kind of
> like to have something that does, at least a little.
>
> Any feedback would be really appreciated!
> Liam

Perhaps the best book for the newbie on Linux security is

Peter G. Smith: Linux Network Security (2005)

That's >500 pages and US$50.

Other excellent books on the subject, some of them classics,
are

Brian Hatch & James Lee: Hacking Linux Exposed (2nd ed.,
2003)
Bob Toxen: Real World Linux Security (2nd ed., 2003)
Simson Garfinkel et al.: Practical Unix & Internet Security
(3rd ed., O'Reilly, 2003)
John Terpstra et al., Hardening Linux

They're all hefty (700-1000 pages) and pricey ($40-50).

You may also want to check out the following guides which
are available on the web for free:

Linux Security HOWTO by Fenzi & Wreski (55 pages)
Security Quick-Start HOWTO for Linux by Hal Burgiss (76
pages)
The 60 Minute Network Security Guide from the NAS (38 pages)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3: Security Guide (120 pages)
Gentoo Linux Security Guide

news@celticbear.com wrote:
> Took a look at B&N for some Linux security books, and was hoping to get
> some recommendations from actual users.
> Can anyone offer any advice on the following, or recommend a different
> one you think is better?
>
> Linux Security Cookbook (O'Reilly)
> Linux Server Security (O'Reilly)
> Hardening Linux (Turnball)
>
> I'm a little uncertain about that last one. Evidently it doesn't cover
> Apache or mySQL security, and I'd kind of like to have something that
> does, at least a little.
>
> Any feedback would be really appreciated!
> Liam
>

The Craig Hunt Library series is very good - very *practical*.