|
Review of No Starch Press' Hacking: The Art of Exploration.
Hackers get a really bad reputation sometimes. Every time something goes wrong with the computer, most people usually think it’s a virus. Who make viruses according to them? The malicious hackers. Jon Erikson's Hacking: The Art of Exploration disproves that with information on why hackers to do what they do, and offers compelling evidence that they aren't really bad guys.
Everyone can get a bit out of the book since it does offer incentives like how to protect yourself from crackers (the name for hackers to exploit other's hacks to create havoc) and a general background on the lifestyle of hackers. A lot of the book deals with programming since you will actually learn how to make your own tools unlike other books where you simply use the stuff included with it.
As you progress through the book you'll get a sense of accomplishment since you'll see your little pieces of code actually doing something. With that information, you can also make your own PC safer since you'll know the techniques hackers use to do what they do.
You'll learn many things by reading but among the most interesting are learning to exploit programs, writing ASCII code, concealing open ports, redirecting network traffic, hijacking TCP connections and crack 802.11b wireless networks.
As expected, the three main chapters of the book (Programming, Networking and Cryptology) are pretty technical and prior knowledge will help you get the most out of the book. But even if you're a new to this, you'll gain some valuable information on how to help yourself.
As a tidbit I'd like to add, it takes a pretty fantastic book to take someone from playing countless videogames. They continued to stack but I actually wanted to keep reading. That alone is a testament to the book's quality.
Publisher: No Starch Press
Author: Jon Erickson
Pages: 160
Price: $39.95 -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Dec 16, 2003 Screenshots
|
