This Paperback Book item from McGraw-Hill Companies was reviewed on 31-Oct-2008.
Search ISBN:0072130903 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Viruses Revealed Reference Book. Classifications : General Networks, Protocols & APIs Networking Computers & Internet Subjects Books General AAS Networks, Protocols & APIs Networking Computers & Internet Subjects Books Network Security Networking Comp . Click the following link to view the cover of Viruses Revealed. Related topics: General. Networking. Subjects. Books. General AAS. Networking. Subjects. Books. Network Security. Networking. requestid: a90fef06-9f8e-4f53-8be2-b062828992d0
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1) Paperback Book Viruses Revealed by McGraw-Hill Companies. Most books that seek to give an overview of computer viruses are technically uninformed or else poorly-disguised endorsements of commercial products. This book, at least, is neither of those. It provides the most comprehensive high-level review of the subject available and I recommend it for your technical bookshelf.
The book covers
- a brief history of viruses and worms. Better than most I´ve read;
- an overview of virus mechanisms at the systems level (but no virus code);
- a comprehensive review of anti-malware measures suitable for systems managers, This includes a substantial list of references, a risk assessment strategy, incident management strategy and advice on how to manage users (including other managers). This section is the most realistic and helpful that I have read;
- a series of case studies of different viruses and worms, and some notable myths and hoaxes. At last a reality-based assessment with no warnings that the sky is falling!
- a chapter devoted to virus writers that approaches the topic from well-established sociological principles instead of seeing virus writers as Satan´s minions;
- a section on hoaxes and spam;
- a section on legal matters that will actually be useful. For US readers there is an overview of US laws and policies (which tend to be unique) and for the rest of us is an overview of the UK approach, which is closest to what the rest of the world does;
- a chapter is devoted to the discussion of ethics: managers, anti-virus software vendors and virus writers. This recognises the effect of different cultures and viewpoints - a nice change from the unsophisticated sermonising of most writers.
Taken all in all this is an ideal text for managers, so why only four stars? Like most technical writing, the prose plods along. It is quite boring and needs a good editor. Where the prose is sparse, it´s actually quite readable, but that´s not often. It also lacks technological depth that makes it unsuitable for those seeking a deeper understanding of malicious code. I´m afraid that you will have to resort to those dubious websites referred to in the book!
-¤ 2) Paperback Book Viruses Revealed by McGraw-Hill Companies. "Viruses Revealed" is a comprehensive review of the subject, written from the perspective of a security professional. If you´re searching for an in-depth understanding of virus programming, keep looking. But if you´re a system administrator or technology manager responsible for minimizing risk, then this is an important reference to study. I´d also recommend this book to any IT professional who wants to develop a good overview of virus technology. The authors really know their field and they have a bit of an attitude, but it´s generally amusing. They assume the reader has a modest technical background and carefully cover the fundamentals, provide a brief historical overview, then dive into virus structures and mechanisms. Good stuff, but you´ve seen much of it before, so pick and choose. The next section - a good overview of management solutions - is worthwhile. Then the authors select a representative sample of the better-known viruses roughly in the chronological order they were released. Each virus is discussed, but the value of such a lengthy section eludes me. Another place to pick and choose. Finally, the authors examine non-technical (social) aspects, such as social engineering, legal issues, ethics and so on. No light bulbs went off, but it´s useful information. Excellent overview of the field, but not worth reading cover to cover unless you´re new to the subject. The authors should have culled out much of the repetitive information and tightened the rest. "Viruses Revealed" is good, but pick your spots.¤ 3) Paperback Book Viruses Revealed by McGraw-Hill Companies. How you tend to rate a book often depends on what you are looking to get out of it. For my purposes, this book leans a bit too much toward the high-level end of the spectrum. For example, the discussions on how viruses and anti-virus software solutions work is presented from the 10000 foot level. Much of the content seems to focus on the management/policy making end of the problem space rather than the technical point of view. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but as a techie, it just wasn´t what I was after. Oddly enough, the author rates Roger Grimes´ Mailicious Mobile Code as a mediocre to poor reference on the subject of computer malware. Even though Grimes´ book is Microsoft-centric, I consider it a far better reference from a technical standpoint.¤ 4) Paperback Book Viruses Revealed by McGraw-Hill Companies. I really had trouble reading this book. It isn´t very well written and it felt that most of it had been gleaned from the internet, edited, bound and published. The book sensationalizes viruses and other malicious code, while the actual threat from viruses has decreased significantly. Fewer sophisticated viruses are released every year. The average worm or email virus that is written by some disgruntled teenager just isn´t sophisticated enough to be worried about, and fewer proficient programmers are producing malicious code (the stakes are too high). As a technically proficient person, I found the book boring and, condescending. The authors went on and on, were not concise, and didn´t "reveal" anything that even a computer savvy 16 year old wouldn´t already know. At the same time the confused writing, will only serve to baffle novices.
In short, I doubt the experience and expertise of the writers, and the book is poorly written. Save your money, install virus protection on your computer and keep it updated. That will protect you, this book will not. If you want reliable information about malicious code then try: 1) Malicious Mobile Code: Virus Protection for Windows,
2) Know Your Enemy: Revealing the Security Tools, Tactics, and Motives of the Blackhat Community
3) E-mail Virus Protection Handbook : Protect your E-mail from Viruses, Tojan Horses, and Mobile Code Attacks¤ 5) Paperback Book Viruses Revealed by McGraw-Hill Companies. Viruses Revealed Viruses Revealed is one of the best computer books I have seen on the market to date. The book possess a vast array of knowledge regarding the destructive world of computers not to mention the anatomy of Computer viruses and how they work. If you are looking to protect your computer from just these destructive things (i.e. Viruses). I say, get this book. I would of gave it a 5-star rating if they only had more source code of viruses to view. Those of us out there who are Computer Programmer´s would love to view the source code. Anyway, a great book to have in any computer user´s library! (JC)¤ 6) Paperback Book Viruses Revealed by McGraw-Hill Companies. Defend your system against the real threat of computer viruses with help from this comprehensive resource. Up-do-date and informative, this book presents a full-scale analysis on computer virus protection. Through use of case studies depicting actual virus infestations, this guide provides both the technical knowledge and practical solutions necessary to guard against the increasing threat of virus attacks.¤ 7) Paperback Book Viruses Revealed by McGraw-Hill Companies. Hardly a week goes by without news of some malicious program or other playing hob with large numbers of computers somewhere on the Internet. Viruses Revealed shows where computer viruses come from, how they spread, and how you can protect the computers you´re responsible for. It recognizes that viruses are inherent in the modern computing environment (which makes it easy to share data among machines) and that there´s no absolutely certain way to maintain any degree of usefulness in a computer while eliminating all risk of viral infection. From there, the three authors proceed to make their readers informed participants in a dangerous computing world. They do this by defining terms (like dropper, a program that isn´t a virus itself but which serves to install one), explaining concepts (like the difficulties antivirus programs face in detecting Trojan programs), and documenting historical events (infamous viruses of the past--Love Bug, Kournikova, and so on--and why they worked). To their great credit, the authors go to great lengths to be authoritative. They document pretty much everything they say with references and rarely assume that the reader knows what any but the most basic terms mean. Furthermore, they´re modest and don´t claim that what they say will save your machines from viral attack. Rather, they say that appropriate defenses will reduce your risk of infection, and solid documentation, backup, and recovery mechanisms will help you halt successful attacks early and recover from them promptly. The prose here is well written and often funny--Viruses Revealed is a big winner. --David Wall Topics covered: Computer viruses--what they are, where they come from, how they work, and how to deal with them. A combination of case studies and explanatory prose shows how to minimize your virus risk, regardless of what kinds of computers you run.¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 28-Nov-2008, 0072130903783254036642, 030-8 
Viruses Revealed, Book, Image © McGraw-Hill Companies
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