BKBLCKHT.RVW   20070923

"Black Hat", John Biggs, 2004, 1-59059-379-0, US$19.99
%A   John Biggs john@blackhatbook.com www.blackhatbook.com
%C   2560 Ninth Street, Suite 219, Berkeley, CA   94710
%D   2004
%G   1-59059-379-0
%I   Apress
%O   U$19.99 510-549-5930 fax 510-549-5939 info@apress.com
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590593790/robsladesinterne
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590593790/robsladesinte-21
%O   http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590593790/robsladesin03-20
%O   Audience n- Tech 1 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation)
%P   158 p.
%T   "Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals and Scammers in the Internet Age"

Chapter one contains the all-too-common exhortation that "Bad Stuff"
is out there on the Internet.  The chapter content tends to the
sensational and is short on details and accuracy.  The discussion of
spam, in chapter two, is rather specific to the time the book was
written (and will therefore date quickly).  It doesn't provide much
detail on the general types of anti-spam systems, although it does
have a short (but reasonable) section on dissecting headers to track
down spam sources.  The information on spyware and adware that chapter
three provides is unreliable: the text confuses spyware with
keylogging trojans, the FBI's proposed Magic Lantern system, and even
hardware keyloggers.  Chapter four's examination of viruses and worms
is even worse, containing a compilation of tidbits (some true, other
not too reliable) and stories of various programs but providing little
or no useful background on the basic concepts.

By the nature of the topic, the examples of scams that are listed in
chapter five are more helpful: if you recognize them, you can avoid
them.  Chapter six, about software piracy, is less so.  The tales
touch on a number of concepts, but there is no subsequent analysis of
the implications.  Biggs seems to have swallowed, wholesale, the
narratives given to him about intrusions, retailed in chapter seven. 
These yarns are, however, the usual pieces of blackhat boasting, and
deal with many disparate activities and technologies.  Chapter eight
supposedly approaches all the themes of the volume from the whitehat
(protection) side, but contains only some banal and generic advice.

Yet another attempt to jump on the Internet security "Fear,
Uncertainty, and Doubt" bandwagon.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2007   BKBLCKHT.RVW   20070923