BKPRVDFN.RVW   20020923

"Privacy Defended", Gary Bahadur/William Chan/Chris Weber, 2002,
0-7897-2605-X, U$34.99/C$54.99/UK#25.50
%A   Gary Bahadur gary@foundstone.com
%A   William Chan william@foundstone.com
%A   Chris Weber chris.weber@foundstone.com
%C   201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN   46290
%D   2002
%G   0-7897-2605-X
%I   Macmillan Computer Publishing (MCP)
%O   U$34.99/C$54.99/UK#25.50 800-858-7674 info@mcp.com
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078972605X/robsladesinterne
%P   699 p.
%T   "Privacy Defended: Protecting Yourself Online"

The introduction states that this is a privacy book for non-
specialists, but the write up seems to deal with computer intrusions
or malware rather than privacy issues.

Part one talks about life in the digital age.  Chapter one is an
uncompelling demonstration of how to obtain personal information
online plus more on intrusions and a lengthy outline of the rest of
the chapters in the book.  There is a slightly unfocused look at
privacy laws and related issues in chapter two.  Various government,
industry, commercial, and other groups and agencies (as well as a few
programs) are described in chapter three.

Part two tells us that the enemy is out there.  Chapter four points
out legal threats to individual privacy that people may not know
about, but not in much detail.  Illegal threats, such as blackhats,
intruders, identity theft, and fraud (as well as those of questionable
legality, like spyware) are reviewed in chapter five.

Part three looks at protecting your privacy.  Chapter six lists lookup
and anonymity tools.  Cookies, spyware, some tools, and payment
systems are presented in chapter seven.  Spam, malware, and PGP are
discussed in chapter eight, along with miscellaneous other topics
related to email.

Part four advises on securing your PC.  Chapter nine reviews SSL
(Secure Sockets Layer) and digital certificates, but because
cryptography has not been explained the background discussion is poor. 
(It is also sometimes erroneous: for most people SSL does *not*
authenticate the client.)  A collection of random security factors and
tools, by operating system, is presented in chapter ten.  (The
division by operating system is not always clear: tools vary on
different versions of Windows, and this is not made clear.  There are
also a number of errors: IPSec is an Internet protocol and has nothing
to do with the Microsoft Windows IP Security Policy.)  Screen shots of
configuration menus for personal firewalls make up most of chapter
eleven.  Chapter twelve deals with viruses (poorly), chat (chat
systems seem to be almost inherently insecure, so it's hard to
understand why), and cryptography (poorly and briefly).  Miscellaneous
and random network topics are covered in chapter thirteen.

Part five looks at other devices, in a single chapter, fourteen,
covering various gadgets, threats, and protections--not necessarily
for those threats.

Part six says what to do if your privacy is compromised.  Chapter
fifteen mentions kids, mostly rehashing previous material and adding
content restriction.  Intrusion detection and a review of other tools
from prior chapters finishes out in sixteen.

This book is not really about privacy, it is yet another attempt at a
general security guide.  "Protect Your Digital Privacy" (cf.
BKPYDPRV.RVW) sticks much closer to the privacy topic.  "Inside
Internet Security" (cf. BKININSC.RVW) and even "Access Denied" (cf.
BKACCDEN.RVW) are better at covering general security for non-
professionals.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2002   BKPRVDFN.RVW   20020923