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Title: Maximum Mac OS X Security by John Ray, Will Ray ISBN: 0-672-32381-8 Publisher: SAMS Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $44.99

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Bedtime Stories from the 'dark side of the net'...
Comment: review originally for the Lower East Side Mac Unix Users Group,
http://lesmuug.org

OVERVIEW
--
If you like scary stories, lucid mindbending complexity, and epic tales of freaky proportion, this one's for you; (and it makes a terrific reference book to boot).
Enter a world where your arp tables are poisoned, zombie daemon processes run unnoticed by root-kitted servers, IP addresses are merely ghosts of the servers they say they are- you are not entering the twilight zone, you are entering the internet. Muahahahaahahaha. Ahem.

Experience Level: Basic UNIX/OSX understanding, an acrobatic and open mind required- (i.e. if you were able to follow the Matrix movies without skipping a beat, you'll be fine with this book).

ABOUT THIS BOOK
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The general conceptual Tone of the book is great, as it doesn't ever assume that ANYTHING is bulletproof, like some foolhardy security texts and whitepapers can blindly promise.
A while back, I gave a very positive review for lesmuug.org, of 'Mac OS X Security' (Published by New Riders).

This book, 'Mac OS X, Maximum Security', (Published by SAMS) as a great extension/companion to that book.

'Mac OS X, Maximum Security', weighs in at over 2 inches thick, and as much as it provides a great overview to running secure and trusted systems, it goes into WAY more depth than the New Riders book; which can be good and bad- if your trying to get a general overview of secure systems, this book may be overwhelming.

Throughout reading this SAMS book, I found myself digging back into the New Riders book, to refresh my mind on general topics. Then my brain could better scale into the horrifying detail in this 'Maximum' book.
Some of the topics discussed are ridiculously frightening, insomuch as it clearly discusses why and how everything can be hacked, with counter-measures, and hacks to circumvent the counter-measures. It's really fun if you like that kind of thing.

All of this info, kept me in awe the entire time with just how powerful Mac OSX really is under the hood, and how seriously Apple has taken security.

BOOK SUMMARY
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The book's table of contents is fairly intense. Chapters are dedicated to a single security concept, and various technologies are adressed in detail as sub-sections of each chapter. I'd say that the chosen topics covered are

While each section of every chapter makes for a nice scary bedtime story, they also proves tremendously useful in practical use.
For various softwares and systems discussed in 'Mac OS X, Maximun Security', enough information to get the focus of that section installed and/or running is excellently presented.
Each section has great references to current online information.

For each topic discussed, the authors try to take you right up to the edge of basic understanding and use- with some great tips thrown in for advanced users. This is great, as some topics have entire volumes dedicated to them.

There are absolutely TONS of general and special-use security tools and softwares discussed, and this text will sanely get you started with most of them.
This text gets you right up to the point where you have installed and are running a given software/system, and the only place to go for more information is online, in it's manual, or another book dedicated just to it. This is a key feature of 'Mac OS X, Maximun Security' to me, as it gets a person going can get going in the right direction using various tools, effectively lessening the learning curve with a new software.

CONCLUSION
--
So with that, if you run any services which are available from the public internet from your Mac, browse this book and stick it book on your shelf for when you need it.
If you just like to read scary stories, or you are really paranoid and want a good in-depth reference for Mac OSX Security, I believe 'Mac OS X, Maximun Security' will rock you.

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