Product Reviews

The newly released The Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking is the international version of a book that's already been a best-seller in the author's native country of India. Ankit Fadia is just 16 years old, yet he has already featured in the New York Times, writes for the Indian national newspaper the Hindustan Times and is the co-author of Tips and Tricks about Linux. He's also Webmaster of the Hacking Truths site (http://hackingtruths.box.sk) where subjects such as Perl, C and Web programming and viruses are revealed from a hacker's perspective.

The book is best described as a balanced blend of hacking technique and security advice. It approaches the security issue from the perspective of the 'ethical' hacker. Fadia sees himself as strictly 'old school' - the hacker who's in it for the adventure, to learn and to explore with no malicious intent. Unfortunately,

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in places the text is quite old-fashioned. Chapter seven, instead of including a CD containing distributable code, resorts to pages of code listing. Also, much of the information is dated when compared with data that can be found on any number of hacker Web sites.

In this 'post-11 September' world, IT security has taken on a more prominent role for all of us. And while you can't necessarily equate your average hacker with a determined cyber-terrorist, there's no doubt that similar techniques employed to gain access to a network by one could easily be used by the other. The plethora of virus and worm attacks during the last year reveal that many people are still complacent, despite a raised awareness of security issues. The majority of opportunist hackers could be stopped by simply applying the software patches as they're released, each effectively slamming another door in the face of the assailant.

This book scores highly in reminding system operators and network managers just how easily a child can bypass their default security. Everyone involved with computer networks should read chapter eight 'Getting Past The Password' before rethinking their approach to this most basic of protection methods. Ultimately though, it's the outdated nature of the book that is its Achilles heel - right down to the fact that the author is a Windows 95 user and seems blissfully unaware that much of the rest of the world has moved on.