A Complete Hacker's Handbook: Everything You Need to Know About Hacking in the Age of the Web |
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Dr. K.
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Pages: 256 (Paperback)
ISBN: 1842227246
Pub: Carlton Books Ltd
Pub date: 2002-09-02
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 242521
Editorial Review:
A Complete Hacker's Handbook is a technical book, not a journalistic account of hacker activities and the implications of their work. Dr K, the founder of the Phreak/Hack-United Kingdom e-zine (P/H-UK), touches on the issues, but concerns himself mostly with practical information for people who want to investigate computer systems. If Unix, TCP/IP and cgi scripts don't turn you on, this is unlikely to be for you.
If Dr K had written "How to Rob a Bank", he would almost definitely have found himself in trouble. But here he actually creates a persuasive case for indulging in harmless investigation of computer systems. His list of "The Ethics of Hacking" makes sense. For example one of his principles is that "Corporations and government cannot be trusted to use computer technology for the benefit of ordinary people". That rings true. Today's hacker may be tomorrow's champion of freedom. But he does hint at the seamier side, like the chapter about going through people's bins to get an idea of their computer systems.
Computer viruses do cause many problems for people, and manipulation of the telephone system is likely to be a criminal activity, but it is perfectly reasonable to want to learn about how these things work. Certainly the Hacker's Handbook helps you understand the importance of good computer security and gives a little glamour to the process of learning about how the Internet works. --Brian Jenner
Reader Reviews:
HACKERS HANDBOOK....GOOD READ (8/9 people found this helpful)
New to the IT world, as I am, then you will find this an interesting read. Don't expect it to teach you how to hack, after all its illegal! but it provides you with an insight into the world of hacking, for the good and bad. The author, a reformed hacker, has produced a truly inspiring book illustrating the threats present in today’s tech savvy society. BUY IT.
Good but doesn't tell you a lot (22/35 people found this helpful)
When I got this book I was looking to start hacking. This is a good start...aslong as you don't want to learn anything. It's interesting but skips everything to tell you how to do things. If you want to know how hackers do things then this is a good book. But if you want to learn to hack, it doesn't go into any detail. It tells you what hackers do withought telling you how to do it.
A great book to get you started (44/45 people found this helpful)
This is a fantastic book for someone who wishes to understand computer security and its breaching. It explains many key methods of attack, including syn/ack flooding, ping floods, security scanning, war dialing and ip spoofing. The best thing about the book is it's cheap. If you buy a 40 quid computer book, you'll find most of it contains lists of info which you could get for free from the internet. "A Complete Hacker's Handbook" is clear, concise and easy to understand.
Also covers Hacker culture, virii, warez and securing your own computer system.
Unsure about its aim (3/3 people found this helpful)
Sometimes this book tries to aim itself at the novice, at other times it targets the IT expert. This mixture left me flicking around. I didn't want to spend time relearning things that I already knew, but I didn't want to miss anything new. Overall I was quite dissapointed by this book. It could have been so good, but unfortuneatly missed the mark.
A good book, but I'm not sure who it's aimed at (25/26 people found this helpful)
Bought on recommendation from Amazon, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a good introduction to 'hacking' as a topic. It does cover quite a bit, but there are four things that I would say about this book to anyone considering reading it. Firstly,the author is far too timid. Almost every chapter contains a reference to cover his back from a legal point of view. This is understandable, but a disclaimer at the beginning would have been easier. Secondly, you need a good understanding of networking, security and computers in general before reading this book. It does go into areas that less experienced readers will find confusing, however this isn't intended as a comlpete manual, so that's fair enough. Thirdly, the author manages to dispel some of the myths of hackers in general, and does a good job of differentiating between the 'good' guys and the 'bad' guys. I'm sure, however, that it is never quite as simple as this book makes out, and although it is not the place of the author to dictate what people should and should not do, it would have been nice to see a section on 'why malicious cracking is a bad idea'. Hopefully this should be enough to give a good insight and still prevent legions of 'script kiddies' from taking up the hobby. All in all, it's a good read - more of a 'read once' book than a work of reference that you will use again.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Computing & Internet -> Networking & Security -> Security -> Network Security
Books -> Subjects -> Computing & Internet -> Networking & Security -> Security -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Reference -> Consumer Guides -> Computer & Internet
Books -> Subjects -> Reference -> Encyclopaedias -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Reference -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Science & Nature -> History & Philosophy -> Reference
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Font Size (format_browse-bin) -> Regular Size