Cyber Warfare: Techniques, Tactics and Tools for Security Practitioners

Kybernetes

ISSN: 0368-492X

Article publication date: 27 April 2012

1204

Keywords

Citation

Storch Rudall, Y. (2012), "Cyber Warfare: Techniques, Tactics and Tools for Security Practitioners", Kybernetes, Vol. 41 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2012.06741caa.008

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Cyber Warfare: Techniques, Tactics and Tools for Security Practitioners

Article Type: Book reviews and reports From: Kybernetes, Volume 41, Issue 3/4

Jason Andress and Steve Winterfeld,Elsevier,2011,Price: contact publisher,289 pp.,ISBN 987-1-597449-637-7

Keywords: Cybernetics, Cyber Attacks, System Security

Cyberneticians frequently complain about the way in which “cyber” has been taken to mean anything to do with computer systems and related activities. In this case the authors have accepted the modern usage of the term which occurs when we need to describe anything that is related to the internet or a scenario that occurs because the new technologies are being used. It has a science fiction ring about it. Cyber space, cyber men, cyber wars are terms that add a touch of glamour to even the most mundane of subjects. In this case the authors of this book are no exception, they refer to cyber attacks, cyber conflicts, cyber battlefields and warfare in their mission (probably called a cyber-mission) to describe what they believe are the problems that arise to those of us who want to keep our computer systems secure from interlopers. A new breed of consultant has been born, the security practitioner who wants to defend your system from those outsiders who aim to benefit from gaining unauthorised access. In reality they are no better than thieves of course, who now hide under the cloak of being “hackers” who often plead that they are being challenged by those who believe they have developed a “secure” environment for their activities.

Such system attackers are ingenious in the ways in which they attack networks. In many ways cyber security is developing as cryptanalysis did to meet an immediate and vital need. In consequence, practitioners have developed new techniques, tactics and tools to make systems secure from intrusion. This book attempts to set out in some detail how such attacks can occur and how they should be dealt with by the system designer. The authors provide real examples of cyber attacks and provide details of possible defences. They present and discuss some of the tools and strategies employed today, drawing their methods from their own practical involvement in system design. They take the view, although a fairly obvious one, that we should examine cyber conflicts from both the inside and from the position of the attacker. Very much a question it would seem of knowing your enemy before planning and installing system defences.

This book is consequently most helpful but as with all suggested solutions both attackers and defenders are constantly changing their strategies, particularly in the digital world which is, as we know, in constant change.

Y. Storch RudallComputer Science International, Essen, Germany

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