This Post Has 11 Comments

1. Great Thing in a Small Package
   Read it leisurely on Monday & Tuesday night. Write out your action plans & change controls on Wednesday & Thursday. Have a more secure network on Friday.I bought this book with the Cisco Cookbook, and found this to be one of the most important books in a network admin’s library. This is the security book that doesn’t get mired down in endless pages of white papers. It simply points out major security flaws and holes, and why they should be covered.What good is an Access List if you don’t log what is or isn’t stopping?What good are your logs if you don’t have timestamps backed up by NTP time sources?What good is a complex password if 10 admins know it, and no one has individual logins?The problems and solutions are quickly addressed with enough information to explain to your boss why this needs to be done. Then use the Cisco Cookbook or other guide to fine-tune your own solution that fits your needs.

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2. Five Stars
   Good read.

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3. Riddled with spelling and grammatical errors
   While the content of this short book is helpful, it is absolutely full of spelling and grammatical errors that make reading it more difficult. Missing words and sentences that are disjointed and make no sense are common even within the first ten pages. Some missing words completely change the intended meaning, such as when “not” is omitted in a statement. Considering that this book is only about 150 pages long, it is incredible that no one bothered to proof it before publishing. Any native English speaker would have been able to catch these blatant mistakes on the first read-through. This is absolutely due for a new edition. Hopefully they will remember to hire an editor next time.

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4. Four Stars
   Very good for specific solutions.

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5. Great for Edge Devices
   This is not a Cisco Security Book. BUT it is a book on how to make your Internet Routers virtually hack/crack proof. Great information on ACL’s and gaping security holes that are open on default installs it makes you think.

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6. Dated, but still required reading for a Cisco Security Administrator
   I picked this book up on clearance a few years ago and just got around to reading it. I wish I had read it 10 years ago.The book is an excellent checklist/instructional guide for locking down Cisco IOS routers and switches. It is geared for the novice or intermediate Cisco administrator. It is quick, concise, (under 200 pages) and each chapter ends with a checklist. There is also a master checklist at the end of the book.For a Cisco veteran it is a very quick read and can be used to firm up an existing configuration and/or checklist that you have already written. Also, perfect to loan to a Jr. Cisco admin so they can learn the basics.The book is not intended to be a deep dive into Cisco security, so it is a bit thin (as others have said); however, it is a perfect stepping stone for a heavier read.The biggest con is it was published in 2002, but it has aged much better than most IT books. A few items mentioned at in development (SNMPv3, SSHv2) are now common and a few new features have been added. While I would like a revision 2, it is still it is the best quick start to Cisco Security I have found.

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7. “The facts Ma’am, just the fact”.
   Intended audiences: network administrators, security advisors/auditors, system architects.This book is, pound for pound, among the best in my technical library.Having almost no previous knowledge in router hardening (although I was aware of the basics of Cisco routers) a few hours with this book enabled me to review the “hardening” plan submitted by a highly paid security consultant, and provide useful comments on improving the proposal.No doubt this book is the beginning, not the end, of my education on this subject. But this fine book got me off to a quick and productive start, which is high praise when compared to what could be said about so many other technical titles. Highly recommended.

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8. A little thin
   It’s nice to have all of this information in one place. A lot of it is available elesewhere but not all. The checklists are nice. But there’s not so much to it. It doesn’t cover any common hacks or vulnerabilities and is quite redundant to fill out the pages.

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9. un livre assez complet sur le sujet. je recommande celui-ci dans votre bibliothèque si vous êtes intéressés par la techno CISCO

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10. If you’re maintaining Cisco routers and want to learn some extremely useful tips & tricks then this book is for you, with some great examples and scenarios to learn from.This book showed be some security holes that you don’t learn on your CCNA or Cisco ASA training.There’s some really good ideas which I’d never even considered that I now apply to all Cisco installations as standard!Worth every penny…..

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11. Lots of good solid tips, this book is worth the money for those after a fast track route to doing what it says on the tin. But could do with an update. After all the book was written in 2002, and the Cisco IOS has moved on quite a bit since then.

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