Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-03-12 08:12:44
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Ross J. Anderson
- ISBN：B08P69FT4Q
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Gigantically comprehensive and carefully researched， Security Engineering makes it clear just how difficult it is to protect information systems from corruption， eavesdropping， unauthorized use， and general malice。 Better， Ross Anderson offers a lot of thoughts on how information can be made more secure （though probably not absolutely secure， at least not forever） with the help of both technologies and management strategies。 His work makes fascinating reading and will no doubt inspire considerable doubt--fear is probably a better choice of words--in anyone with information to gather， protect， or make decisions about。
Be aware: This is absolutely not a book solely about computers， with yet another explanation of Alice and Bob and how they exchange public keys in order to exchange messages in secret。 Anderson explores， for example， the ingenious ways in which European truck drivers defeat their vehicles' speed-logging equipment。 In another section， he shows how the end of the cold war brought on a decline in defenses against radio-frequency monitoring （radio frequencies can be used to determine， at a distance， what's going on in systems--bank teller machines， say）， and how similar technology can be used to reverse-engineer the calculations that go on inside smart cards。 In almost 600 pages of riveting detail， Anderson warns us not to be seduced by the latest defensive technologies， never to underestimate human ingenuity， and always use common sense in defending valuables。 A terrific read for security professionals and general readers alike。 --David Wall
Topics covered: How some people go about protecting valuable things （particularly， but not exclusively， information） and how other people go about getting it anyway。 Mostly， this takes the form of essays （about， for example， how the U。S。 Air Force keeps its nukes out of the wrong hands） and stories （one of which tells of an art thief who defeated the latest technology by hiding in a closet）。 Sections deal with technologies， policies， psychology， and legal matters。
Reviews
Dave
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Easy to read and follow along， even though it is large。 Contains lots of great data， insight， and fun horror story examples。
Sean
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Good reference text to keep around
Michelle
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Conversationally written but OLD。 Very outdated as far as some of the examples （the author referred to Windows Vista as the latest Windows version）。Concepts for the most part hold true but the book is old if you want something with up to date information and statistics。
Alexej Gerstmaier
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I read the third edition， which is available for free right now except chapters 20 to 25 which aren't released yet。It contains a lot of the history regarding the different domains where security engineering is applied。 It raised awareness in me regarding potential security pitfalls。However， the book lacks actionable advice on how to actually BUILD dependable systems。Will maybe update my review when the other chapters are released。 I read the third edition， which is available for free right now except chapters 20 to 25 which aren't released yet。It contains a lot of the history regarding the different domains where security engineering is applied。 It raised awareness in me regarding potential security pitfalls。However， the book lacks actionable advice on how to actually BUILD dependable systems。Will maybe update my review when the other chapters are released。 。。。more
Shayan aminnjad
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I enjoyed the book and there was moments I couldn't stop reading。 however， I think it was vague sometimes， but despite the fact， I can't tell if it was the author's mistake。 The topic is hard， it is about deception， understanding it， and find a way to defend against it。 if something is easy to understand then it is not a deception！ So beware， You'll need a lot of time to read this book， and you should think a lot of how deceptions work， and how the current way of defending against them might hel I enjoyed the book and there was moments I couldn't stop reading。 however， I think it was vague sometimes， but despite the fact， I can't tell if it was the author's mistake。 The topic is hard， it is about deception， understanding it， and find a way to defend against it。 if something is easy to understand then it is not a deception！ So beware， You'll need a lot of time to read this book， and you should think a lot of how deceptions work， and how the current way of defending against them might help。 。。。more
Carrie
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This is the penultimate book about InfoSec。 A friend once said， "look， the app I'm making has nothing to do with security。 It's for turning on lights。" When their little program turned into a doorway for a nasty hackathon， they realized that all apps and api can be a doorway。 So， I always recommend this to coders and really anyone heading into tech design/production。 I mean， even hardware designs have security flaws。 This is the penultimate book about InfoSec。 A friend once said， "look， the app I'm making has nothing to do with security。 It's for turning on lights。" When their little program turned into a doorway for a nasty hackathon， they realized that all apps and api can be a doorway。 So， I always recommend this to coders and really anyone heading into tech design/production。 I mean， even hardware designs have security flaws。 。。。more
Mayank
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As long as we build systems， this book will always be relevant。
Balmung
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Good book even though it is 10 year old。 There are a lot of case of study but it is useless if you know nothing about information security。 The book is not a guide to building a dependable system but rather a guide to system failures
Daniel
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Excellent book。 We are a long way from a grand theory of security。 Yet Anderson pulls together an incredibly wide range of sub-disciplines and draws out the common themes （read failures）。
Andrew Douma
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I will do my best to recommend this book to anyone involved in IT。 Despite being last updated 8 years ago almost every prediction about security engineering still holds true today。 This isn't a technical how-to book to build distributed systems but teaches you the principles while entertaining you with real world examples from the writer's own experience。 I will do my best to recommend this book to anyone involved in IT。 Despite being last updated 8 years ago almost every prediction about security engineering still holds true today。 This isn't a technical how-to book to build distributed systems but teaches you the principles while entertaining you with real world examples from the writer's own experience。 。。。more
name
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I took this as a pleasurable read， not for class work。 I was curious in particular about how common physical security measures are implemented and in encryption methods。 The book is a bit dated （2001）， but I was not disappointed。 I particularly liked the sections on bank and military security。
Jari Pirhonen
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The best security book ever written。
Jeff
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Great reference
Joel Land
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Amazing， everything one could dream for in a technical textbook。 I'd venture to say it's well-enough written that it might appeal to readers passingly interested in the subject or even bored sitters in a room with no other form of entertainment （these types might even want to carry it out of the unfortunate situation as thanks for the help in passing the time amicably）。 My favorite schoolbook since returning to duty。 Amazing， everything one could dream for in a technical textbook。 I'd venture to say it's well-enough written that it might appeal to readers passingly interested in the subject or even bored sitters in a room with no other form of entertainment （these types might even want to carry it out of the unfortunate situation as thanks for the help in passing the time amicably）。 My favorite schoolbook since returning to duty。 。。。more
Murali
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A solid book on security， covering many aspects - threat modelling， vulnerability analysis， enforcement， assurance/certification， with a heavy focus on the economic interests of the various principles involved in security， both electronic and physical。 The book is very readable; the stuff with scary maths is easily skimmed over， and the rest of the book is full of well-written， relevant and interesting examples。 I didn't give this book 5 stars only because it was a little too general; it seemed A solid book on security， covering many aspects - threat modelling， vulnerability analysis， enforcement， assurance/certification， with a heavy focus on the economic interests of the various principles involved in security， both electronic and physical。 The book is very readable; the stuff with scary maths is easily skimmed over， and the rest of the book is full of well-written， relevant and interesting examples。 I didn't give this book 5 stars only because it was a little too general; it seemed more like a tour of various security domains sprinkled with examples， rather than a focused tome on trying to nurture in the reader a rigorous security engineering mindset。 。。。more
Gregg
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I'm ashamed to say that it took me more than 2 years to finish this book。 However， I think it is significant that even a fiction reader， like me， can enjoy this book。 In my opinion， the book is losing relevance because even this second edition is now 7 years old。 While reading it， there were many times that I wondered what the author would say about more recent developments。 I'm ashamed to say that it took me more than 2 years to finish this book。 However， I think it is significant that even a fiction reader， like me， can enjoy this book。 In my opinion， the book is losing relevance because even this second edition is now 7 years old。 While reading it， there were many times that I wondered what the author would say about more recent developments。 。。。more
Jason Copenhaver
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Yes。。 It's a textbook， but an interesting one。 It covers a wide range of security topics with plenty of supporting material， future reading， and even research ideas。 The fact that it was updated recently and released for free as PDF helps as well。 Anyone interested in security should read this。 Yes。。 It's a textbook， but an interesting one。 It covers a wide range of security topics with plenty of supporting material， future reading， and even research ideas。 The fact that it was updated recently and released for free as PDF helps as well。 Anyone interested in security should read this。 。。。more
Rex
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This book took me four weeks to read， but it is fantastic。 Just like what the two security engineers said。"Security Engineering is different from any other kind of programming。。。if you're even thinking of doing any security engineering， you need to read this book。" -Bruce Schneier "This is the best book on computer security。 Buy it， but more importantly， read it and apply it to your work。" -Gary McGraw This book took me four weeks to read， but it is fantastic。 Just like what the two security engineers said。"Security Engineering is different from any other kind of programming。。。if you're even thinking of doing any security engineering， you need to read this book。" -Bruce Schneier "This is the best book on computer security。 Buy it， but more importantly， read it and apply it to your work。" -Gary McGraw 。。。more
Kam Yung Soh
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An impressive technical book that looks at security in all its forms （physical， computer based， social） and shows you the various ways security can be implemented and compromised。This book also shows you why security should never be a 'by-the-way' or implemented after the fact but must be considered right at the start。 Not only that， it also shows you why a world-view of security should be considered; it is not something that can only be targeted at one part of a system and expected to work。Cove An impressive technical book that looks at security in all its forms （physical， computer based， social） and shows you the various ways security can be implemented and compromised。This book also shows you why security should never be a 'by-the-way' or implemented after the fact but must be considered right at the start。 Not only that， it also shows you why a world-view of security should be considered; it is not something that can only be targeted at one part of a system and expected to work。Covering some theory of encryption and technical description of various security systems， the book goes on to show how security touches all our lives either directly （passwords） or indirectly （our privacy or safety）。The book provides plenty of examples of how security systems work and don't work。 It includes examples from the author's personal experience， showing how even he has a hard time making sure that the systems he makes are really secure and showing how he has managed to break systems that other people claim are secure。One of the more important aspects that the book covers is responsibility and deniability in security; how the desire to push responsibility on to other people or get plausible deniability when a breach occurs drives the way security is implemented。 This， of course， causes distortions in the security model， making it even more likely that the security would be broken。Whether you are interested in general security or only in one aspect of security， this is a good book to read。 And after reading it， you will get a very good idea of how hard it actually is to make a system secure and why you must hire very capable people to do it and to avoid 'snake-oil' security implementations。The First and Second Editions of this book are available as a free download 。。。more
Justin Andrusk
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One of the best security books I have ever read。 I plan on applying a number of principles outlined in the book。 I recommend it to any serious security practitioner。
Takedown
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Wow took me a while to finish this one。 At first i tried to read cover to cover but was unable to due to work and i had trouble to stay focused and interested but after a while i had to skip some parts。 Nonetheless book is a great compilation of various security and side-fields which provide historical lessons and "what to not do" when building security systems。 Wow took me a while to finish this one。 At first i tried to read cover to cover but was unable to due to work and i had trouble to stay focused and interested but after a while i had to skip some parts。 Nonetheless book is a great compilation of various security and side-fields which provide historical lessons and "what to not do" when building security systems。 。。。more
Eric
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ugh。 This book was chocked full of information， but it was obfuscated by nearly illegible grammar and structure。 Exceptionally difficult reading。
Nayuki
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Available for free at http://www。cl。cam。ac。uk/~rja14/book。html ！ Available for free at http://www。cl。cam。ac。uk/~rja14/book。html ！ 。。。more
Francis
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