Amazon.co.uk Review
Authentication: From Passwords to Public Keys examines the whole range of authentication options, and offers advice on which one might be right for your security requirements, budget, and tolerance for user inconvenience. As the "public keys" part of the title implies, this book also deals with some aspects of encryption. One of the key problems of computer security is that of guaranteeing that an entity (person or system) really is who he, she, or it claims to be. Authentication procedures may be very trusting (as for "guest" accounts with limited capability), moderately strong (your bank requires both a physical card and a PIN before it will dispense money from an ATM), or nearly foolproof (biometric devices, which examine--to cite two examples--retina scans or fingerprints).
Rather than present a menagerie of security techniques and explain their strengths and weaknesses in an academic way, Richard Smith demonstrates the strength of protection mechanisms in the only way that counts--he shows how they can be defeated, and at what expenditure of effort. He's also made lists of attacks, complete with assessments of the popularity of each and the particular risk it poses, and a similar list of defences. Margin notes refer to list entries by number, so it's easy to see what problems and solutions are covered in a given passage of text--though there's no index of references to attacks and defences by number. --David Wall
Topics covered: how to defend computer systems, primarily through the application of identity-verification techniques. Those covered include passwords (including the randomly generated kind, and their hashes), authentication by machine address, biometric examination, smart cards and RSA public-key cryptography.
Product Description
This is the first comprehensive guide to authentication: making sure your users are who they say they are. Leading security consultant Richard Smith reviews every option for authentication, from passwords to biometrics, and virtually every application scenario -- offering practical guidance on choosing the best option, implementing it, and managing it. Smith begins by introducing the authentication landscape, explaining how today's authentication options have evolved from yesterday's timesharing systems, and showing how to estimate the prevalence of successful attacks. He presents detailed coverage of passwords, password selection, and the human issues associated with password-based authentication. Other key topics include: authentication for laptops and workstations, encryption, cryptographic keys, PIN numbers, biometrics, tokens, Windows 2000's Kerberos implementation, public and private keys, SSL, certificates, and more. For all network and security professionals.
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