Beginner's Guide (McGraw Hill)

Security smarts for the self-guided IT professional

Malware, Rootkits & Botnets: A Beginner's Guide explains the nature, sophistication, and danger of malware, rootkit, and botnet threats-and the tasks essential to securing networks against such attacks.A complete, practical resource for security and IT professionals, the book imparts the hard-learned lessons and experiences of a respected, high-profile industry analyst, and provides know-how that may otherwise take years to learn. You'll go from a professional-beginner level to an up-and-running level of proficiency.

This comprehensive guide explains the role of malware, rootkits, and botnets in the context of their early constructions and new sophistications, discussing the groups that develop and deploy malware. The book reveals the smartest techniques and most effective tools security professionals use to identify, defend, and remove malware, rootkits, and botnets from all sizes of computer networks. You'll get an actionable, rock-solid foundation in understanding and defending networks from malware, rootkits, and botnets-from a full overview of the most effective solutions to best practices for detecting vulnerabilities and assessing threats.

Malware, Rootkits & Botnets: A Beginner's Guide features:

• Lingo-Common security terms defined so that you're in the know on the job
• IMHO-Frank and relevant opinions based on the author's years of industry experience
• Budget Note-Tips for getting security technologies and processes into your organization's budget
• In Actual Practice-Exceptions to the rules of security explained in real-world contexts
• Your Plan-Customizable checklists you can use on the job now
• Into Action-Tips on how, why, and when to apply new skills and techniques at work

Step-by-step coverage:
Brief History of Malware; Cloak of the Rootkit; Rise of the Botnets; The Threat Ecosystem; The Malware Factory; Infection Vectors; The Compromised System; Understanding Your System; Identifying a Possible Threat; Mitigating a Known Threat