Hacker's Challenge 2: Test Your Network Security & Forensic Skills - Softcover

"Awesome....Incredibly informative, insightful, as well as a lot of fun to read. Recommended for anyone who values the integrity and security of their network." --Shawn Bracken, Principal Research Engineer, Cenzic, Inc.

Do you have what it takes to keep hackers out of your network? This unique volume tests your computer forensics and response skills with 20 brand-new, real-life security incidents as told by top-tier security experts. In an entertaining and informative style, this book addresses key security topics, including Denial of Service, malicious code, Web application attacks, wireless technologies, insider and outsider attacks, and more. Each challenge unfolds like a chapter from a novel and includes details of the incident--how the break-in was detected, evidence, and background such as log files and network diagrams--and is followed by a series of questions for you to solve. In Part II, you'll find a detailed explanation of exactly what was happening in each incident and the answers to the questioned posed in Part I, along with prevention and mitigation techniques.

Excerpt from "One Thing Leads to Another":

The Challenge: John is the I.T. Manager for a movie company working on the special effects for a hit film.... But the fan site has just posted an unauthorized clip of one of the most anticipated scenes in the movie.... A postproduction team member put the clip on the server but no one accessed it after that, at least not via FTP.... Then it happened again: more footage was released.... The Web master of the fan site supplied the e-mail address from which he received the files. John checked the ssh logs and the Web server logs.... He found an IP address he had not seen before.... He pinged the IP address then checked his arp table to get the machine's MAC address.... He began tracing the cable back to its source: the proxy server, which had not been used in 8 months....

The Solution: After reviewing the log files included in the challenge, propose your assessment: How could the employees have approached the initial investigation differently that may have helped them get to the culprit sooner? What does the lack of evidence in the ftp and ssh logs reveal? Was John's method of tracking down the proxy server the best method? What is the best solution to solve the vulnerability? Then, turn to the experts' answers to find out what really happened.