Nutshell review - Another great book by Ed Skoudis. Covers all the popular attack vectors and a variety of possible defence techniques. A solid book from which further study and investigation can be undertaken. Management people should read this too.

Counter Hack Reloaded (CHR) is an excellent book for someone looking for a broad overview of computer/network security written in a very clear, logical, and even enjoyable manner.

After CHR's Introductory chapter, the reader is given an overview on Networking, Linux/Unix, and Windows. These three chapters give the reader enough to be able to understand the subsequent chapters which deal with specific phases of an attack. These phases are, Reconnaissance, Scanning, Gaining Access (with different chapters for different methods of gaining access,) Maintaining Access, and Covering Tracks. Throughout these chapters, CHR introduces the reader to the tools used by attackers; how they work, where to get them, and how to defend yourself against them (often by using the tools themselves.) Finally, CHR "puts it all together" with different scenarios of attacks. The scenarios show how attackers use different phases of an attack, and different tools, to penetrate a network/system. Throughout this chapter CHR highlights the mistakes the victims make in their networks/systems to allow the attacks to succeed.

CHR is exceptionally well written, especially for a technical subject. Explanations of complex topics are clear, simple and even entertaining. I would even go so far to say that it is a joy to read.

Overall, CHR is about core concepts. It's about understanding how attacks occur, and understanding why they can succeed. Only then can you have any hope in understanding how to go about defending yourself.

Are you people smoking CRACK??? This &*$% book doesn't even cover XP or Vista!!!

What bloody use is it???

I'm technically not finished reading this book yet and probably never will be until they update it again and still it will be a good reference manual for several years anyway. Skoudis and Liston do have a way of making complex issues seem to make sense. I thank them for writing it and thank Amazon for making it available to me.

It was an easy read, as far as the writing itself. It wasn't too dry, but in some places there was too much information all at once. I've only read the first 350 pages or so, but I can say for sure that Chapter 6 should have been cut into 2 or 3 chapters. The sheer ammount of material covered in those 100 pages or so was too much to be taken all at once.

Most of the tools in this book are widely used and known, but the reason that this book is so interesting is that it describes how you can defend yourself from attacks with such tools.

Therefore this is a very good reference book.

I can't argue with the fact that this is a great book to learn security. It also serves as a fantastic intro to networking with some really good insight into the interworkings of TCP/IP. One thing that is great about this book is the detail that the author goes into on each section. This should be required reading for all new security/network professionals. Its funny but the things that people take for granted that they know (foundational knowledge)are the very things that not many people in the field truly understand at a deep level. This book will help you to not be one of those people.

Only one real gripe - I know typos happen and errors are common in technical books BUT... in a chapter about TCP/IP to misspell the late Jon Postel's name is just unbelievable -- Wow. (p.32)

This book has done a great job at informing readers of network security. After supplying a little OS and networking background information the author composes the information in a way that an attacker would view it so the reader can get inside the mind of an intruder. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in how attacks are executed.

This book does not tell you how to use hacking-tools, but It teachs you how the tools work!

This book does not tell you how to use hacking-tools, but It teachs you how the tools work!

As a student studying information technology with goals of having a career in the information systems security field, Mr. Skoudis' book "Counter Hack Reloaded" provides me with an amazing resource that is helping me obtain the knowledge and skills I need to succeed in the Infosec field. His book is insightful and explains the complexity and workings of varius threats and risks to our networks and computer systems in a way that makes them easy to understand. The steps attackers usually take are broken down and analyzed along with ways to secure your systems from such attacks.

The book is broken down into different phases after the few first chapters go over the basics of networking and the major operating systems (Windows and Linux/Unix). Phase One covers Reconnaissance which includes tactics such as social engineering. Phase Two is scanning and the different methods of scanning networks, both wired and wireless. Phase Three covers gaining access to the network through attacks on applications, OSs, DoS attacks, and other network attacks. Phase Four covers maintaining access, which includes information on varius threats such as backdoors, trojans, rootkits, etc. Phase Five reviews covering one's tracks and hiding evidence of network intrusions, etc.

I recommend this book to anyone in my position of currently obtaining an education in any field having to deal with information systems. Even if security is not your main focus, the knowledge this book provides is valuable as a reference and as a way of better understanding the current threats to our organizations and the networks that make them up, both the technical and personnel networks.

Counter Hack
Reloaded
Second Edition
by
Ed Skoudis
with
Tom Liston

Published by Prentice Hall, December 2005
ISBN 0-13-148104-5

This book is an absolute must have for every security professionals bookshelf. If you are new to the arena of Information Systems Security or a CISSP this book leads you down some extremely interesting vulnerability protection paths. Ed Skoudis gives an exhaustive look into the mind and intentions of the "Nasties" out there and how to protect yourself and your network from them.

The chapters are well laid out and each builds on the knowledge from the previous chapter(s). The Table of Contents allows for easy reference back to a specific chapter for later the material is cutting edge and well explained with references to additional material online.

All in all a very insightful book that made me double check all of my firewalls and filesystem protection methods and apply some of the knowledge learned.

I highly recommend Counter Hack Reloaded to anyone who wants to better understand the technical details of computer hacking / security / defense.

This book covers all the bases. It dives into details about networking, windows security, unix security, firewalls, google hacking, wireless security, the works!

It does a particularly excellent job of explaining the nitty gritty details of a hack attack, but in a way that's engaging and fun... not dry and pedantic. It explains all the tools that hackers use to break into systems, their methodology, and why your system probably will not stop them.

The author is, like many people these days, very pessimistic about the current state of computer security. Just as people are relying on computers more and more, they are becoming less and less secure. Skoudis calls this the golden age of hacking. And frankly, after reading this book I doubt anybody would disagree with him.

The second edition of Ed Skoudis and Tom Liston's COUNTER HACK RELOADED returns a primary system administrator's resource to new levels, continuing the attack on destructive hacks with a counter-hack guide which remains useful because over half the material in this edition has been revamped and updated to reflect the latest hacker techniques. Typical hacker methods and tools are surveyed, new 'anatomy of an attack' analyses are detailed, and even a new section on wireless hacking appears. COUNTER HACK RELOADED: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO COMPUTER ATTACKS AND EFFECTIVE DEFENSES is one of the best on the market - and a most for any network administrator facing tday's many security challenges.

Really good book, with lot of knowledge and updated with recent tools available

Please note this review is for the 2nd Edition of this book
While "Counter Hack Reloaded" by Skoudis is an `Updated Edition of the Best-Seller' (per the book's cover), Counter Hack Reloaded (CHR) is really a new book in it's own right. CHR has gone through an extensive revision and is fully updated to meet today and tomorrow's emerging threats (i.e. wireless attacks). While 50% of the tools/exploits that are discussed in this book can be found in other `hack' books, the tools/exploits have been fully updated and document the latest commands. See page 21 of for a detailed explanation of CHR's updates.

Some quick points of interest for me:
* Page 228 - excellent, quick description of DNS's characteristics (when DNS uses UDP vs TCP).
* Page 264 - good explanation of UDP vs ICMP pings (something to remember when troubleshooting connectivity from different platforms).
* Chapter 7 - Gaining Access at the OS and App level - very good discussion of buffer overflows. The chapter also provides an updated list of access tools (i.e. WebGoat & password crackers).
* Chapter 8 - Gaining Access via Network Attacks - great explanation of man-in-the-middle attacks by DSniff and Ettercap. I also enjoyed the explanation of NetCat (everyone's friend).
* Chapter 9 - Denial of Service Attacks - the discussion on SYN cookies was new to me.

While I thought chapter 2, Networking, deserved it's place, I thought that chapter 3, UNIX, went a little off course. I also thought that the 2nd half of chapter 5, Reconnaissance, was of much more value than the first half of chapter 5. Page 138 had a weak description of salting. All these demotions are trivial issues, and do not distract from the overall supremacy of CHR.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed "Counter Hack Reloaded" by Skoudis. It is an update to a classic, that like the first edition, does not disappoint.

I give this book 5 pings out of 5:
!!!!!

Please note this review is for the 2nd Edition of this book
While "Counter Hack Reloaded" by Skoudis is an `Updated Edition of the Best-Seller' (per the book's cover), Counter Hack Reloaded (CHR) is really a new book in it's own right. CHR has gone through an extensive revision and is fully updated to meet today and tomorrow's emerging threats (i.e. wireless attacks). While 50% of the tools/exploits that are discussed in this book can be found in other `hack' books, the tools/exploits have been fully updated and document the latest commands. See page 21 of for a detailed explanation of CHR's updates.

Some quick points of interest for me:

-Page 228 - excellent, quick description of DNS's characteristics (when DNS uses UDP vs TCP).

-Page 264 - good explanation of UDP vs ICMP pings (something to remember when troubleshooting connectivity from different platforms).

-Chapter 7 - Gaining Access at the OS and App level - very good discussion of buffer overflows. The chapter also provides an updated list of access tools (i.e. WebGoat & password crackers).

-Chapter 8 - Gaining Access via Network Attacks - great explanation of man-in-the-middle attacks by DSniff and Ettercap. I also enjoyed the explanation of NetCat (everyone's friend).

-Chapter 9 - Denial of Service Attacks - the discussion on SYN cookies was new to me.

While I thought chapter 2, Networking, deserved it's place, I thought that chapter 3, UNIX, went a little off course. I also thought that the 2nd half of chapter 5, Reconnaissance, was of much more value than the first half of chapter 5. Page 138 had a weak description of salting. All these demotions are trivial issues, and do not distract from the overall supremacy of CHR.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed "Counter Hack Reloaded" by Skoudis. It is an update to a classic, that like the first edition, does not disappoint.

I give this book 5 pings out of 5:
!!!!!

Ed Skoudis is a recognized expert in host and network security. This is an update to Ed's previous book, Counter Hack. This time, he has enlisted the help of Tom Liston, known for his tarpit work (www.tarpit.com).

For those unfamiliar with the Counter Hack book, it includes details and examples on everything a security professional should know. This includes ports and protocols, UNIX need to knows, Windows need to knows, Reconnaissance, application attacks, Operating System attacks, Network attacks, Denial of Service attacks, Trojans, Backdoors, Rootkits, altering logs, covert channels, and examples of real world attacks.

For those who have not taken the Advanced hacking course at SANS, this book is the closest you will come to experiencing Ed's expertise without taking the course. Ed gives relevant, detailed examples with diagrams and charts, explains how attacks occur, what to look for, and how to defend against them. Ed's experience as a teacher allows him to explain how it all comes together in such a way that beginners and experts alike will learn.

For those familiar with Counter Hack, this book offers several updates. While there are updates throughout the entire book, the first major update is the addition of wireless hacking and war driving. Then follows a section dedicated to Bots, an expanded Web Application Attack section including new charts and graphs such as a "Web Application Manipulation Proxies" list, SQL injection attacks, and other more modern day threats. Also added are sections on Google hacking and updated sites and tools as some have changed over the years.

While the book may appear to not have changed, after reading a chapter or two, one will clearly see Ed has gone through it with a fine tooth comb and updated quit a bit and where necessary. This provides a great resource for anyone interested in learning today's threats and tools. The approach Ed takes with understanding how attackers get to know your network first, how they stage attacks, how they keep their access and hide their tracks, is valuable knowledge to anyone with the responsibility of securing systems and networks.

As most who read my reviews know, I am not a fan of books that try to satisfy the beginners and the advanced, but Counter Hack Reloaded has a nice balance. I would have liked to have seen some more updates in terms of some of the tools and malware discussed, such as replacing BO with a newer threat, but all in all, this is a valuable book worth checking out! Counter Hack Reloaded provides a foundation that is a must know in today's Information Security realm.

[A review of the 2ND EDITION, December 2005.]

In 2001, Skoudis published the first edition of this book. It was a lucid and well received explanation of how crackers can attack your computer. The intervening years have seen significant growth in this field, as both sides have escalated their techniques. Hence this second edition.

In hindsight, the first book was written in what seems to be a more innocent time. Then, successful attacks were often the equivalent of graffiti. They gave bragging rights to the cracker, but no economic payoff. Now, the authors point out, there is far more likely to be a financial incentive, as more corporations leave sensitive data on insecure machines.

Plus, of course, that book was written before 11 Sept 2001. Today there are scenarios of terrorists attacking computers. Perhaps to finance their operations, or to communicate with each other. However, the authors carefully state that there has thus far been little actual evidence of such terrorist usage. Still, it's an ever-present possibility.

The second edition has updates on the latest attack methods. Some of these were virtually unknown in 2001, like wardriving. Here, the massive uptake in wireless computing and the concomitant proliferation of badly administered wireless access points has led to malicious wardriving.

The book also shows the use of Intrusion Detection Systems and their more aggressive sibling, Intrusion Prevention Systems. These have improved heavily in sophistication in just a few years.

There is a passing reference to phishing. Starting in 2003, we have seen a huge global increase in this scourge. The book explains the most common form of phishing, and how it is based on social engineering, by trying, often successfully, to fool a recipient of a phishing email. The only countermeasure described is to warn the reader to beware of such messages. No technical solution is proposed.

Perhaps the most interesting chapters are 10 and 11. These describe Trojans, backdoors and rootkits. Where the latter can be user-mode or the more dangerous kernel-mode. The most dangerous attacks are given in these chapters. But the text explains strong countermeasures that you can do. Including using several white hat websites like chkrootkit.org, knowngoods.org and cisecurity.org. These offer very useful tools and data that you can run against your machines, as extra protection. There are many websites out there with such agendas. But the sheer number of these can be daunting. Who can you rely on? One answer is to use the book as a reliable guide.

Ed Skoudis is a respected and knowledgeable resource in the security field. After completing Malware: Fighting Malicious Code, which is one of the best books relating specifically to viruses, and other malware threats, Skoudis teamed up with Tom Liston to write the 2nd edition of Counter Hack to update it with current technologies and attack techniques. More than half of the content is new.

While I am a huge fan of the entire Hacking Exposed series of books, and I highly recommend Hacking Exposed- 5th Edition, I feel that Counter Hack Reloaded does a better job at putting the attacks and countermeasures in context and illustrating the bigger picture of how they would or could be used rather than just giving a list of attacks and mitigations in a vacuum. The book is by no means intended for a computer novice, but for someone who is comfortable with computers and networking and wants to expand their knowledge of security, Counter Hack Reloaded is an excellent choice.

As in the original Counter Hack, the book ends with a section called Putting It All Together which provides some short story scenarios that illustrate the attack beginning to end and help to pull the information together so that the reader can understand it better.

I have to give a security presentation in class soon, and this book has been a tremendous help in my studies. I didn't have any previous skill or knowledge with security/hacking. I've skimmed through a bunch of different books, but I think this book was one of the best ones that I've come across. The book seems very comprehensive, covering the whole spectrum of attacks and defenses. There's a lot of information in this book to absorb. The layout and readability were about as good as you'll find in any computer science related book.

If you're just getting started like me, I think this book would be a great foundation to start with.

Let me start with a disclaimer. I find network and computer security very interesting, but have never looked into it in-depth before (other than a paper I once wrote on worms and viruses). I have a strong programming background (The usual suspects - C/C++, Perl, Fortran, Pascal, Assembly), but I'd never even HEARD of netcat before, and sure as heck didn't know what a rootkit did. Sure, knowing Assembly I understand how a stack functions, so buffer overflows made sense before Ed's explanation. But the rest of the book was all foreign to me, so keep in mind this a review from a security newbie.

This book was excellent for me. I read it cover to cover, and it was almost like reading a spy and/or detective novel, with details of what the spies and detectives do. The plot was the phases of a network attack, and I could almost hear the Mission Impossible theme in the background at times when I was looking at the output from some of the applications. I don't know if this is normal for a security book (like I said, I'm a newb), but Counter Hack was great to read straight-through, and I have no doubt I'll frequently refer to portions in the future.

I found Ed's overviews of topics that would be used in the rest of the book exceptional - they really were exactly what you needed to know, with no extra fluff. Concisely written and well-explained, but I didn't feel like I was being treated as a three-year-old. I had previous knowledge of OS's and networking, but Counter Hack's first few chapters were excellent refreshers, and in some cases spectacular insight into how things work together (I constantly referred back to OSI's 7-layer model for TCP/IP).

To be honest, I did find some typos and things that were odd (though perhaps I just thought them odd due to lack of knowledge). For example, Ed says a subnet mask is XOR'd with an IP address to determine the network address versus the host address. XOR? If I XOR my address... let's see:
11000000 10101000 00000001 00000001 (192.168.1.1)
11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000 (255.255.255.0)
00111111 01010111 11111110 00000001 (127.87.254.1?!)

This is an obvious typo for someone who has background knowledge of networking... but isn't that my point? Should have been caught before going to press. Still, when I have to pick out a single WORD of an entire book to have something bad to say, you know the book is a great one.

I highly recommend this book, definitely to people new to the field (like me!), but perhaps those of you who have in-depth knowledge will learn some things you didn't know (or fully understand) before. And now, onto Malware!

Overall, highly recommended, it's a no doubt five stars quality book. Even though I borrowed this book from library, I just place an order to purchase my own copy. Excellent reference material!

This book covers two major parts: (1) All-you-need-to-know Overviews, and (2) Hacking Skills. Ed only takes about 20% of his entire book portion for giving readers the overview of all important knowledge such as Networking,Unix & Windows. For those overviews chapters, they are all well-written and extremely easy to follow even for complicated concepts. By themselves, they already worth the book value, and they're excellent for refreshing those key & important knowledge & concepts.

The second part of the book mainly addresses various hacking approaches. The contents are exactly same as Ed's desktop seminar 'The Hack Counter-Hack Training Course', which is a computer-based training video on CD-ROM. However, this book provides much more details and in-depth explanation on how-things-done. Again, it's really well-written to depict the complicated hacking techniques. If you purchase the Ed's The Hack Counter-Hack Training Course, I strongly recommend you to buy this book as your reference material. They should go in pair.

Now, when I picked Ed Skoudis's second edition of "Counterhack" - titled "Counterhack Reloaded" - my expectations were set on "high" :) Since I read the first edition, I was happy to find the "what's new" section. The book is structured similarly to the previous one with new material on wireless, Windows 2003, "Google hacking", exploitation frameworks, new rootkits, ADS and a fun data theft scenario, to top it off. Pretty much all the things that came into relevance after the book came out in 2001 are added. In fact, when I was reviewing the first book I asked for "more web attacks, novel application hacking and wireless stuff" and it looks like Ed delivered!

Just like the previous edition, it is a very well written infosec book! It has all the components of a great book: logical presentation style, broad material coverage from concepts to command line switches, Ed's characteristic humor, and of course, plenty of details on attacks and defenses. Years of teaching a SANS show and even the esoteric subjects are explained with uncanny clarity.

"Counterhack Reloded", just as its predecessor, starts from networking, Unix/Linux and Windows primers. The book then presents a typical attack sequence (from recon to maintaining access) and goes into details on all its stages. A distinctive feature of the book is that the security tools descriptions are present not as the "man page rephrases" - a senseless stream of options and parameters - but instead woven into the fabric of the attack flow, thus making it much more interesting and fun to read. My favorites are chapters on covering the tracks and maintaining access and the scenarios in the end.

The book is still focused more on the attack side, while containing tips on protecting and blocking various described attacks. Overall, the book is a very useful addition to any security book library, even if you already have the first edition. The only criticism - which is highly likely specific to me - is that book seems more useful for the beginners than for seasoned pros. The latter will still find it useful, but more cutting edge stuff will be better (yeah, I am talking about virtual machines here... hint-hint)

Dr Anton Chuvakin, GCIA, GCIH, GCFA is a recognized security expert and book author. A frequent conference speaker, he also participates in various security industry initiatives and standard organizations. He is an author of a book "Security Warrior" and a contributor to "Know Your Enemy II", "Information Security Management Handbook" and the upcoming "Hacker's Challenge 3". He also published numerous papers on a broad range of security subjects. In his spare time he maintains his security portal http://www.info-secure.org and two blogs.

I got a copy back in November 2001, but the book still deserves all the praise. It simply shows that a well-written infosec book doesn't have to be "fresh" or to be in the umpteenth edition to be fun and useful.

It has all the components of a great book: logical presentation style, wide material coverage from concepts to command line switches, humor, plenty of details on attacks and defenses.

The book presents a typical attack sequence (from recon to maintaining access) and goes into details on all its stages. A distinctive feature of the book is that the security tools descriptions are present not as the "man page rephrase" (a senseless stream of options and parameters), but instead woven into the fabric of the attack flow, thus making it much more interesting.

The book is focused more on the attack side, while containing small tips on protecting and blocking various described attacks. I also liked author's coverage of UNIX rootkits. Another awesome part of the book is three scenarios in the end. I was lucky to be present when then author presented the "Monstrous Software" attack case (#3 in the book) at the seminar and it was just as hilarious as it was enlightening.
Overall, the book is still a very useful addition to any security book library. Perhaps a second edition is in the works, Ed? More web attacks, novel application hacking and wireless stuff will sure come handy.

Anton Chuvakin, Ph.D., GCIA, GCIH is a Senior Security Analyst with a major information security company. His areas of infosec expertise include intrusion detection, UNIX security, forensics, honeypots, etc. In his spare time, he maintains his security portal info-secure.org

Good book dinamic and simple. it does not use complicated words and easy to fallow.

I am an MCSE who recently inherited several Linux machines do to downsizing at my company. I purchased several books to help me shore up my unix security knowledge. First I read Hacking Linux Exposed because it is 100% Linux specific, and followed with this book.Counter Hack covers a huge range of security problems much better than anything else I've read. It not only reinforced the concepts from Hacking Linux, but taught me many thing from the Windows world that I didn't know, in spite of my previous training.I really appreciated the instructions to fix and avoid problems. I'd recommend this book over "Hacking Exposed, 3rd Edition" any day. If you have unix machines, I'd purchase "Hacking Linux Exposed" too. In fact, I'd love to see what Skoudis and Hatch could write if they collaberated.