[olug] Hacking Linux Exposed or Real World Linux Security?

[Daniel Pfile]

I got a borders gift card for christmas, and since I haven't bought any 
linux books in years (between man pages, google, and source code I 
haven't needed any) so I figured I'd pick one of these up. After 
reading the /. review, I'm wondering if anybody out there has read 
them. I'd like some input from a 'experienced' point of view, not 
really a unix newbie view. I understand basic firewall concepts, IDS, 
chroot, suid, buffer overflows, checksum audits and on and on and on. 
I've read many rfcs, and lots of code, but I'd like to know more. To 
fill out any missing points I guess.

It's been a while since I've spent any amount of time around anybody 
with 'real' security skills. Script kiddies who ask me for shells don't 
count. One of my security friends died of a heart attack, another got 
too busy finishing his phd and we lost touch, another is in jail (long 
story), another died from poisoning (related to the one in jail, very 
very long story), so I'm lacking in mentors with a clue.

Anyway, my experience with the 'exposed' books has always been they're 
lots of fluff and no good info. However, I'm finding mention that this 
one is actually a good book, maybe better than the real world linux 
security book. Right now Hacking Linux Exposed is winning. I'll 
probably stop by borders tomorrow and see if they have the latest 
editions of both to flip through.

So any thoughts? Here are some links if you'd like to know what I'm 
talking about:

slashdot review of real world linux security:
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/17/0234224&tid=172

amazon page for real world linux security:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130464562

another review of real world linux security:
http://www.net-security.org/review.php?id=17

hacking linux exposed homepage:
http://www.hackinglinuxexposed.com/books/

amazon page for hacking linux exposed
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0072225645

review on first edition of HLE:
http://www.unixreview.com/documents/s=1235/urm0105n/0105n.htm

Oh, and does anybody want to be my guru mentor? There's a 75% chance 
you'll end up in jail or dead, and a 25% chance you'll move on to great 
things. :)

-- Daniel