Computing hardware would have no value without software; software tells hardware what to do. All computer security problems stem from the fact that, and Use of Software: How to Break Code shows you how to design your software so that as resistant as possible to attack. Of course, all expressed in terms of offensive (as a clue to the attacker, that is), but this book has at least as much value in showing designers what kind of attacks their software will face (this book can serve as a checklist for part of the pre-release testing regimen .) It depends on your situation. PHP programmers will take issue with blanket assessment of their language writers ("PHP is a study in bad security"), many of which seem based on the language version that had some risky default behaviors - but they also would programmer register_globals check their servers' settings. programmers and administrators responsible will appreciate what amounted documentation rootkit attackers' for various operating systems, and will raise their eyebrows at the techniques for writing malicious code to unused EEPROM chips in target systems.