Those are certainly fundamentals

The book is clearly written, does not assume previous knowledge. If you need a place to start, this is a fine place to start. However, the content is very dated. Charts end at 2003, examples include Nimda, the land attack, slammer. Please don't get me wrong, those are all oldies, but goodies and each teaches an important lesson, but it would be nice to see something from 2005/2006. More effort should have been invested in a discussion on "zero day" attacks, the authors mention attacks may occur that have not been seen in the wild, but do not offer stategies for this. Since "zero day" attacks are not uncommon these days, the issue must be considered and addressed.

The last one third of the book includes the Cisco specifics, e.g. Cisco Security Agent, Policy Feature Card, etc that you expect to see in a Ciscopress book. I enjoyed this part of the book immensely. If you are a manager of a Cisco shop and want to know that you have implemented defense in depth well, this is a great discussion. If you are considering the Cisco product line, this will be truly helpful for you, the authors don't sell, but they lay out how to implement a number of the Cisco security tools in a clear, concise, complete and accurate manner.

Other Reviews

• Cisco Centric, but a Very Good Overview
• Those are certainly fundamentals