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Computer Security Fundamentals, 4th edition

Published by Pearson IT Certification (October 22, 2019) © 2020

  • Chuck Easttom

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Computer Security Fundamentals, Fourth Edition: 

  • Clearly explains core concepts, terminology, challenges, technologies, and skills
  • Covers today’s latest attacks and countermeasures 
  • The perfect beginner’s guide for anyone interested in a computer security career

Chuck Easttom brings together complete coverage of all basic concepts, terminology, and issues, along with all the skills students need to get started.

Drawing on 20+ years of experience as a security instructor, consultant, and researcher, Easttom helps students take a proactive, realistic approach to assessing threats and implementing countermeasures. Writing clearly and simply, he addresses crucial issues that many introductory security books ignore, while addressing the realities of a world where billions of new devices are Internet-connected.


This guide covers web attacks, hacking, spyware, network defense, security appliances, VPNs, password use, and much more. Its many tips and examples reflect new industry trends and the state-of-the-art in both attacks and defense. Exercises, projects, and review questions in every chapter help students deepen their understanding and apply all they've learned.

Whether you’re a student, a professional, or a manager, this guide will help you protect your assets—and expand your career options.

  • The most up-to-date computer security concepts text on the market
  • Strong coverage and comprehensive analysis of key attacks, including denial of service, malware, and viruses
  • Covers oft-neglected subject areas such as cyberterrorism, computer fraud, and industrial espionage
  • Contains end-of-chapter exercises, projects, review questions, and plenty of real-world tips
  • Instructor's guide, lecture slides, and test bank included to make planning for class a breeze 
The field of cybersecurity changes rapidly and it is necessary to update to keep up with current trends. Changes to the Fourth Edition include the following:
  • New concepts like the McCumber Cube are introduced 
  • Examples that reflect new trends and innovations, in topics such as cyberthreat intel, security strategies, techniques used by hackers, and forensics
  • New laws and regulations are discussed, and standards such as the Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence best practices are covered
  • Concepts such as least privilege, job rotation, implicit deny, and cryptography are expanded upon


    Introduction xxvi
Chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Security 2
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
    How Seriously Should You Take Threats to Network Security? . . . . . . . . . 4
    Identifying Types of Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
    Assessing the Likelihood of an Attack on Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
    Basic Security Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
    Concepts and Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
    How Do Legal Issues Impact Network Security? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
    Online Security Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 2: Networks and the Internet 32
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
    Network Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
    How the Internet Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
    History of the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
    Basic Network Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
    Other Network Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
    Advanced Network Communications Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Chapter 3: Cyber Stalking, Fraud, and Abuse 66
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
    How Internet Fraud Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
    Identity Theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
    Cyber Stalking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 4: Denial of Service Attacks 96
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
    DoS Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
    Illustrating an Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
    Common Tools Used for DoS Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
    DoS Weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
    Specific DoS Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
    Real-World Examples of DoS Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
    How to Defend Against DoS Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Chapter 5: Malware 120
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
    Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
    Trojan Horses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
    The Buffer-Overflow Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
    Spyware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
    Other Forms of Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
    Detecting and Eliminating Viruses and Spyware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Chapter 6: Techniques Used by Hackers 152
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
    Basic Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
    The Reconnaissance Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
    Actual Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
    Malware Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
    Penetration Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
    The Dark Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Chapter 7: Industrial Espionage in Cyberspace 182
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
    What Is Industrial Espionage? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
    Information as an Asset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
    Real-World Examples of Industrial Espionage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
    How Does Espionage Occur? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
    Low-Tech Industrial Espionage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
    Spyware Used in Industrial Espionage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
    Steganography Used in Industrial Espionage . . . . . . . . . . . 193
    Phone Taps and Bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
    Protecting Against Industrial Espionage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
    The Industrial Espionage Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
    Spear Phishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Chapter 8: Encryption 206
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
    Cryptography Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
    History of Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
    Modern Cryptography Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
    Public Key (Asymmetric) Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
    PGP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
    Legitimate Versus Fraudulent Encryption Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
    Digital Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
    Hashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
    MAC and HMAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
    Steganography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
    Cryptanalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
    Cryptography Used on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
    Quantum Computing Cryptography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Chapter 9: Computer Security Technology 244
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
    Virus Scanners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
    Firewalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
    Antispyware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
    Digital Certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
    SSL/TLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
    Virtual Private Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
    Wi-Fi Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Chapter 10: Security Policies 278
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
    What Is a Policy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
    Defining User Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
    Defining System Administration Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
    New Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
    Departing Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
    Change Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
    Security Breaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
    Virus Infection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
    DoS Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
    Intrusion by a Hacker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
    Defining Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
    Development Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
    Standards, Guidelines, and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
    Disaster Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
    Important Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Chapter 11: Network Scanning and Vulnerability Scanning 306
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
    Basics of Assessing a System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
    Securing Computer Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
    Scanning Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
    Getting Professional Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Chapter 12: Cyber Terrorism and Information Warfare 342
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
    Actual Cases of Cyber Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
    Weapons of Cyber Warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
    Economic Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
    Military Operations Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
    General Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
    Supervisory Control and Data Acquisitions (SCADA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
    Information Warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
    Actual Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
    Future Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
    Defense Against Cyber Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
    Terrorist Recruiting and Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
    TOR and the Dark Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Chapter 13: Cyber Detective 370
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
    General Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
    Court Records and Criminal Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
    Usenet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Chapter 14: Introduction to Forensics 386
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
    General Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
    Finding Evidence on the PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
    Finding Evidence in System Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
    Getting Back Deleted Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
    Operating System Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
    The Windows Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
    Mobile Forensics: Cell Phone Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
    The Need for Forensic Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
    Expert Witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
    Additional Types of Forensics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Chapter 15: Cybersecurity Engineering 422
    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
    Defining Cybersecurity Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
    Test Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Glossary 442
Appendix A: Resources 448
Appendix B: Answers to the Multiple Choice Questions 450
9780135774779, TOC, 8/15/19

Dr. Chuck Easttom is the author of 26 books, including several on computer security, forensics, and cryptography. He has also authored scientific papers on digital forensics, cyber warfare, cryptography, and applied mathematics. He is an inventor with 16 computer science patents. He holds a Doctor of Science in cyber security (dissertation topic: a study of lattice-based algorithms for post quantum cryptography) and three master’s degrees (one in applied computer science, one in education, and one in systems engineering). He also holds 44 industry certifications (CISSP, CEH, etc.) He is a frequent speaker at cybersecurity, computer science, and engineering conferences. He is a Distinguished Speaker of the ACM and a Senior member of the IEEE and a Senior member of the ACM. Dr. Easttom is also a reviewer for five scientific journals and Editor in Chief for the American Journal of Science and Engineering. You can find out more about Dr. Easttom and his research at www.ChuckEasttom.com.

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