Book Review - The Art of Computer Virus Research and Defense by Peter Szor
Category Book Reviews
For anyone interested in how computer viruses work from a technical perspective, as well as how anti-virus programs defend against them, you have to get a copy of The Art of Computer Virus Research and Defense by Peter Szor. There is no book out there that approaches it.
Chapter List:
Part 1 - Strategies of the Attacker: Introduction to the Games of Nature; The Fascination of Malicious Code Analysis; Malicious Code Environments; Classification of Infection Strategies; Classification of In-Memory Strategies; Basic Self-Protection Strategies; Advanced Code Evolution Techniques and Computer Virus Generator Kits; Classification According to Payload; Strategies of Computer Worms; Exploits, Vulnerabilities, and Buffer Overflow Attacks
Part 2 - Strategies of the Defender: Antivirus Defense Techniques; Memory Scanning and Disinfection; Worm-Blocking Techniques and Host-Based Intrusion Prevention; Network-Level Defense Strategies; Malicious Code Analysis Techniques; Conclusion; Index
Szor is a chief researcher with Symantec, and he's been involved in the field of virus research for over 15 years. This is what he lives and breathes. In this book, you'll get a history lesson of how viruses have evolved from their early days as DOS programs up through the latest attacks plaguing us today. But instead of just a narrative of how viruses work, he goes in depth with technical details involving interrupts and intercepts, how viruses hide in files, and so much more. Once you have the entire picture of how virus code works, he switches to the topic of defense. You quickly realize that the people who write code to fight viruses are quite incredible. There are so many obstacles they are up against, it's amazing that they can do such a great job at the task.
When you're done with this book, you'll have all the tools you need in order to start fighting the virus battle yourself. Even if you're not interested in the technical details, you'll still come away with a much greater appreciation of what it takes to fight the ongoing war to keep your computer up and running without infection. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in the topic matter...
For anyone interested in how computer viruses work from a technical perspective, as well as how anti-virus programs defend against them, you have to get a copy of The Art of Computer Virus Research and Defense by Peter Szor. There is no book out there that approaches it.
Chapter List:
Part 1 - Strategies of the Attacker: Introduction to the Games of Nature; The Fascination of Malicious Code Analysis; Malicious Code Environments; Classification of Infection Strategies; Classification of In-Memory Strategies; Basic Self-Protection Strategies; Advanced Code Evolution Techniques and Computer Virus Generator Kits; Classification According to Payload; Strategies of Computer Worms; Exploits, Vulnerabilities, and Buffer Overflow Attacks
Part 2 - Strategies of the Defender: Antivirus Defense Techniques; Memory Scanning and Disinfection; Worm-Blocking Techniques and Host-Based Intrusion Prevention; Network-Level Defense Strategies; Malicious Code Analysis Techniques; Conclusion; Index
Szor is a chief researcher with Symantec, and he's been involved in the field of virus research for over 15 years. This is what he lives and breathes. In this book, you'll get a history lesson of how viruses have evolved from their early days as DOS programs up through the latest attacks plaguing us today. But instead of just a narrative of how viruses work, he goes in depth with technical details involving interrupts and intercepts, how viruses hide in files, and so much more. Once you have the entire picture of how virus code works, he switches to the topic of defense. You quickly realize that the people who write code to fight viruses are quite incredible. There are so many obstacles they are up against, it's amazing that they can do such a great job at the task.
When you're done with this book, you'll have all the tools you need in order to start fighting the virus battle yourself. Even if you're not interested in the technical details, you'll still come away with a much greater appreciation of what it takes to fight the ongoing war to keep your computer up and running without infection. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in the topic matter...
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