[Courses] [Security] Class formats and contents

[Raven, corporate courtesan]

Heya --

Quoth Bettina Martelli (Tue, Mar 05, 2002 at 12:19:38PM +0100):
> I just discovered linuxchix and joined the courses list. Hope I'm not too 
> late... :-)

	Not at all -- we're just getting started with this class.  (The
C programming class is about a month old, but we're new.)
 
> Guided discussion sounds good.

	This seems to be the general consensus.  So we'll go for guided
discussion, and I'll try to find URLs and references to particular books
for those who would prefer using other resources as well.  I have a
pretty good collection of security books at home, but if anyone else has
been reading anything that seems relevant to what we're discussing, by
all means mention the book, post a link, what have you.

	I'd have a pretty hard time recommending just one book on Linux
security -- most of the ones on the market have different focuses.
(That's why I've got like 20 of them -- they all tell me different
things.)  A book on intrusion detection isn't going to give you the same
information as a book on cryptography will.  And while there are
generalist books out there, the field is large enough that they have to
pick and choose what ground they cover.

	Also, a book just on Linux security won't cover all the things
you're going to see out there.  For example, the hits in your webserver
logs for IIS exploits won't make any sense.

	This is not meant to be discouraging -- it's a fun and really
broad field.  Just explaining why I would have a hard time picking a
text.

	That said, I'll start another thread on resources, and then the
thread for this week on networked services.  [grin]

Cheers,
Raven

"I am so very girly."
  -- RavenBlack, on 'feminine' and 'masculine' traits