Security for Microsoft Windows System Administrators: Essential Information Security Concepts for IT Professionals in Enterprise Environments

WARNING: This book is aimed at the truly new WIndows System Administrator who needs to understand security concepts. The coverage is very light, as would be expected from a book of less than 200 pages on this topic. For more thorough treatment of security in Windows system administration, see the book Security Strategies in Windows Platforms and Applications (J & B Learning Information Systems Security & Assurance Series), or the server-specific book Securing Windows Server 2008: Prevent Attacks from Outside and Inside Your Organization, or the client-specific book Creating the Secure Managed Desktop: Using Group Policy, SoftGrid, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, and Other Management ToolsIf you are new to security and Windows system administration, this is an excellet first book on the topic. Additionally, if you are a student preparing for the MTA 98-367 Security Fundamentals exam, this book is an excellent add-on to your course materials. It wil bring clarification to many topics at the level required for the MTA candidate.The book's topics include:-General Security Concepts-Cryptography-Network Security-System Security-Organizational and Operational Security-Security Assessments and AuditsEach topic is covered in between 20 and 30 pages, so the coverage is not deep, but it is sufficient to gain understanding of security concepts and technologies. The most important thing to remember about this book is that it is an explanatory book and not an instructive book. By this, I simply mean that if explains concepts, but does not provide sufficient instructions to actually implement the technologies explained. With this understanding, if is an entry-level, concept-based book, I give it five stars. If this is not the type of book you're looking for, please see my recommendations in the opening warning note of this review.