Forwarded from: "Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rslade@private> BKOIGTCE.RVW 20040618 "Official (ISC)^2 Guide to the CISSP Exam", Susan Hansche/John Berti/Chris Hare, 2004, 0-8493-1707-X, U$69.95/C$101.50 %A Susan Hansche susan.hansche@private %A John Berti jberti@private %A Chris Hare chare@chris-hare.com, chare@private %C 920 Mercer Street, Windsor, ON N9A 7C2 %D 2004 %G 0-8493-1707-X %I Auerbach Publications %O U$69.95/C$101.50 800-950-1216 orders@private %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/084931707X/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/084931707X/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/084931707X/robsladesin03-20 %P 910 p. + CD-ROM %T "Official (ISC)^2 Guide to the CISSP Exam" Once again I have to state a bias in regard to this book. I've known about this book since its inception, I've known and advised the authors, I provided bits of the material, and even contributed one appendix. (The annotated bibliography and references--surprise, surprise.) I was asked to review the chapters while the book was in production. The reason was, of course, that I had reviewed all the other CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) guides. Specifically, the intent was to ensure that this manual, prepared and supported by (ISC)^2 (International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium) was "head and shoulders" above all the other published works. This volume is not perfect, by any means, but it is the best of the current bunch. Taking material from one source is copying, taking material from two sources is plagiarism, and taking material from many sources is research. This volume has not only research but direct input from a great many sources. Some are mentioned in the acknowledgements, a number of others are to be found on the title page, since sections of major articles from the venerable "Information Security Management Handbook" (cf. BKINSCMH.RVW) were included or used as the basis for parts of the guide. Even this doesn't exhaust the contributions, since much of the work is informed by the material in the (ISC)^2 CBK (Common Body of Knowledge) Review Seminar, and over a hundred individuals have had the chance to augment that content. The result is a breadth and currency of information that exceeds any other guide on the market. Sample questions and exams are eagerly sought by candidates for the CISSP exam. This guide has a significant advantage in this regard: not only do a number of the contributors produce questions for the exam itself (therefore being more than passingly familiar with the style and level of difficulty required), but the CISSP exam committee was also approached for advice and input. No source is able to provide "actual" CISSP exam questions, but the examples provided in this volume are very close in form, mix, degree of difficulty, and concept. The book is not without its faults. The sheer volume of the contributors ensured that topics were covered multiple times, and not all duplicated areas have been amalgamated. In addition, the variety of writing styles can make the text disjointed in places, as it moves from section to section and subject to subject. These factors can make the work difficult and demanding to read and follow. The CISSP exam, as the security field itself, is a changing target, and no book can expect to provide the "best" coverage of the topic indefinitely. As well, security is an immense discipline, and touches on an inordinate number of other areas. This work, however, has come closest to spanning the range of subject matter necessary to challenge the CISSP exam, and is currently the best of the guides. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2004 BKOIGTCE.RVW 20040618 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@private slade@private rslade@private A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money. - Senator Everett Dirksen (1896-1969) http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade _________________________________________ Help InfoSec News with a donation: http://www.c4i.org/donation.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Wed Aug 04 2004 - 13:31:58 PDT