UNIX and Linux Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit Review

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(More customer reviews)The title may mislead readers to believe that this book discusses actual forensics of Unix and Linux systems. It does not. The authors waste precious pages in this short book discussing their favorite cool Linux apps like Nessus and Metasploit but don't have any meaningful discussion about the various flavors of Unix: AIX, Solaris, *BSD, etc. Their "Unix and Linux" forensic book is almost entirely about Linux. There is no thoughtful discussion about filesystem forensics; no technical detail helpful to Forensic Examiners.
The few moments where the authors approach a meaningful forensic topic, the reader is redirected to an online resource rather than provided an analysis or explanation within the book.
The book title may lead readers to believe that an accompanying DVD contains a Unix forensic toolkit of some kind. In fact, there is only 1.8 MB of documents and no tools save for a few (4) short Bash scripts that hardly cover a thorough forensics examination: live or otherwise. One of the scripts is only one line. One of these documents is an incomplete 3.5 page summary of Sleuthkit tools. By "incomplete" I mean that it is apparent that the author decided to quit writing. Apparently there was no room in this 236 page, 14-gauge font book to cover in any detail the different Unix filesystems, data acquisition, data carving or static filesystem analysis. But the authors make plenty of room to discuss scanning with Unix tools (nmap, nessus, etc.).
There is a section entitled "Malware" except that no malware sample is actually examined. The reader is briefly introduced to Panda's AV scanner and is walked through how to use ClamAV as if that is the only AV scanner available for either a Unix user or Forensic Examiner. Forensic Examiners should pay very close attention to AntiVirus product comparative reviews.
The book cover boasts that this is the "only digital forensic analysis book for *nix". Indeed there may be little in the way of books solely dedicated to Unix forensics but other books cover Unix forensics with greater detail than this one. For example, Brian Carrier's "Filesystem Forensic Analysis" or Jones, Bejtlich and Rose's "Real Digital Forensics".
The book cover also boasts that readers can "Hit the ground running" with the information within. Unfortunately, if readers expect the content to help them bridge a gap between Windows and Unix, they will hit the ground with a resounding thud. If any Forensics Examiner finds value in the content of this book for actual Unix forensic investigations, I would question that examiner's experience and training.
If the authors wanted to write a book about cool Linux tools or network scanning, they should have entitled the book differently. Perhaps "A Beginner's Guide to Using Linux and Linux Security Applications".
I felt the title was misleading and false advertising. The authors take advantage of the word "Forensics" to sell a book that is not about forensics. For $53.95 I expected much more and was extremely disappointed and disgusted at the inferiority of the content.

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This book addresses topics in the area of forensic analysis of systems running on variants of the UNIX operating system, which is the choice of hackers for their attack platforms. According to a 2007 IDC report, UNIX servers account for the second-largest segment of spending (behind Windows) in the worldwide server market with $4.2 billion in 2Q07, representing 31.7% of corporate server spending. UNIX systems have not been analyzed to any significant depth largely due to a lack of understanding on the part of the investigator, an understanding and knowledge base that has been achieved by the attacker. The companion DVD provides a simulated or "live" UNIX environment where readers can test the skills they've learned in the book and use custom tools developed by the authors.The book begins with a chapter to describe why and how the book was written, and for whom, and then immediately begins addressing the issues of live response (volatile) data collection and analysis.The book continues by addressing issues of collecting and analyzing the contents of physical memory (i.e., RAM).The following chapters address /proc analysis, revealing the wealth of significant evidence, and analysis of files created by or on UNIX systems.Then the book addresses the underground world of UNIX hacking and reveals methods and techniques used by hackers, malware coders, and anti-forensic developers.The book then illustrates to the investigator how to analyze these files and extract the information they need to perform a comprehensive forensic analysis.The final chapter includes a detailed discussion of Loadable Kernel Modules and Malware. The companion DVD provides a simulated or "live" UNIX environment where readers can test the skills they've learned in the book and use custom tools developed by the authors.Throughout the book the author provides a wealth of unique information, providing tools, techniques and information that won't be found anywhere else.Not only are the tools provided, but the author also provides sample files so that after completing a detailed walk-through, the reader can immediately practice the new-found skills.* The companion DVD for the book contains significant, unique materials (movies, spreadsheet, code, etc.) not available any place else.* This book contains information about UNIX forensic analysis that is not available anywhere else. Much of the information is a result of the author's own unique research and work.* The authors have the combined experience of Law Enforcement, Military, and Corporate forensics. This unique perspective makes this book attractive to ALL forensic investigators.

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