I went to my local library today and noticed there’s a lot of networking, cybersecurity, tcp/ip books from the early 2000s. Now, I want more modern versions of these types of handbooks. Does anyone know any good modern handbooks that deal with networking or network security standards?
Thanks :)
A few months ago, my library gained a copy of Cybersecurity For Small Networks by Seth Enoka, published by No Starch Press in 2022. So I figured I’d have a look and see if it it included modern best-practices for networks.
It was alright, in that it’s a decent how-to guide for a novice to set up sensible, minimum network fortifications. But it only includes an overview of how those fortifications work, without going into the additional depth needed to fine-tune or optimize them for specific environments. So if the reader has zero experience with network security, it’s a worthwhile read. But if you’ve already been operating a network with defenses for a while, there’s not much to gain from this particular text.
Also, the author suggests that IPv6 should be disabled, which is a terrible idea. Modern best-practice is not to pretend IPv6 doesn’t exist, but to assure that firewalls and other defenses are configured to handle this traffic. There’s a vast difference between “administratively reject IPv6 traffic in/out of the WAN” and “disable IPv6 on all devices and pray no one ever connects an IPv6-enabled device”.
You might have a look at other books available from No Starch Press, though.
If a person is at the intro/intermediate level that advice may be sound enough. Since they’re less likely to apply proper rules to include those ranges of IP’s etc.
Assuming it’s advising disabling it at the router/switch level and not just a per device level.
Better would be to explain: Disable this until you’re familiar with the following concepts (see cited books/material for more info)