[TUHS] Off topic: Books on Unix security?

[Kevin Bowling]

On Fri, May 2, 2025 at 5:21 AM Aharon Robbins <arnold at skeeve.com> wrote:

> Hi All.
>
> In a book I'm updating, I have the following references for
> Unix security.
>
> 1. Practical UNIX & Internet Security, 3rd edition, by Simson Garfinkel,
> Gene Spafford, and Alan Schwartz, O’Reilly & Associates, Sebastopol,
> CA, USA, 2003. ISBN-10: 0-596-00323-4, ISBN-13: 978-0596003234.
>
> 2. Building Secure Software: How to Avoid Security Problems the Right Way,
> by John Viega and Gary McGraw. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts,
> USA, 2001. ISBN- 10: 0-201-72152-X, ISBN-13: 978-0201721522.
>
> 3. “Setuid Demystified,” by Hao Chen, David Wagner, and Drew
> Dean. Proceedings of the 11th USENIX Security Symposium, August 5–9,
> 2002. http://www.cs.berkeley.  edu/~daw/papers/setuid-usenix02.pdf.
>
> One of my reviewers asked if these weren't "dusty references".
> So, before I just refer to them as "classics", can anyone recommend
> more recent books?  Feel free to answer in private.
>

I’d have to rummage around for a definitive answer but I think things have
fractured a bit and OS level security is either a chapter or section in
academic or professional books.  That is mostly survey or long standing
information, the edge is all in open source code and/or
papers/presentations.

There are several recent cryptography books aimed at a more practitioner
level I can recommend if that is relevant to your quest.

The main book that comes to mind 0321822137 is a C and C++ security survey
that is worthwhile but not OS specific.

I’d also like to know your title so I can add it to my collection when it
is ready!


> Thanks,
>
> Arnold
>
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