Book Club
Book Review
Book Club
Title: CISSP All-in-one Exam Guide
Author: Shon Harris
Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media
ISBN: 0072193530
Review:
Background: to earn your CISSP, you need to pass a very tough exam. Six hours long, with 250 questions covering all ten domains of the CISSP Common Body of Knowledge which most computer MCSEs would admit is not common knowledge. This comprehensive resource fully covers all exam objectivesas developed by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium and offers essential information on IT security. Each chapter contains practice questions, sidebars with technical discussions, real-world examples, and test-taking tips, making this book a premier study tool. Thus, where to begin, reviewing a 950 page book, which has a 16 page table of contents!
The books cdrom is supposed to contain 850 sample questions, and I saw 10 sections of 80-90 questions as practice section - in addition to 10 final exams, which I suspect also had nearly 900 questions in them. Should keep anyone busy for a few hours per practice section!
The 100-page chapter on Cryptography appeared specific enough to be its own book in my opinion. Took hours to review that chapter. Summary at the end of each chapter, and quick tips too (though in chapter 8, tips run 5 pages long!), and questions and answers. Luckily, in this version of the book, the answers have a brief explanation along with them (as it appears from prior version reviews, just the answers were provided).
Website links are provided periodically throughout this book, which I like. As an example, the appendix about Security Policies refers readers to 2 sites with specific resources relating to that area of interest which I happen to run across a need for more times in a year than I would expect. Even if you aren't taking the CISSP exam, this is still a great book that covers both an introduction to security and works well as a desk reference (and a bookend too).
Review by:
Mark Friedman
January 14, 2004
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