Principles of Information Security 4th Edition

I had to buy this book for my security class at my college. I ended up learning a lot from it. It wasn't very hard to understand, and had great illustrations. I would recommend this book to those wanting to learn more about the basics of Information Security.

This is definitely a book geared towards management, not the technical types. The book covers a lot of topics so don't expect much in-depth detail here. As a textbook that is a general overview of information assurance and security, I think the authors do a decent job here. Yes, there are a lot of acronyms and at times the material can read like a dictionary (and hopefully you can ignore the numerous typos, spelling, and grammatical errors), but I enjoyed the scenarios that opened up each chapter and thought areas covering management planning and decision making were good.I would like to have seen the authors expand on the opening scenarios a little bit more, one or two pages just doesn't cut it, and I really missed not reading a few actual case studies. Real-life examples of information security issues companies' face and the final resolutions allow managers to relate what they are learning to their own situations, and open up many possibilities for discussion in the classroom.Overall, this is an average introductory textbook on information security, with room to grow into a much better book. Okay for a classroom text, but one I'd avoid for casual reading.

I don't agree with some of the other students' assessment of this as a dull, fluff-filled book. This book is an INTRODUCTION to the subject and not intended for technical students, engineers, or developers. It is a very good source of definitions and concepts for those just entering the study of information security. It flows well and logically as a learning tool and connects some very obscure learning points.

It is only available on the ipad and I assume the kindle fire. It is not viewable on the kindle paperlight turning mine into a kindle paperweight. Worse yet, it is not viewable from amazon's browser based read.amazon.com. In other words, this book turns your ipad into a less than optimal ebook. The paper copy would have been a better choice. I would suggest renting the book. The only advantage to the digital is that you can search for text in digital, but thats detracted by your inability to copy the text.Which leads to the next part of the review. The book is the single most boring text I have ever read. I would rather read assembly code while jabbing my tympanic membrane with a knitting needle. Why the stabbing? Because I need a common theme with the textbook. It requires masochism to get through it. I put a survey into my university concerning how horrible this book is explaining that I am not recommending anybody else take my degree program or at least this course until they change the curriculum away from this textbook.The opening page of chapter 1 is nearly interesting and I had hopes that the reviews were incorrect. After that it became a series of boring definitions of security terms. Hundreds of pages of nothing but definitions. They aren't even alphabetical and are barely even organized into chapter themes.Run. from. this. book.

This is the best book I've found to study the foundations of Information Security. It is a must read for anyone preparing for the CISSP exam. The information is presented logically and explained thoroughly. I also recommend "Security+ Guide to Network Security Fundamentals" by the same publisher.

If you have the opportunity to read this book while not enrolled in college, you'll appreciated it even more! The first four chapters might not be your cup of tea if you just care about firewalls, IDS, IDPS, VPNs, and encryption, but if you are a scholar and interested in security principles as a whole, get this book. Get the Kindle version if you can. I have the paper back and I wish I had the digital version, too!

This textbook is very thorough! The text is interesting and insightful! The back of the book has an alphabetical listing of word definitions and there is also a glossary where you can find key terms in the text.

Whoa. This book was incredibly sleep-inducing. Every time I would begin reading, all I wanted to do was lay my head down on the desk. At an extremely high velocity. Again and again.All in all, I think the book has a lot of useful information. Some chapters were actually pretty interesting. Unfortunately, the usefulness of the information is a bit lost amongst the efforts your brain makes while reading to simply continue functioning. To say the reading is dry would be an understatement; it's more like a Texas drought where the ground cracks open and cows fall in. I know this doesn't have to be, as my Authorized Cert Guide for CompTIA Security+ by David Prowse is actually quite interesting and he has a sense of humor, so you know it's a real person writing it. The layout makes a difference as well. I know that paper is not quite so scarce that we can't spread the words out a bit and put in some bullets or paragraph breaks, rather than pages and pages of solid text. Bleh. Ain't nobody got time for that.So, if you must get this book as a requirement, take heart - the semester will end. Until then, take frequent breaks, drink plenty of water, and just do your best to stay awake.