Re: Web Application Hacker's Handbook

From: David Barnett (dbarn064@gmail.com)
Date: Fri Oct 26 2007 - 05:59:02 EDT


I am sorry but Hacking Exposed Web Applications is almost worthless as
a web Pen testing book today. Sure, back in the day it gave a very
high level overview on web pen testing, but even then, it was very
weak.
I just ordered "The Web Application Hacker's Handbook: Discovering
and Exploiting Security Flaws, by Dafydd Stuttard, Marcus Pinto?" and
had the same reservations as Jerry. I sure have an overgrown library
and would this just be another paper weight?
I decided to order the book. I find Dafydd Stuttard work at
portwsigger.com on Burp suite and especially his documentation of the
tool very refreshing and a great learning experience.
Some books and marterail I have found helpful for web pen testing:

 Jeremiah Grossman and Robert "RSnake" Hansen's Cross Site Scripting
Attacks Xss Exploits and Defense - one of the best books out there,
even if it is only on XSS. Jeremiah, please write another book. There
is a big whole for a quality book.

All of the OWASP documentation.

Microsoft's Improving Web Application Security books. Even if they are
not pen test-centric and heavy on .Net, MS really gets Web App
security. Also Hacking the code.

 There are a slew of useful books but must seem stale and didn't hold
their value over the years. People mix the book up with timely attack
vectors, how-to's BUT also give the reader a USEFUL methodology that
they can pick up and take with them for years.

My .02 cents.

Cheers,

David

On 10/25/07, Ivan . <ivanhec@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have these 2
>
> Hacking Exposed Web Applications
> http://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Exposed-Web-Applications-2nd/dp/0072262990/ref=sr_1_2/102-8778972-6481707?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193353161&sr=1-2
>
> Professional Pen Testing for Web Applications
> http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Pen-Testing-Applications-Programmer/dp/0471789666/ref=sr_1_7/102-8778972-6481707?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193353161&sr=1-7
>
> Both reasonable good books, would be keen to hear what Dafydd/Marcus
> book is like
>
> cheers
> Ivan
>
> On 10/26/07, Shenk, Jerry A <jshenk@decommunications.com> wrote:
> > While we're talking about books - anybody have any recommendations about The Web Application Hacker's Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Flaws, by Dafydd Stuttard, Marcus Pinto? Looks good but I've never heard of either of these guys.
> >
> > My library keeps growing and I just don't want to end up with another book unless it's worthwhile.
> >
> >
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-- 
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David Barnett, CISSP, CCSE, QSA, QPASP
Manager, Forensics and Incident Response dbarnett@403labs.com |
708-288-6791 | Chicago IL | 403labs.com
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