This book is like a knife... you can cut the bread or you can kill with it...

books:


	• The Oracle Hacker's Handbook: Hacking and Defending Oracle David Litchfield Wiley, 2007 - 190 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent Book

I found this book to be an excellent resource, and use it quite often at work.

This book is like a knife... you can cut the bread or you can kill with it...

When I have started with this book I was amazed and afraid both. By this book all those tricks of SQL injections in Oracle has started to be a public knowledge. So this book is like a knife... you can cut the bread or you can kill with it. :) But let's be honest. It is always better to know especially when you are DBA, because of you are always far behind the attackers who probably spend their lifetime on browsing the code for security flaws. For that reason everyone how is responsible for practical Oracle security should read this book and learn how to defend. I belive that this book will grow in the future and will provide more & more examples. That is the game we use to play. New releases, new bugs, new flaws, new workarounds and finally some vendor final fixes. That is how oracle security process cycle should work. It is worth to be mentioned that in terms of quality, David Litchfield has started completly new period in cycle.

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Oracle Hacker's Handbook review

The Oracle Hacker's Handbook (OHH) is a collection of techniques that could be used by an attacker to gain unauthorised access to an Oracle database server upto and including 10gR2. Most of these techniques are currently not public, so OHH is both new knowledge for an attacker and vital warning to those responsible for securing Oracle servers.
In a nutshell the new attacks include how to gain the version number remotely, brute force usernames, gain passwords/hashes from the OS, attack the listener, escalate privilege internally through PLSQL Packages and Triggers both directly and indirectly as well as defeating VPD. These attacks are illustrated both directly and through application server. By using these techniques and by accessing the Oracle files directly through the OS an attacker would be able to gain DBA privileges on most secured servers. Additionally using the code examples included an attacker could gain password hashes and then the actual DBA clear text password from the network using the password decryption code included. This will work even with complex quoted passwords.
This is the most effective public analysis of security vulnerabilities in Oracle products so far.
OHH is a technical book and not really an introduction to the subject though it could be picked up reasonably quickly as the text avoids unnecessary jargon.
The book could be enhanced by including more on defense strategies, such as, how to prepare and respond to an attack where the attacker has gained the clear text DBA password.
OHH has a free download site for pre-written proof of concept code which will helps avoid unnecessary typing. From a general readability point of view the book is concise and to the point. The sections are logically laid out and the examples have worked when tested. I would recommend those involved in Oracle security to read this book as soon as they can.

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Interesting Reading

After reading it I thought "...well what were you expecting?, the keys to the house of Larry Ellison also?". It has interesting information for a non hacker like me, but much of the security problems are in the Oracle source code, and therefore there is not much I can do about it. Yes, now I know what not to do in the new code I program. You have to be a programmer to make sense of the code listings and have seen like dumps of snifers before. The language used by the author is clear for me.

Hope this helps

Nice to read a book with no waffle !!!

Have just read this book this week and it was a nice read, especialy after some of the c***p I have been reading lately!

Basicaly - If your systems estate has Oracle - Then you MUST read this.

I like this book, its good and the author really does know his stuff - its a light weight (easy to carry) book and good value for money

Some nice C / Java Snipets - so it helps if you know C.

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David Litchfield has devoted years to relentlessly searching out the flaws in the Oracle database system and creating defenses against them. Now he offers you his complete arsenal to assess and defend your own Oracle systems. This in-depth guide explores every technique and tool used by black hat hackers to invade and compromise Oracle and then it shows you how to find the weak spots and defend them. Without that knowledge, you have little chance of keeping your databases truly secure.

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