Security Power Tools

Preface

Security Power Tools is written by members of the Juniper Networks’ J-Security Team as well as two guests: Jennifer Granick of Stanford University and Philippe Bionde, an independent developer in France. It took a group effort because network security issues keep us rather busy in our day jobs, and the scope of this book requires the experiences of a diverse group of security professionals. We split up the different tools after several investigative meetings, and then worked for six months writing, revising, writing, and revising again. Writing books is not our specialty, so we apologize as a group if you hit rough spots ahead. The editors, we are told, tore their hair out trying to create a single voice from a dozen different voices, and they eventually gave up. We decided to stop hiding the fact that the book was written by 12 people and just, well, admit it.

To envision how the dirty dozen approach worked for us, imagine yourself in a room with 12 security experts when someone asks a question about, say, wireless penetration. Eight of us are behind our laptops doing other work, and we all look up and offer our own piece of advice. The other four roll their eyes, wait for a moment until the laptops gain preference again, and then interject their opinions. Throughout this book, each chapter represents a slightly different answer from 1 of these 12 voices; thus, the style and approach for each chapter might be a little different depending on who is talking and whose laptop ...