View Larger Image	Chad Sullivan Cisco Press, Paperback, Published June 2005, 426 pages, ISBN 1587052059
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Read an excerpt: Chapter 6: Understanding CSA Components and Installation       Copyright© Cisco Systems, Inc. Published by Cisco Press. Written permission from the publisher is required for any use of this material.

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• Cisco Press

• Learn the basics of endpoint security and why it is so important in today's security landscape
• Protect endpoint systems from hackers, viruses, and worms with host intrusion prevention security
• Prevent "Day-Zero" attacks with the first book on CSA deployment

Endpoint systems, being the point of execution for the malicious code, is where the most effective counter-intrusion mechanisms should be placed. Cisco Security Agent (CSA) is an important part of the network security puzzle that can help organizations secure their end systems. Its many capabilities include preventing "Day Zero" worm attacks, end system virus attacks, and Trojan horses; acting as a distributed firewall; performing an operating system lockdown; and performing application control. With the vast array of features, capabilities, and complexities associated with CSA, users need expert guidance to help them implement and maintain this important new security device and use it to maximum effect. This book presents a detailed explanation of CSA, illustrating the use of the product in a step-by-step fashion.

Cisco Security Agent presents a complete view of host intrusion prevention with CSA, including basic concepts, installations, tuning, and monitoring and maintenance. Part I discusses the need for end point security. Part II helps readers understand CSA building blocks. Part III delves into the primary concern of new customers, that being installation. Part IV covers monitoring and reporting issues. Part V covers CSA analysis features. Part VI discusses creating policies and CSA project implementation plans. Maintenance is covered in Part VII.

About the Author

Chad Sullivan is a triple-CCIE (Security, Routing/Switching, SNA/IP) and a systems engineer for Cisco Systems. Focusing predominantly on security in recent years, he is a member of the Security and VPN Virtual Teams at Cisco.

Aug 26, 2007     Akpose from Baltimore
a decent volume
As an endpoint protection solution, Cisco Security agent was a timely product, when it was released 2003, for being one of the industrys first behavior based host protection solution and thus offering some hope of protection against the widely feared zero-day attack scenario. While the product is considered a great tool, its proper deployment in an enterprise is non-trivial. Hence the value of a book like Cisco Security Agent : Prevent security breaches by protecting endpoint systems with Cisco Security Agent(CSA) , the Cisco host Intrusion Prevention System.

While the books organization is not quit elegant (it leaves the planning and implementation process to the last part while address advanced concepts earlier on), its comprehensive content on the subject makes it a useful book all the same. The seven part book makes the case for Cisco Security Agent (or any endpoint security solution for that matter) in the first part, addresses the CSA architecture in the second and describes the agent installation as well as issues with the local agent in the third. Monitoring and reporting was handled in fourth part while the fifth part addresses CSA analysis in deployment. The author developed policies, implementation and CSA maintenance in part six while the last part (appendixes) addresses integration with other Cisco technologies.

Chads narrative while pedestrian provides ample guidance and example to appeal to an enterprise security administrator in a concise manner thereby compressing what could potentially have been a 1000 page manual into a less than 450 pages. Also the overall style of the presentation bellies Chads breadth of experience as a network security subject matter expert.

Given the state of enterprise information systems security today, a typical enterprise will need a combination of tools to achieve a secure pasture and this book by Chad Sullivan as well as the Cisco NAC appliance book he helped co-write are very useful guides for organizations planning to develop or deploy a robust and holistic end-point control solutions. While the book is dated (2005), Ill still recommend it as a buy (even though I expect an update in the near future).

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