Problem - Kevin Tafuro

igger risks than anticipated. You should expect that it may happen to you, too,
no matter what you know about security. One caveat: you should not use the
code in this book as if it were a code library you can simply link against. You
really need to read the text and understand the problems our code is built to
avoid to make sure that you actually use our code in the way it was intended.
This is no different from any other API, where you really should RTFM thoroughly
before coding if you want to have a chance of getting things right.
Despite the shortcomings some readers may find, we think this book has a great deal
to offer. In addition, we will do the best job we can to supplement this book on the
Web in hopes of making the material even better.
Organization of This Book
Because this book is a cookbook, the text is not presented in tutorial style; it is a
comprehensive reference, filled with code that meets common security needs. We do
not intend for this book to be read straight through. Instead, we expect that you will
consult this book when you need it, just to pick out the information and code that
you need.
To that end, here is a strategy for getting the most out of this book:
• Each recipe is named in some detail. Browse through the table of contents and
through the list of supplemental recipes on the book’s web site.
• Before reading appropriate recipes, take a look at the chapter introduction and
the first few recipes in the chapter for fundamental background on the topic.
• Sometimes, we offer a general recipe providing an overview of possible solutions
to a problem, and then more specific recipes for each solution. For example, we
have a generic recipe on buffer overflows that helps you determine which technology
is best for your application; then there are recipes covering specific technologies
that couldn’t have been covered concisely in the overview.
• If particular concepts are unclear, look them up in the glossary, which is available
on the book’s web site.
• Throughout each recipe, we detail potential “gotchas” that you should consider,
so be sure to read recipes in their entirety.
The book is divided into 13 chapters:
Chapter 1, Safe Initialization, provides recipes for making sure your programs are in
a secure state on startup and when calling out to other programs.
Chapter 2, Access Control, shows how to manipulate files and directories in a secure
manner. We demonstrate both the Unix permissions model and the Windows access
control lists used to protect files and other resources.
xx | Preface
This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition
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