As an IT professional, you need to know how to perform network security assessments. Inside Network Security Assessment: Guarding Your IT Infrastructure
is a collection of utilities and templates that will take you through
the assessment process. Written by two highly qualified authors with
close ties to the International Information Systems Security
Certification Consortium, this book was developed with the goal of
being a text for the CISSP continuing education class on Network
Security Assessment. You will be provided with step-by-step training on
assessing security, from paperwork to penetration testing to ethical
hacking. The supporting website will also provide you with access to a
variety of tools, checklists, and templates to make your job even
easier. You’ll save everyone time and money by learning to perform
security assessments yourself with the help of Inside Network Security Assessment.

There’s nothing like teamwork for making progress on a project, but
sharing information and building on each other’s successes can be
challenging when your team is scattered across the miles. Microsoft’s
SharePoint helps teams and organizations close the distance. With
SharePoint, groups construct web sites specifically for
collaboration–sites where individuals can capture and share ideas, and
work together on documents, tasks, contacts, and events. It’s the next
best thing to being in the room together. Unfortunately, much of the
documentation for SharePoint is written to help system administrators
get it up and running, which often leaves end users in the dark. The SharePoint User’s Guide
takes another approach: this quick and easy guide shows you what you
need to know to start using SharePoint effectively and how to get the
most from it. You’ll learn how to create sites that your organization
can use to work together or independently, from an end user’s point of
view. Now, even beginners can learn how to:

• access sites that are already set up
• create new sites
• personalize sites
• use the document and picture libraries for adding and editing content
• add discussion boards and surveys to a site
• enhance security

You’ll learn how you can receive alerts to tell you when existing
documents and information have been changed, or when new information or
documents have been added. You can even share select information with
partners or customers outside your organization. No one that uses
SharePoint collaboration services can afford to be without this handy
book. The SharePoint User’s Guide is designed to help you find
answers quickly, explaining key concepts and major points in
straightforward language. With SharePoint, any team or organization can
overcome geographic or time-zone challenges, and the SharePoint User’s Guide will show them how.

Special Edition Using Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server is a
must-have reference on collaboration using Microsoft’s document and
collaboration server. The book helps advanced users and administrators
understand collaboration, SPS’s architecture, using SPS, and finally
how to administer the server in their business setting. Topics covered
include: defining collaboration, what SPS can do for you, planning
back-end infrastructure, planning for SPS security, and daily
administration.

Historically, only large companies could afford secure networks, which
they created from expensive leased lines. Smaller folks had to make do
with the relatively untrusted Internet. Nowadays, even large companies
have to go outside their private nets, because so many people
telecommute or log in while they’re on the road. How do you provide a
low-cost, secure electronic network for your organization? The solution
is a virtual private network: a collection of technologies that creates
secure connections or “tunnels” over regular Internet
lines–connections that can be easily used by anybody logging in from
anywhere. A number of products now exist to help you develop that
solution. This book tells you how to plan and build a VPN. It starts
with general concerns like costs, configuration, and how a VPN fits in
with other networking technologies like firewalls. It continues with
detailed descriptions of how to install and use VPN technologies that
are available for Windows NT and Unix, such as PPTP and L2TP, Altavista
Tunnel, Cisco PIX, and the secure shell (SSH). New features in the
second edition include SSH, which is a popular VPN solution for Unix
systems, and an expanded description of the IPSec standard, for which
several vendors have announced support. Topics include:

• How the VPN compares to other available networking technologies
• Introduction to encryption, firewalls, the IPSec standard, and other technologies that let VPNs work
• Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and L2TP
• The Altavista Tunnel
• The Cisco PIX Firewall
• Secure Shell (SSH)
• Maintenance and troubleshooting

Software systems that used to be relatively autonomous entities such as e.g. accounting systems, order-entry systems etc. are now interlinked in large networks comprising extensive information infrastructures. What earlier used to be stand-alone proprietary systems are now for the most part replaced by more or less standardized interdependent systems that form large networks of production and use. Organizations have to make decisions about what office suite to purchase? The easiest option is to continuously upgrade the existing office suite to the latest version, but the battle between WordPerfect and Microsoft Word demonstrated that the choice is not obvious. What instant messenger network to join for global communication? Preferably the one most colleagues and friends use; AOL Instant Messenger, Microsoft Messenger, and ICQ represent three satisfactory, but disjunctive alternatives. Similarly organizations abandon their portfolio of homegrown IT systems and replace them with a single Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Several ERP alternatives exist on the market, but which is the right one for you? The argumentation and rationale behind these considerations are obviously related to the technological and social networks we are embedded in, but it is not always easy to specify how.
Networked Information Technologies: Diffusion and Adoption offers contributions from academics and practitioners who study networked information systems from a diffusion and adoption point of view. Themes related to the conceptualisation of diffusion and adoption of networked information systems are discussed along with studies of the diffusion of networked information systems in public sector institutions and private businesses.
This volume contains the edited proceedings of the IFIP Conference on The Diffusion and Adoption of Networked Information Technologies, which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 8.6 and held in Copenhagen, Denmark in October 2003.

It may be a while before Internet telephony with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) reaches critical mass, but there’s already tremendous movement in that direction. A lot of organizations are not only attracted to VoIP’s promise of cost savings, but its ability to move data, images, and voice traffic over the same connection. Think of it: a single Internet phone call can take information sharing to a whole new level.

That’s why many IT administrators and developers are actively looking to set up VoIP-based private telephone switching systems within the enterprise. The efficiency that network users can reach with it is almost mind-boggling. And cheap, if the system is built with open source software like Asterisk. There are commercial VoIP options out
there, but many are expensive systems running old, complicated code on obsolete hardware. Asterisk runs on Linux and can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment. And you can program it to your liking.

Asterisk’s flexibility comes at a price, however: it’s not a simple system to learn, and the documentation is lacking. Asterisk: The Future of Telephony solves that problem by offering a complete roadmap for installing, configuring, and integrating Asterisk with existing phone systems. Our guide walks you through a basic dial plan step by step, and gives you enough working knowledge to set up a simple but complete system.

What you end up with is largely up to you. Asterisk embraces the concept of standards-compliance, but also gives you freedom to choose how to implement your system. Asterisk: The Future of Telephony outlines all the options, and shows you how to set up voicemail services, call conferencing, interactive voice response, call waiting, caller ID, and more. You’ll also learn how Asterisk merges voice and data traffic seamlessly across disparate networks. And you won’t need additional hardware. For interconnection with digital and analog telephone equipment, Asterisk supports a number of hardware devices.

You have a family computer for e-mail and browsing the Internet. Your son and
daughter have their own computer for school work and your spouse has a laptop
that he or she brings home from work every day. With your family spread out
all over the house on their computers, wouldn’t it be nice if you could make
them all work together? Create Your Own Home Networks (Using What You Already
Know) is a unique book that will show you how to make your home computers
talk to each other while sharing files, music and printers. The most common
networking tasks are presented in project-format that don’t require any in-depth
understanding of computer systems or networks beyond that of a typical computer
user. You will learn how to setup your computers to:

• Share printers, files, and Internet connections
• IM one another instantly
• Get your e-mail in and out of your network
• Create a network jukebox
• Roam your house with wireless

You’ll also get tips on choosing the right networking equipment, hiding wires
and patching holes in your drywall, and when to call the pros. Create Your
Own Home Networks (Using What You Already Know) is all that you need to
get started on creating your very own home network.

More companies are building networks with the intention of using them to conduct business. Because the network has become such a strategic business tool, its availability is of utmost importance to companies and their service providers. The challenges for the professionals responsible for these networks include ensuring that the network remains up all the time, keeping abreast of the latest technologies that help maintain uptime, and reacting to ever-increasing denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

Building Resilient IP Networks helps you meet those challenges. This practical guide to building highly available IP networks captures the essence of technologies that contribute to the uptime of networks. You gain a clear understanding of how to achieve network availability through the use of tools, design strategy, and Cisco IOS� Software.

With Building Resilient IP Networks, you examine misconceptions about five-nines availability and learn to focus your attention on the real issues: appreciating the limitations of the protocols, understanding what has been done to improve them, and
keeping abreast of those changes. Building Resilient IP Networks highlights the importance of having a modular approach to building an IP network and, most important, illustrates how a modular design
contributes to a resilient network. You learn how an IP network can be broken down to various modules and how these modules interconnect with one another. Then you explore new network resiliency features that have been developed recently, categorized with respect to the design modules.

Building Resilient IP Networks is relevant to both enterprise and service provider customers of all sizes. Regardless of whether the network connects to the Internet, fortifying IP networks for maximum uptime and prevention of attacks is
mandatory for anyone�s business.

The rise of network-based, automated services in the past decade has
definitely changed the way businesses operate, but not always for the
better. Offering services, conducting transactions and moving data on
the Web opens new opportunities, but many CTOs and CIOs are more
concerned with the risks. Like the rulers of medieval cities, they’ve
adopted a siege mentality, building walls to keep the bad guys out. It
makes for a secure perimeter, but hampers the flow of commerce.

Fortunately, some corporations are beginning to rethink how they
provide security, so that interactions with customers, employees,
partners, and suppliers will be richer and more flexible. Digital Identity
explains how to go about it. This book details an important concept
known as “identity management architecture” (IMA): a method to provide
ample protection while giving good guys access to vital information and
systems. In today’s service-oriented economy, digital identity is
everything. IMA is a coherent, enterprise-wide set of standards,
policies, certifications and management activities that enable
companies like yours to manage digital identity effectively–not just
as a security check, but as a way to extend services and pinpoint the
needs of customers.

Author Phil Windley likens IMA to good
city planning. Cities define uses and design standards to ensure that
buildings and city services are consistent and workable. Within that
context, individual buildings–or system architectures–function as
part of the overall plan. With Windley’s experience as VP of product
development for Excite@Home.com and CIO of Governor Michael Leavitt’s
administration in Utah, he provides a rich, real-world view of the
concepts, issues, and technologies behind identity management
architecture.

How does digital identity increase business
opportunity? Windley’s favorite example is the ATM machine. With ATMs,
banks can now offer around-the-clock service, serve more customers
simultaneously, and do it in a variety of new locations. This
fascinating book shows CIOs, other IT professionals, product managers,
and programmers how security planning can support business goals and
opportunities, rather than holding them at bay.

Once you get your wireless network up and running, you’ll wonder
how you got along without it. And you’ll wonder how home and small
business users survived before Geeks On Call. This book is
jam-packed with simple steps, quick solutions, and basic information to
make setting up and using your wireless network easier and safer than
ever before. The Geeks give you the most efficient ways to build,
secure, and troubleshoot a network that meets all your needs.

• Know what you need before you buy
• Set up and connect your network
• Install and configure wireless components
• Protect your wireless network
• Make the most of network features
• Add printers, video game adapters, and digital media players
• Maintain and troubleshoot your network
• Solve common problems

Geeks On Call is the premier provider of on-site computer services. The certified, trained and tested technicians from Geeks On Call
provide expert computer installation and networking services, on-site
repairs, security solutions and system upgrades for residential and
commercial customers numbering in the hundreds of thousands each year.
Founded in 1999, Geeks On Call began franchising in 2001. For more information, call 1-800-905-GEEK or visit www.geeksoncall.com. Geeks On Call franchises are independently owned and operated.