Gary Kessler’s Web Site a Treasure Trove by M. E. Kabay, PhD, CISSP Associate Professor, Information Assurance Norwich University, Northfield VT
Sometimes I wonder why people bother putting up their Web sites at all. Their text is full of spelling mistakes; the links are out of date; their pages were updated years ago; the information is sparse; the layout is cluttered and inconsistent. Now contrast these sad efforts with the work of my friend and colleague Professor Gary Kessler, CISSP < http://www.garykessler.net >. Gary’s Web site is a treasure trove of valuable, up-todate information laid out in a clear, usable format with no frills and a visible commitment to helping others. Gary was a leader in founding the Vermont InfraGard and was the dynamo behind the creation of the Computer Networking, Computer & Digital Forensics,and Information Security programs at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. You can read about his extensive networking and security experience on his bio page < http://www.garykessler.net/gck.html >. Gary wrote an interesting article for this column in December 2002 < http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/sec/2002/01652888.html > and was co-author of the chapters on denial-of-service attacks and LAN security for the Big Blue Book[*]. Readers will be particularly interested in the list of “Information Resources” on his home page. The article library < http://www.garykessler.net/library/index.html > has 102 useful papers and notes by Gary on security, cyberforensics, networkworking, e-commerce, WindowsNT/2000, law and public policy, and tools. His collection of over 900 security URLs provides pointers to overviews, cryptography, legal issues, cybercrime & forensics, operating system security, firewalls/IDS/honeypots, VPNs/tunneling, Web-related security, and hacker/cracker sites & tools. The final section, “Other Security Topics,” would be achievement enough for any normal person (grin); it includes 147 links for viruses/worms, e-mail/spamming, passwords, denial-of-service, Code Red worm, personalities in security, ethics, e-government/e-voting, VoIP, locks and lockpicking, securityproduct vendors, HIPAA, security policies, wireless security and biometrics. For even more links, see his Cybercrime and Cyberforensics-related URLs < http://www.garykessler.net/library/forensicsurl.html >, which at this writing had been updated on 31 March 2005 and includes over 200 references. I am sure that readers will enjoy visiting his site. Great stuff, Gary! *** Reference: * Bosworth, S. & M. E. Kabay (2002), eds. _Computer Security Handbook, 4th Edition._ Wiley (New York). ISBN 0-471-41258-9. 1184 pp. Index.
*** A Master’s degree in the management of information assurance in 18 months of online study from Norwich University – see < http://www3.norwich.edu/msia > for details. M. E. Kabay, PhD, CISSP is Associate Professor in the Division of Business and Management at Norwich University in Northfield, VT. Mich can be reached by e-mail at < mailto:
[email protected] >; Web site at < http://www.mekabay.com/index.htm >. Copyright 2005 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to Network World to distribute this article at will, to post it without limit on any Web site, and to republish it in any way they see fit.
