Books for beginners fall into two categories: the Dummies or Idiot’s Guide books that treat the reader like an imbecile, and those that treat novices as mature and intelligent. Network Security: A Beginner’s Guide falls into the second category. The reader comes away with a lucid understanding of the fundamentals of network security without being talked down to. Information security managers have a rough job. Although more money is being spent on information systems security, systems are increasingly complex, and complex systems are difficult to protect.This book is a good starting point for network managers and systems administrators who need clear instruction on how to create and run a secure technology infrastructure. As security of information systems increases in importance, it is becoming critical for everyone in the IT department to understand how all the components work. While not every member of manager needs to know how to install and configure firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and e-mail filters, they must nonetheless understand the significance of such technologies. This book covers those issues along with other significant information. Besides security products, the book gets into the nitty-gritty of security architectures, hacking, encryption, and operating systems. It includes a set of blueprints that describe key systems for designing an effective security architecture. The book concludes with the question of whether UNIX of Windows NT is more secure, a topic that has been fodder for countless debates. Avoiding a discussion of the minutiae of each operating system, the author astutely note that the answer to the question is not within the operating system itself but rather with the system administrator. That’s good counsel from a good book.