Book about viruses

Quite a rare beast in our publishing house (please do not consider paid advertising) - the book "PRO viruses" from an employee of the anti-virus company, describing not only the history of the emergence of viruses (there is more than enough such literature), but also methods of spreading modern malicious programs, their principle of operation and etc.

Valentin Kholmogorov professionally deals with the description of malware, and therefore all information is really first-hand.

First of all, a link to the content of the book and the publishing house in contact .

For whom is the book intended in the first place? For those who want to understand what is the difference between a virus and an exploit, and why system administrators shudder when grandma talks about his "bots". This is a kind of educational program in the field of computer virology. The book is focused on the reader with basic knowledge in the computer field and interested in information security issues.
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By the way, the author especially recalls the BackDoor.Dande Trojan, spying on pharmacists and pharmacists, and Trojan.SteamBurglar , kravshem virtual objects and artifacts from fans of computer games. In the description of both programs, the author was directly involved.



A little about the shortcomings. First, the volume of the book was limited to the publisher and it was not possible to place the necessary amount of information about the methods of countering malware in the given framework. Even the glossary at the end of the book publishers strongly cut in favor of volume reduction. Secondly, for the same reason, the material is supplied very concisely and briefly, although it may be - on the contrary, dignity.

Quote from an interview with the author, which I liked:

- How do you think: for a user who aspires to the maximum level of security, knowledge is an application to the antivirus or, conversely, an antivirus - to knowledge? What should one rely more on?

- First of all, one should rely on common sense, and last but not least - on understanding the processes that may lead to infection.
Of course, if users recklessly download applications from dubious sites or arrange a championship for the speedy opening of investments in letters received from spammers, even the most modern antivirus will most likely not help them. Virus writers have a great knowledge of modern tools for bypassing antivirus detection, and until the new sample of the malware gets into the lab of the antivirus company, for some time it may not be detected by the security software at all. At the same time, it is enough to take elementary measures to ensure security - for example, regularly make backup copies of the most valuable files, use complex passwords, do not work in the system under an account with administrative authority, check suspicious files received via e-mail or downloaded from the Internet or using public services like VirusTotal, and the risk of infection can be significantly reduced. But for this you need at least to know what to fear.

Honestly, it is an extremely rare position in modern security. Unfortunately.

Where can one buy? To date, the book "PRO viruses" can be purchased:

• on the Internet: ordering on the website of the publishing house Strata;
• in St. Petersburg: in the House of Books (28 Nevsky Prospect) and at the book fair in the Palace of Culture N.K. Krupskaya (Obukhov Defense Ave., d. 105).
  

In the second half of September, the book will appear in Moscow - in the shops of Biblio-Globus (Myasnitskaya St., 6/3, p. 1) and the Moscow House of Books (Novy Arbat Street, 8).

The author is happy to accept comments and suggestions.