CISSP All-In-One Exam Guide [With CDROM]

by Shon Harris

Book Overview

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071497870
• ISBN13: 9780071497879
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media
• Length: 1145 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.5" x 7.7" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Best-of-class to prepare for the CISSP

***Please note this review is for the 3rd Edition of this book.*** I sat for and passed the CISSP test in January 2006. I used the following resources to help in passing the CISSP: Shon Harris - All-in-One - 3rd Edition - 30% Official ISC Guide to the CISSP Exam - 15% Kurtz - CISSP Prep Guide - Gold Edition - 10% CISSP for Dummies - 5% Cccure.org - 25% Other resources - 15% "All-In-One CISSP Exam Guide - 3rd Edition" by Shon Harris is a great resource to prepare for the CISSP. I read the entire book through, once, and regularly referenced it. The book can be `balmy', with a lot of fluff, but I believe it covers the 10 CBKs the most thoroughly. I found the book covered 90% of what is required for the CISSP. In particular, I did need to supplant my studies for better understanding of Disaster Recovery Planning. If you are at the later stages of preparing for the exam, the book may not be necessary. I did not beleive the questions presented any value (certainly not as much as cccure.org) I did not find many typos/editorial mistakes in the third edition but one of interest: -Page 924, 2nd paragraph - in relation to TCP and UDP port numbers - "The first 1024 [ports] are said to be well-known ports." Correct. The book then states "This means that a specific port number under 1025 is usually mapped to a well-known and use port." Incorrect, port numbering starts at port 0, and thus ports 0-1023 are well-known. Port 1024 is not a well-known port. Reference page 434 for clarification. If preparing for the CISSP, I feel you cannot go wrong by studying "All-In-One CISSP Exam Guide - 3rd Edition". Prepare to chew up a few hours to get through the book, but I believe the time invested will be worth it. I give this book 5 pings out of 5: !!!!!

I'll try to be serious

I've read some reviews and they are very controversial, so if you feel you're getting confused read this.I've just got a confirmation that I passed the test, and I used only this book for studying. So that books is definitly not a joke and can get you through.Why the reviews are so different? First, the author's style. It's more like recorded lectures then a reference. The author included some jokes and funny examples. They are perfectly correct, not abusive, they add some spice to a highly proffesional text and I personally love them because they make reading that huge book not so boring, but looks like the fact the style is different drives some people mad. Second, the nature of the exam. The covered area is very wide and includes more topic then most people normally know and use. So many readers think the topics they know the best could be written better. The problem is because of so wide coverage you can not go deeper then a certain level. The book is almost 1000 pages long and I personally think it's well balanced and provides adequate knowledge for the test. Yes, some chapters could be extended but then you'd be overwhelmed by the volume and I doubt it would improve your passing score significantly.Some people complained about mistakes. Well, it's true, there are some. But, it's the same idea here. They are not crucial and don't really affect your score much. It's like if you need to get to the airport and you friend offers help you don't really care what car he has. But if you go to dealership to buy a car every minor option gets so important. Same idea here. If your goal is to pass the test, the book can be used as the only training material and provides adequate up-to-date information in a resonable volume for a pretty cheap price. The book does it's job and does it well. It also has some personality so you may love or hate it, but it's just your emotional perception. The knowledge is there.

Took the CISSP exam 9/31/02 and PASSED.

The CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide was the best of the half-dozen sources that I used. I'd rate it a must-have if you want to take the exam. I also used the The CISSP Prep Guide but switched to Shon's book halfway through.The CISSP exam is immature; that is, many of the questions appear convoluted for the sake of being obtuse. I doubt seriously if your score on this exam corralates to your true ability. That said, it is a necessary benchmark of a very broad subject. And having talked to people taking the test for second time, I'm told the test is improving. That's about all I can say about the test; you have to sign in blood not to discuss it once you take it. Most people walk out having no idea if they did well; my peers were no exception.I took the course that Shon teaches at the Intense School (see cccure.org for a link and useful study materials). It is a great course and a terrific value. Everything is taken care of in the course cost (hotel, food, snacks - and they don't skimp). Shon is an excellent and patient instructor with an in-depth understanding. Her pointers on the test were worth about 15 extra questions right; possibily the difference between passing and not for many of us. But the course is not for the meek. It is 8:30 to 6:30 for 6 days, followed by the exam. By the 3rd day most of us (including kids 15 years younger than me) were feeling beat -- only 500 pages and halfway thru the course material. But everyone I talked with though that it was well worth it. The only critism of Shon's book is that her sample test questions were far easier than the actual test. She admits it; her questions are to help you know if you understand the material. If her questions were like the test, everyone would think she couldn't write a decent test question (and they would be right!). But her material is dead-on. I should have studied operational security more than I did. There was far less on cyptography - the hardest subject - than I expected. With over 20 year experience in 9 of of the 10 domains, the exam wasn't a cakewalk. But Shon's CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide did make me much more confident about passing the exam.I have no financial or other interest in the Intense School or Shon's book. I'm just a very satisfied customer (and hopefully a CISSP now!).Update: Got my CISSP and so did everyone is my 4 person study clique - including one person who was sure that she wouldn't pass becuase she didn't have a strong security background. So the Intense School course was a big gain for her.

The Best Available in Market

I enjoy reading this book very much. I believe that this book is the best so far in the market for CISSP and as an introduction and survey to provide a solid framework for the field, and especially for those to prepare CISSP. It is very well written as a summary (better and comprehensive than "The CISSP Prep Guide" by Krutz, et al) with the orignial and critical sources. My delight and best part of this book: for each topic the author kindly provides the web sites (for further study and reading). CISSP test is very general (generic, and not for a specific product or service) and thus a frustration. But that is what CISSP is about. For professional and marketable working knowledge, use this book as a framework, along with many other good books such as (1) Incident Response (by Mandia & Prosise) and (2) Hacking Exposed (2nd ed, by Scambray, McClure, Kurtz) or (3) Maximum Security (3rd ed, Anonymous), or (4) Counter Hack by Stoudis, to supplement the reading and case study.

Really all you will need

I have been studying for the CISSP exam for several months and bought one other study guide (the Prep Guide). Studying the stack of books ISC2 indicates seemed to only confuse me and overwhelm me with what exactly was the information I needed to know for the exam and the Prep Guide flew through concepts I thought were actually very important.The All-In-One guide seems to have an amazing amount of coverage over the concepts ISC2 indicates in their outline of topics that is on the exam. It seems like 10-12 books have been combined into one, which makes it a lot easier to understand and digest.I am very appreciative that this book is available for me.