Violent Python: A Cookbook for Hackers, Forensic Analysts, Penetration Testers and Security Engineers 1st Edition

My hosting provider, and my own servers, have py, but that doesn't mean you have access to the libraries mentioned in this fine little book! It attempts to be both an introduction to Python and an intro to some sploits and some forensics. It does a good job if you're into either, and just now starting to learn some of your own Python coding.The "hot book" on Python Forensics right now is Hosmer-- Python Forensics: A workbench for inventing and sharing digital forensic technology-- much more detailed, more expensive, more recent, and a much tighter focus on forensics than the broader brush of this book, which includes some pen development. Elesevier always gives their text web resources in the format elsevierdirect dot com forward slash companion then the isbn. This book's code is not as error filled as some earlier reviews said, so I'm guessing that it has been updated and corrected. Again, you'll need library access, and the code isn't as well annotated as Hosmer or Ligh's fine and classic Malware Analyst's Cookbook and DVD: Tools and Techniques for Fighting Malicious Code, but remember it is pure Python, which will help both introduce and fill in some blanks in both Ligh and Hosmer.By the way, Ligh also has a new, wonderful book out on forensics: The Art of Memory Forensics: Detecting Malware and Threats in Windows, Linux, and Mac Memory, and of course Ligh uses Python in all his books, blogs and articles as the "behind the scenes" create your own resource. I'm also a developer and contribute to zsand dot com's sandboxes, and one thing this book is missing that you'll find in both Ligh and Hosmer, are COMBINATIONS of sploit software that let you customize or see things like little python windows adding elements to the bigger API. An example would be embedding any PE (dll/exe etc.) in a "harmless" looking extension like .pdf, a network update or even a non-kernel/root looking extension like a screen tip or update.Speaking of, since the authors of this book are all military, the upside is seeing how that world thinks (worked in it for some years), but the downside is their "courtesy." For example, they will say that the problem with a Google sploit is that it "requires a developer id which compromises anonymity" but completely ignores how easy it is to buy, hack, borrow or get those credentials, ids and codes anonymously online. This doesn't have to be black, it can even be for your own honeypot or a follow up on an attack where you don't want your developer id revealed even if you do have you own!Highly recommended for beginners and those with access to py libraries. The caveat is that the freeware and GNU libraries out there are not enough, although they are much better than they were when this text was written, and Hosmer also shows you how to go direct instead of relying on libraries when you can't get them.

Took a quick flick through to get an idea of the content and went back to cover the parts I am interested in.Although the book does cover some Python basics very well and steps through the install of both Python and packages used throughout the book, explaining why and where each one is needed I am not sure I would recommend the book to beginners and I do not think that is the target audience. If however you understand some programming basics and want to get into writing your own tools in Python this book will give you some of the most concise and well documented examples I have seen. Providing not just instructions on what you need to do but (more importantly) why you would want to do it. It provides the base scripts and the understanding leaving it up to the reader to take the script and expand on it as needed, an approach I like.The writing style is clear and easy to follow, I am working my way back through the sections on packet capture using the nmap libraries getting a lot of info as I go along. Without a doubt one of the best book purchases I have made and I would seriously recommend it to someone looking to write their own tools or to just get an understanding of Python hacking.

I have wanted to play around with the Python scripting language for a while, but life is busy and I never really got the opportunity. Then Violent Python showed up on my "to read" list. So I opened it and there were coding examples very early in the book. The author talks about creating a development environment and that is probably a good idea, but I work on a Mac, and hoped things would just work. So when we got to page 21, Your First Program, I just brought up a terminal window and typed in what it said on the page. It worked! That got me excited and I went back through the first chapter where the author introduces the language. I do not know that I will ever be a great Python scripter, but it is fun to know the basics. I spent the next four days playing with some of the examples. I could not do all the examples, for instance the Windows Registry, but I found the networking stuff to be fascinating. I do not personally aspire to become a penetration tester, but for anyone that does, I am confident this is an excellent resource.