I started reading Kali Linux Revealed because I wanted to learn a bit about the work of professional penetration testers. I’m also interested in the specific software tools those folks use. In my experience, books on GNU/Linux tend toward operator manuals, so I was fairly confident I’d find content like that here. I was disappointed on both fronts. While the book has some information on the trade of penetration testing, it’s limited to about 20 pages in the penultimate chapter.

By networking everything, we are making awesome things possible. I mean awesome in the sense of inspiring awe; much of the potential is also awful. The empowering nature of technology, particularly its tendency to become faster, cheaper, and simpler over time, means that destructive capabilities are being pushed down to small nations, corporations, organizations, and even individuals. In his latest book, Bruce Schneier tries to sort out the risks, precautions, and likely effects of this situation.