Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons

A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Security and Privacy for Non-Techies

Paperback, 440 pages

English language

Published Sept. 12, 2020 by Apress.

ISBN:
978-1-4842-6188-0
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3 stars (2 reviews)

Rely on this practical, end-to-end guide on cyber safety and privacy written expressly for a non-technical audience. You will have just what you need to protect yourself―step by step, without judgment, and with as little jargon as possible. Just how secure is your computer right now? You probably don't know. Computers and the Internet have revolutionized the modern world, but if you are like most people, you have no clue how these things work and don't know the real threats.

Protecting your computer is like defending a medieval castle. While moats, walls, drawbridges, and castle guards can be effective, you would go broke trying to build something dragon-proof. This book is not about protecting yourself from a targeted attack by the NSA; it is about arming yourself against common hackers and mass surveillance. There are dozens of no-brainer things we all should be doing to protect our computers and safeguard …

1 edition

Made me unreasonably angry

1 star

His points of concern are on the mark -- passwords bad, watch out for phishing and snooping, digital literacy good. But his recommendations drove me up the wall; it seems like a big ad targeting the "for dummies" crowd and taking advantage of their fear. There was little mention of the counter-arguments against any of the software he is pushing. This is not a balanced rebuttal of poor security practices, and struck me as exploitative.

Amazing Book, for the Right Audience!

4 stars

Context: I consider myself on the advanced side of the privacy/security world. The goal of this review isn't to sound elitist, but rather to paint an accurate depiction of this book and who it's for.

For someone like myself, this book didn't provide a huge amount of value. There were occasional moments where Parker's input would make me consider different perspectives on privacy that I've never held - such as how individual privacy can directly & indirectly improve the privacy of others. But generally speaking, almost every piece of advice shared in this book I already accomplished on my own journey.

But that doesn't mean this book isn't massively important. This is the information the world needs to hear: How and why to use password managers, what browsers are and how to choose a private one, search engines, phones, 2FA, etc. Parker is able to expertly take advanced topics and …

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