Database/Network/Security Book(s)

[j0k3r]

I went to a university fair today and realized I had to choose what I wanted to go into before going into university. I decided on the computer science course, and to specialize in in databases, networks, or security (or a combination?) because that's what interests me. Just to make sure these careers are what I think they are, I'm going to do some reading and buy a book about one (or all) this week.

Can somebody recommend some books to look at (Grok has some nice books, and the list is outdated!), or a website with an overview of these careers? Can somebody in the fields tell me how you like it?

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

Those are often "how-to" guides for using current technology; it gets boring fast. I'd suggest going into computer science research stuff.

[iago]

I've been reading Hacking Exposed for some time now at work.  It's quite interesting, I've learned a lot about both networking and hacking.

I would recommend signing up for mailing lists at securityfocus.com.  I subscribe to 6 different mailing lists there (bugtraq, security-basics, focus-linux, focus-ids, and others), and learn a lot just reading them.

But I get about 30 or 40 emails during the day, and that many more in the evening/night, every day from those lists.  But I enjoy reading them.

Mitnick's book on social engineering is apparently also quite good.  I'm going to read it after i'm done Hacking Exposed.  I forget what it's called, but I can get the name Monday.

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

I've read it. "Art of Deception", it's okay.

[iago]

I've read it. "Art of Deception", it's okay.

That's the one!  It looks like it's worth reading, and I will.