ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my appreciation to former Managing Editor Will Pitkin, who asked me to do this project long before others saw the need for such an endeavor. I would also like to thank the entire editorial and production staff for their dedication and fortitude during this project, including Product Manager Natalie Pashoukos. Natalie kept her cool, even when it looked as though deadlines might be missed, and she let me have the extra time to give the best of what I and my co-authors had to share. Special thanks to Lisa Lord, the Developmental Editor and my savior when deadlines required a helping hand. Lisa is more than just an editor. Her sometimes never-ending questions about the way many complex topics were covered forced me to rethink my approach, making the text easier for you, the reader, to understand. In addition, thanks to Senior Content Project Manager Andrea Majot, who oversaw the process of shepherding chapters through production. I also appreciate the careful reading and thoughtful suggestions of Technical Editor John Bosco and the validation testing provided by Green Pen Quality Assurance. In addition, I would like to thank the peer reviewers who evaluated each chapter and offered helpful suggestions and contributions:

I would also like to express my appreciation to my two co-authors, Kent Backman and James Corley, who worked many hours updating and rewriting chapters in response to the almost daily changes in this industry we choose to work in. Special kudos to Kent, who lost many hours of sleep writing and configuring the hands-on activities and testing that they worked with his modified version of the BackTrack Linux OS. Thanks also to the security testers and IT colleagues who kept us on track and offered assistance: Pete Herzog, John Fortson, and especially Kevin Riggins, who provided technical input on creating the bootable BackTrack files.