[ISN] REVIEW: "CISSP Exam Notes", K. Wan

[InfoSec News]

Forwarded from: "Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rslade at sprint.ca>

BKCISPEN.RVW   20050330

"CISSP Exam Notes", K. Wan, 2003, 988-97323-1-9, U$24.95
%A   K. Wan kplab at pacific.net.hk
%C   Hong Kong
%D   2003
%G   988-97323-1-9
%I   KP Lab Limited
%O   U$24.95 http://www.kp-lab.com/
%O   http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=91-9889732319-0
%O   Audience i- Tech 2 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation)
%P   196 p. (PDF ebook)
%T   "CISSP Exam Notes - All you need to pass the exam"

This appears to be a self-published ebook, available from the author,
in PDF format.  Despite the fact that an ebook softcopy could readily
be edited, it has not been updated in the two years since it was
published: some of the CISSP requirements have changed since then, and
the book does not reflect that.

The ten domains of the CISSP CBK (Common Body of Knowledge) are
covered in ten chapters, with the material provided in point form. 
The structure and flow of the material bears a striking resemblance to
the slides in the (ISC)^2 CISSP review seminar.  However, given minor
discrepancies, I suspect that the book is not directly based on the
(ISC)^2 slides, but rather on another course that, itself, was based
on the (ISC)^2 CBK review seminar.  (In response to the initial draft
of this review, the author responded that his ebook was based on the
other books that followed the course outline, rather than on the
course itself.)  (Wan's company, KP Lab, seems to be restricted to
producing training guides for various certifications.)

As noted, the points in the book follow the structure of the course
slides.  There is usually a sentence or phrase expanding or explaining
each point from the Common Body of Knowledge listing, so the material
is slightly longer than the subject outline that is available from the
(ISC)^2 site.  The explanations are, however, briefer even than those
in the first edition of "The CISSP Prep Guide" by Krutz and Vines (cf.
BKCISPPG.RVW), which is, itself, one of the tersest guides on the
market.  As with that work, and other similar texts, if you do not
already know the content, this tome will not help you very much. 
Unlike most other CISSP study guides, there are no "sample" questions.

Overall, the points are reasonably well selected.  (The section on
malware is very disappointing, and the section on legal concepts is
rather weak.)  The material is more up-to-date than any other besides
the "Official (ISC)^2 Guide to the CISSP Exam" (cf. BKOIGTCE.RVW).  In
terms of books dealing with an overall familiarization with the topics
to be covered on the CISSP exam, this one does have an advantage in
price, and in speed of access.  (I requested a copy directly from the
author by email, and got it within two hours.  If, for example, you
are in a boot camp course situation, you may need all the help you can
get, quickly.)

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2005   BKCISPEN.RVW   20050330


======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade at vcn.bc.ca      slade at victoria.tc.ca      rslade at sun.soci.niu.edu
                      E Pluribus Modem
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev    or    http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade