Ajax Security is out and the feedback I'm getting is incredible.

Andrew van der Stock The Executive Director of OWASP reviewed a draft of Ajax Security and here is what he had to say about it:

If you are writing or reviewing Ajax code, you need this book. Billy and Bryan have done a stellar job in a nascent area of our field, and deserve success. Go buy this book. I can’t wait for it to come out.

Is it just a re-hash of old presentations? No. The book breaks some new ground, and fills in a lot of the blanks in all of our presentations and demos. I hadn’t heard of some of these attacks in book form before. The examples improved my knowledge of DOM and other injections considerably, so there’s something there for the advanced folks as well as the newbies.

I really liked the easy, laid back writing style. Billy and Bryan’s text is straightforward and easy to understand. They get across the concepts in a relatively new area of our field.

The structure flows pretty well, building upon what you’ve already learnt ...
there is advanced stuff, but the authors have to bring the newbie audience along for the ride.

Billy and Bryan spend a bit of time repeating the old hoary “no new attacks in Ajax” meme which is big with the popular kids (mainly because their products can’t detect or scan Ajax code yet and still want money from you), and then spend the rest of the book debunking their own propaganda with a wonderful panache that beats the meme into a bloody pulp and buries it for all time.

Some choice quotes from web security guru dre:

The book, Ajax Security, covered a lot of new material that hadn’t been seen or talked about in the press or the security industry. The authors introduced Ajax security topics with ease and provided greater understanding of how to view Javascript malware, tricks, and the aberrant Javascript worms from a security perspective.

Here are some of the “new” concepts that I enjoyed most Hijacking Ajax apps, Attacking Offline Ajax apps, Ajax proxy exposure of third-party XML/JSON data.

I really enjoyed the suggested defenses against “mashup” attacks as well as JSON API Hijacking. Without going into detail (I don’t want to ruin the book and the authors’ hard work), I can say that the explanations are not only better than mine — but that the imagination and creativity for optimal solutions were clearly first and foremost in the authors’ intentions. This is really where their good intentions shined.

The authors also did a great job ... exposing all of the intricacies of Ajax, HTTP, HTML, and XHR abuse issues. They showed that with great power comes great responsibility. The level of attack capability that HTTP/XHR can muster is scary indeed.

It’s quite possible that many Star Wars Ajax security fans will be calling Billy Hoffman, the great “Obi-Wan”, and pdp “Lord Vader” to represent the “light” and “dark” sides that is The Force behind the power wielded by Ajax.

You definitely don’t want to miss out on what they have to say about attacking [the Presentation Layer]! There hasn’t been a lot of research that I’ve seen, and some of the attacks seem incredibly daunting.

Here comes the best part! I know that a lot of you are curious if the book covers Samy. Of course it does! The book also covers the less exciting but discussion-relevant Yammaner worm. I was very excited to read this chapter, but also afraid of some of the “dark side” prescriptions it gave.

I haven't seen it in physical stores yet, but people who order from Amazon or directly from Addison Wesley have received their copies only a few days after ordering. I cannot express how happy I am that the book is getting such good attention. It's just more proof of Ajax Security Acceptance in the industry.

Ajax Security Book Out! Awesome buzz!