Chapter 16. Network Security Programming

Up to this point in the book, you have focused on learning how to write socket-enabled programs, whether they be client or server programs. No consideration has been given to securing your programs against external threats, which can come from the Internet or from hostile users within your own local area network (at a university, for example). This chapter will introduce you to

• How the inetd daemon can be used with the TCP wrapper concept to provide screening of clients

• How the TCP wrapper concept works

• How the TCP wrapper concept falls short in some areas

When you complete this chapter, you will fully understand how the TCP wrapper concept works and know how to apply it to servers that you might administer or write yourself.