Acknowledgments

This book would not exist, be complete, or be nearly as good if it were not for the work and help of many people. My biggest thanks go to the people believing in the open source philosophy, the Apache developers, and the network and application security communities. It is a privilege to be able to work with you. A book like this cannot exist in isolation. Others have made it possible to write this book by allowing me to stand on their shoulders. Much of their work is referenced throughout the book, but it is impossible to mention it all.

Some people have had a more direct impact on my work. I thank Nathan Torkington and Tatiana Diaz for signing me up with O'Reilly and giving me the opportunity to have my book published by a publisher I respect. My special thanks and gratitude go to my editor, Mary Dageforde, who showed great patience working with me on my drafts. I doubt the book would be nearly as useful, interesting, or accurate without her. My reviewers, Rich Bowen, Dr. Anton Chuvakin, and Sebastian Wolfgarten were there for me to give words of encouragement, very helpful reviews, and a helping hand when it was needed.

I would like to thank Robert Auger, Ryan C. Barnett, Mark Curphey, Jeremiah Grossman, Anders Henke, and Peter Sommerlad for being great people to talk to and work with. My special thanks goes to the merry members of #port80, who were my first contact with the web security community and with whom I've had great fun talking to.

My eternal gratitude goes to my wife Jelena, for inspiring me to lead a better life, and encouraging me to do more and go further. She deserves great credit for putting up with me in the months I did nothing else but work on the book. Finally, I'd like to thank my parents and my family, for bringing me up the way they have, to always seek more but to be at peace with myself over where I am.