I am a senior engineer for network security operations. I read "Computer Forensics: Incident Response Essentials" (CFIRE) because I am responsible for performing intrusion detection and incident response on a daily basis. Those with similar skills will probably consider CFIRE too basic. Those working outside the information technology world may find CFIRE enlightening.
I'm a graduate of the SANS System Forensics, Investigation, and Response course and have read "Incident Response: Investigating Computer Crime" (IRICC) by Mandia, Prosise, and Pepe. In my opinion, CFIRE does not offer any new or truly significant material. For example, chapter 2 ("Tracking an Offender") offers several pages on how to find the headers in Outlook messages. Elsewhere, one discovers very elementary information on UNIX commands, searching Windows hard drives, and understanding UNIX file systems. All of this appears in other books or is common knowledge for IT staff.
I was disappointed that the impressive reviewer list did not detect several errors. As a fairly young network engineer, I still recognized this mistake on page 32: "When you dial to an ISP with a modem, you might use a layer 3 protocol called Point to Point Protocol (PPP). Referring back to Figure 2-1, layer 3 is the network layer, and in the case of a dial-up connection, PPP replaces IP." Untrue -- PPP is actually a layer 2 protocol; IP is used above PPP. Furthermore, figure 2-1 on page 24 presents numerous problems: NetBEUI spans layers 3 to 5 (not 3 to 4), web browsers and email clients do not belong at layer 7 (they are applications which call layer 7 protocols), and so on. Also, page 121 claims "you cannot delete an alternate stream from the command line." However, page 193 of "Hacking Exposed: Windows 2000" demonstrates how to remove streams.
On the positive side, CFIRE will probably not scare non-IT staff. They will probably find the numerous tables, screen shots, and references useful. This book could be viewed as a gentle introduction to the incident response and forensics field, especially for the Microsoft Windows crowd.
Two types of staff wear "computer forensics" hats. The first type investigate misuse of computers, typically by authorized personnel. This group is happy to know how to image a drive and search the copy for signs of illicit images or software. The second type investigates compromises, where unknown (usually remote) parties have penetrated a network and used machines for their own purposes. This group will be unsatisfied when CFIRE states on page 132 "we don't anticipate that most readers of this book will become this specialized." If you need that deep level of knowledge, read "Incident Response: Investigating Computer Crime."
(Disclaimer: The publisher provided a free review copy.)