the best part is the pic of the gibson from hackers

What Chris, you've never hacked a gibson?? They TOTALLY look like that!

Take a look around and you'll find websites hosting all of this material. You'll often see some wise guys at computer fairs selling these CDs with easily downloadable content for £5 or so. It's almost always full of out of date and/or inaccurate information.

Sadly the best part of these compilation CDs will no doubt be the ripped off e-books where not a penny will go to the author. You might not like the price tag on Amazon, but paying some scrote to burn and label CD just isn't fair.

Jimbob

Here is the info on "Gibson" via Urban Dictionary.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hack+the+Gibson

Brian

"Gibson" is a term used to refer to some of the most secure servers in the world. This nickname comes from Steve Gibson of Gibson Research, who created ground breaking programs such as SecurAble and the most advanced port scanner in the world, ShieldsUP. He also accurately predicted the end of the world when MS introduced raw socket support to Windows XP.

He's also got a great write-up about a series of DDoS attacks on his web site and how he dealt with it. It's quite old, but still a thrilling read!! 

Gibson is controversial in security circles due to what some see is a "sky is falling" alertism stance. I believe too many drop all his packets when he goes into this mode. Steve has some good content, tools, and some great podcasts for beginners.

Furthermore, he has the best podcast format and is the most consistent producer among the podcasters, and he doesn't do any of those ridculous "cool hacker" skits, whizbang sound effects, and burping/farting/beer jokes.

However, like most things on the Internet, you have to read and listen with a critical mind and check the facts. But overall, I think he's worth the time.