Today, the hacking industry is expanding quickly, so it is creating a ton of brand-new employment possibilities. Hacking requires a lot of learning. You will become a better hacker the more information you have.
These ten books might aid you in learning and working. These books can help you learn new concepts and find answers to your issues.
We’ll figure out the pros and cons of each of them to get you started purchasing your favorites. You’ll learn new concepts from these books on hacking, which will undoubtedly improve your hacking abilities. Well, let’s read on to discover!
1. Hands-On Ethical Hacking and Network Defense
Specification
- Author: Michael T. Simpson
- Language: English
- Print length: 512 pages
- Publish date: 2016
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Reason To Buy
- Explaining what a security and penetration tester does
- Including several useful hacking tools and simple lessons
- Providing a comprehensive grasp of how to safeguard computer networks
- Aiding you in learning the fundamentals of penetration testing and hacking
Review
I adored this book’s first edition the most, which introduced me to the OSSTMM. It is carefully written and does a great job of explaining what a security and penetration tester does.
This book describes penetration testing techniques employed by ethical hackers. It gives a comprehensive grasp of how to safeguard computer networks.
It explains ethical hackers’ roles in defending government and business data from cyberattacks. I also come across updated computer security materials that discuss new vulnerabilities and cutting-edge network security techniques.
It aids you in learning the fundamentals of penetration testing and hacking. It includes several useful hacking tools and simple lessons.
Excellent in every way, the book offers valuable insight into the hacking world and how to guard against it. Anyone desiring a career in network security or IT should check it out!
A special warning to anybody thinking about purchasing this book: make sure it comes with a CD. When I bought mine, the CD did not arrive with the book. However, you can generally get the necessary online software for free.
2. The Basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing
Specification
- Author: Patrick Engebretson
- Language: English
- Print length: 225 pages
- Publish date: 2013
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Reason To Buy
- Covering simple hacks, such as Metasploit
- Offering relevant, practical knowledge
- Leading the reader through a fictitious pen-testing experience
Review
The book covers simple hacks, such as Metasploit, to show the tools’ functionality. The book is quite readable, and the author knows how to hold a reader’s interest while offering relevant, practical knowledge.
I used Nmap to identify a vulnerability and related exploit and constructed and exploited it using Metasploit. It was my first hack, and I’m still proud of it.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the book’s structure and flow, which led the reader through a fictitious pen-testing experience.
Yet, it offers a general overview, not a comprehensive look at the instruments involved. You will only appreciate or gain from this book if you are new.
3. The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook
Specification
- Author: Dafydd Stuttard
- Language: English
- Print length: 912 pages
- Publish date: 2011
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Reason To Buy
- Coming with excellent, in-depth material
- Provide strategies for attacking and protecting web applications
- Code samples in various languages: ASP.NET, JavaScript, C++, and Java
Review
This book has several tactics and strategies for attacking and protecting web applications. The chapters at the start go through the key elements of websites.
In the middle of the book, “Hack Steps” for various components, including the client side, databases, sessions, and authentication, get more detailed. The sections on writing custom code demonstrate how to create a web app probe.
The remainder of the book is jam-packed with excellent, in-depth material. This book is ideal if you already have an essential grasp of the functions of SQL injection but want to learn more.
Code samples were in various languages, including ASP.NET, JavaScript, C++, and Java. The authors mention multiple resources you might utilize to gather more information about a website, such as the Burp Suite, a program they created.
The book’s publishing date is listed as 2011. One problem was that I needed to figure out which strategies were still helpful and which could be outdated.
The standard reference for web application hacking is still this book. There is currently no other book that is as comprehensive and covers every aspect of defense and exploitation as this one.
4. Hacking: The Art of Exploitation
Specification
- Author: Jon Erickson
- Language: English
- Print length: 488 pages
- Publish date: 2008
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Reason To Buy
- Coming with LiveCD with all the code
- Covering the fundamentals of Unix
- Providing solid examples and explanations
- Material on network exploitation
Review
It begins with the terminologies and ideas necessary to comprehend the detailed technical sections that follow. It is simple to follow along with each part because the book has a LiveCD with all the code.
After covering the fundamentals of Unix, the book develops other parts. Most of the applications are condensed and simple to understand.
The exploits for heap overflows, stack overflows, and format strings are well-discussed, and each subject provides solid examples and explanations.
It is worth reading for anyone interested in entering the world of cybersecurity. If you need to deal with exploits, you must have this book on your bookshelf.
This book is an excellent resource for understanding x86 microcomputer architecture. A newbie shouldn’t have this.
The second version, released in 2008, requires an upgrade. A number of the book’s themes might have more value if they come with more clarification.
5. Hands-on Hacking – Become An Expert
Specification
- Author: Matthew Hickey
- Language: English
- Print length: 608 pages
- Publish date: 2020
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Reason To Buy
- Covering hacking techniques
- Predicting hazards to data and computer networks
- Guiding the reader via some fundamental tasks before posing obstacles
- Providing a laboratory to practice the things you’ve just learned
Review
I learned how to better use hacking techniques in Hands-On Hacking to grasp actual hazards to data and computer networks.
This book took me on a journey from a hacker’s perspective, examining how to access servers and data while focusing on a target company’s computer system.
It does a fantastic job of guiding the reader through some fundamental tasks before posing obstacles. This excellent resource gives you an understanding of the structure of the sector, its procedures, and enough practical experience to let you establish your position in the game.
I adore this book because it provides a laboratory to practice the things you’ve just learned. Because of this, Learning is a lot more pleasurable.
This book dramatically covers the tools, techniques, skills, and ethical concerns required to develop into a skilled penetration tester. The book has several practical tasks, examples, and laboratories to complete.
The history of services and methodologies, as well as the moral and legal issues you must take into account, are covered in great detail throughout the book. I recommend this book to anyone looking to gain facts rather than theory.
6. Advanced Penetration Testing
Specification
- Author: Wil Allsopp
- Language: English
- Print length: 288 pages
- Publish date: 2017
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Reason To Buy
- Discussing new tools
- Proving various hacking techniques
- Outlining a pen-testing scenario
- Including APT, real scenarios, and technologies
- Essential for anybody involved in defensive and offensive security
Review
This book is in a league compared to other pen-testing books. Wil Allsopp discusses creating new tools from scratch rather than just demonstrating how to utilize popular pen-testing tools.
It includes APT, real scenarios, and technologies that are truly useful in addition to much more than simply pen-testing. Because it discusses how actual hostile actors approach businesses and steal their crucial data, this book is essential for anybody involved in defensive and offensive security.
This book’s sample hacking scenario chapters follow one another. However, each chapter also examines various hacking techniques in multiple settings. It’s not a book of theory; instead, it discusses actual cases of network hacking.
Each chapter walks you through creating a framework to mimic APTs while outlining a pen-testing scenario based on an actual author engagement. You can see the author’s considerable knowledge and sense of humor in every line of the book.
Anyone interested in network security or fieldwork should check it out. To comprehend and use the book, you will need a college degree in engineering or computer science.
7. Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking
Specification
- Author: Georgia Weidman
- Language: English
- Print length: 528 pages
- Publish date: 2014
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Reason To Buy
- Teaching about penetration testing and Kali Linux principles
- Providing the explanations, examples, and diagrams
- Well-written and straightforward-to-read
Review
You may learn a lot about penetration testing and Kali Linux principles from this book. I chose this book since I’m trying to change jobs and get into security.
It covers every tool and approaches a pen tester may want to use. It walks you through the explanations, examples, and diagrams that all teach you how to carry out a penetration test step by step.
The book’s body includes five sections with twenty excellent chapters. A chapter summary summarizing the key points appears at the end of each chapter.
Thanks to the author’s detailed step-by-step instructions, I successfully implemented a pen-testing environment. He also gave me lessons on other programming languages that I can utilize when I examine information resources.
The book is well-written and simple to read. I appreciate the screenshots since they helped me visually understand what the author was referring to.
Overall, this book significantly contributes to the field of information security and is expected to help develop competent future practitioners.
I suggest you read this book if you are curious about penetration testing, interested in learning more about the subject, or both.
8. The Tangled Web
Specification
- Author: Michal Zalewski
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- Publish date: 2011
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Reason To Buy
- A tour of the architecture of well-known browsers, protocols, and servers
- Providing something more potent than the typical security acronyms
- Predicting development of the danger and the history of the internet
Review
Michal Zalewski takes us on a tour of the architecture of well-known browsers, protocols, servers, and everything in between in this book as he traces its development over time. This book will give you something more potent than the typical security acronyms.
Hacking is abundant in this book. It demonstrates the flaws in browsers and provides a great walkthrough of potential exploits you may use in their strategy for attack.
The book reviews the history of the web’s evolution and how many problems have arisen in chapter 1. According to Zalewski, the noticeable and non-technical characteristic of web browsers is that most users are the least skilled.
Most of the book describes individual issues and how you might resolve them.
Zalewski walks the reader through the development of the danger and the history of the internet. This book was one of my best chapters since it gave the online security issue a much-needed perspective.
This is a challenging book on development, but it will raise your level of proficiency. Every web developer should read this book.
9. Linux Basics for Hackers
Specification
- Author: OccupyTheWeb
- Language: English
- Print length: 248 pages
- Publish date: 2018
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Reason To Buy
- Brief application exercise
- Cover the fundamentals of using Linux
- An introduction to the Linux operating system
Review
This book gives a superb introduction to the Linux operating system and explains how it functions. I appreciate how the author breaks down each idea.
It gently introduces and offers the reader practice with Debian Linux’s fundamental systems management.
The book’s introduction covers the fundamentals of using Linux. As part of dealing with network security, the author also gets into building Python scripts, which you will need to utilize.
He presents practical solutions for hosting Kali without danger and obtaining the most information. He carefully explains installing and running Kali Linux at the disk partition.
The author describes how to utilize the system without being tedious and includes screenshots of the various operations.
A brief application exercise concludes each chapter to help you remember what you’ve just learned. I suggest performing the activities on your personal Kali VM.
This book won’t turn you into an expert hacker. However, if you want to understand how to rapidly get up and running with Kali using the fundamentals of Linux, get this book.
10. Hacking: The Underground Guide to Computer Hacking
Specification
- Author: Abraham K White
- Language: English
- Print length: 230 pages
- Publish date: 2017
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Reason To Buy
- Outlining the procedures for a hacker
- Discussing the fundamentals of self-protection
- A comprehensive list of essential safety advice
Review
Abraham White outlines the procedures a hacker would take to accomplish it. You may get an excellent understanding of what is happening when someone breaks into your computer from this.
He discusses the fundamentals of self-protection. You receive a comprehensive list of essential safety advice on how to avoid visiting dubious websites.
Things can still sneak past virus protection. For your safety, it is crucial to employ these additional techniques. This book has opened my eyes. It explores all the potential threats to your personal information, website, and databases.
I’m pleased I read it since it helped me understand how intricate hacking may be and how I can improve my online personal security. I believe that this book is detailed and aids in your safety.
Buying Guide
How can you be sure the book is making a worthwhile point? Here are some strategies for doing it correctly.
Author
Picking your favorite author is a simple alternative. The author’s writing style and the issues discussed will be more appealing to you and acceptable.
Read the author’s introduction on the book covers if you need help choosing between many titles. The brand for the book is the author’s name, which attests to its value and caliber.
Looking at the blurb
You should read the blurb if you’ve found a book that aesthetically impresses you. A synopsis sometimes referred to as a blurb, is a concise summary and description of a book that is typically found on a book’s cover.
FAQs
How Many Types of Hackers?
White hat hackers, black hat hackers, and gray hat hackers are the three main types. Though unauthorized access to computers, networks, or systems, is frequently associated with hackers, not all hacking is malevolent or prohibited.
Is hacking bad?
Most people believe that hacking is illegal, but it may be a tremendous benefit. Often referred to as ethical hackers, white hat hackers utilize their expertise to safeguard and advance technology. By locating weaknesses, they offer vital services to stop potential security breaches.
What is the role of the ethical hacker?
An ethical hacker’s role is to report flaws or issues and look for solutions to strengthen the system’s defenses.
What code do hackers use?
One of the most important programming languages for hacking into web applications is JavaScript. Because JavaScript is used by the majority of web applications, understanding JavaScript helps hackers to find vulnerabilities and exploit the web.
What are the job prospects for ethical hackers?
- Information Security Analyst
- Certified Ethical Hacker
- Security Consultant
- Penetration Tester
Learn more about salary and career opportunities in this article.
Conclusion
This post’s selection of the 10 hacking books may need to be more. Yet, we presented the top choices that are helpful for beginners to expert players.
Hands-On Ethical Hacking and Network Defense is a great option. It will familiarize you with the abilities to become an authority in cybersecurity.
Do you have any inquiries for us about this subject? Please leave them in the article’s comment area. Thank you for your interest in the article!