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Top 15 Best Hacking Books Updated 03 /2024

Dennis Lehane
  Mar 29, 2024 2:11 AM

Here we ranked and reviewed the top 15 Best Hacking Books that are highly rated by 14,622 customers.

 


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    Times 10 Publications
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Best Hacking Books

From now on, we're going to write down what people want us to write down. Hacking Books that came out in 2022 aren't the only ones on this list. It also includes all the books that are worth talking about right now. It doesn't matter how many years have passed, some classics will always be talked about. Even if they haven't been updated, they still have a lot of value. It's a question I get from you all the time, whether it's on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or in an email. Which Ethical Hacking Books should I buy to start?

People often ask, "What are the best Hacking Books?" or "Do you think books are a good way to learn?." In today's world, there are so many ways to learn, and I know that. We have YouTube, and we have a ton of online courses that cover every subject you can think of. But I'm a big fan of a good book. Why? Because it takes a lot of work to make a good book.

The best way to improve your content is to revise it over and over again, cut out unnecessary content, and distill it down to the best version you can make. A book is much more interesting than a short YouTube video because the content is usually very well chosen.

That said, I think books are a great way to learn. Also, you can put paper bookmarks in your book so you can quickly look up something if you need to.

This is not just a list of the best hacking books. It is also a list of my favorite books. I own all of the books I recommend on this page. I think they are good.

The order of this list isn't important. All of the books on this list are worth reading in any order.

There is a Ceos3c Amazon store where you can buy all of the books that we have.

If you want to learn more about Ethical Hacking or Bug Bounties, you can follow my YouTube Channel. I often post beginner-friendly Ethical Hacking tutorials there. I also stream Live Hacking CTF's twice a week on Twitch, and I do that twice a week. I've also started a new series called "The Ethical Hacking Diaries," where I write weekly summaries of things I've learned in the past week on my way to becoming a Bug Bounty Hunter. I write about what I've learned in the past week.

Let's start with the real article. In case you have any questions or suggestions about this list, feel free to send me a tweet at any time!

The Best Hacking Books in 2022

Below are some of my favorite hacking books for 2022 that I think you should read.

The Hackers Playbook 2 by Peter Kim

There is a beginner-friendly level in this game

As a last choice, this would be it.

There was a lot that I learned from this book. People start out with this at the right speed. You learn how to set up a lab and how to use all the tools that a professional Penetration Tester would use to do their job.

People who work as penetration testers might refer to this book as a "Penetration Tester Guide." People who work as red team hackers might refer to this book as a "Red Team Guide." In a little while, I'll explain why these two are different from each other. I think you should read the second edition before the third edition. Both of these books are great, but the second edition is a little easier to start with.

What else does this book teach you? You learn how to set up a lab and use Kali Linux.

Passive exploration is when you don't do anything to find (OSINT)

Lists of passwords

There is a service called Active Directory that helps you

Scanning for flaws

Exploitation

There are a lot of things you need to think about when

How to move through a network

Social engineering is a way to get people to do

Pwd Cracking

Many more things. Among the best things about Peter is that he doesn't skip steps that he thinks you already know. This kind of author is so cool. A lot of this is already clear: I love this book and can't recommend it enough. If you had to pick one book to start with, this would be it!

The Hackers Playbook 3 by Peter Kim

There is a beginner-friendly level in this game

In the same way that The Hackers Playbook 2 evolved into The Hackers Playbook 3, so did The Hackers Playbook 3. This is one of the best hacking books I've ever read. It's in the top three of all time. I've read both of the books. The third one even beats the second one by a little bit.

In this video, Peter shows you how to do a penetration test. He takes you through all of the steps. A penetration tester will help you set up your own pentest environment and then show you how to do everything in a penetration test, from reconnaissance to web application exploits. He also shows you how to avoid AV and IDS, as well as how to get around them.

This book is a good introduction to Web Application testing. There is a vulnerable Web Application in this book that shows you how to use some newer techniques that are used today. On top of that, there are attacks on NodeJS, SQL Injection, and some more advanced XSS techniques that can be used. Many of my friends have read this book and say it's a great start for anyone who wants to learn how to read.

This book taught me a lot. There are a lot of useful techniques in this book that can help you improve your skills. I read through it several times. Peter Kim is a great teacher.

I will say that this book is more difficult than the second one. Before you buy the third edition, you should read the second one first. The techniques here are more advanced, so you'd be better off reading the second one first. There is also a lot of information about what it means to be a Red Teamer and what it means to be a Penetration Tester, which is really interesting to find out.

Finally, you need to be able to tell your clients what you found. This book also shows you how to do that.

I do highly recommend adding this book to your Ethical Hacking Books library!

Real-World Bug Hunting by Peter Yaworski

Suitable for people who are just starting out to people who are intermediate level

The most recent thing in this guide. Doing Bug Bounty Hunting and learning more about this field have been the main things I've been doing for the last few months. In 2019, this book came out. It's very new and up to date! Peter is a security expert who tries to give people who have no experience in this field a way in. I think he did a good job. I think this book is one of the best hacking books I've ever read. It's in my top three.

 

A very good book about Web Application Security / Bug Hunting is in this book. It talks about a lot of important things. You'll learn about Bug Bounty Basics after that. Then, it goes over all of the most common types of Web Vulnerabilities.

When you open Redirect, you can see what is going on

Pollution of the HTTP Parameter

Request Forgery that goes across the web

HTML is injected.

Line Feed Injection when the carriage comes back

Scripting that goes across the web

Injection of SQL

SSRF

XEE

RCE's

IDOR's

...and more. Afterward, there are some real reports of bugs that were found through the Hackerone Bug Bounty Program, including how the bug was found, where it was found, and how much it paid. This kind of information makes the whole thing a little easier to understand, because you can see real-life examples of what this kind of information is.

You'll find a lot more interesting things at the end of the book, like how to find your own bug bounty.

This section talks about everything from how to do reconnaissance to how to automate your testing, and so on.

The last part of the book talks about Report Writing, which I think is very important to know. If you want to learn something, Peter does a great job of explaining it and making it easy to understand. Really, you can see how much he has learned from this book.

Starting out with Bug Bounties? This is the book for you. You don't have to start reading the huge book called the Web Application Hacker's Handbook right away. I think this book is great for any beginner, any time.

RTFM: Red Team Field Manual by Ben Clark

the same level is used for all of them

I think that the Red Team Field Manual is a must-have for people who want to learn how to hack things. This is not a book that you use to study. This is a Red Team Reference Guide that you can use. This guide tells you how to say some of the most common commands in Linux and Windows. It also has Python Scripts and Windows PowerShell tips in it.

Whenever I go on a job or on a hacking-related trip, I always take this book with me to read. Many of my own notes and changes are also on it. For the price, I think it's worth getting a copy. Put it under your pillow while you sleep, and always have it with you. Great book.

Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition by Jon Erickson

The intermediate level

You might not be able to find a Hacker or Cybersecurity expert who doesn't like this book. This is one of the most well-known books about hacking. In 2008, it was the last time it was changed. Even though it was written years ago, most of its content is still important and useful today. There are many modern hacking tools that work well with the theory and skills you learn in this book.

A lot of different things will be taught in this book. You will learn about Programming and Exploitation and Networking, Shellcode and Countermeasures, and Cryptology. Honestly, I still think this book is a good one to read today.

However, this book is more for people who already know how to use it. I don't think this is a good book to start with. The first thing you need to do before reading this book is to be familiar with Assembly.

The Web Application Hacker's Handbook: Finding and Exploiting Security Flaws by Dafydd Stuttard & Marcus Pinto 

Beginner to Intermediate

So far, all books have talked about Web Application Hacking as a separate topic in a separate part. This book is all about the subject. This is one of the best Hacking Books for Web Application Testing that you can buy. Written by Burp Suite's creators: This book is about how to test web apps.

If you get a book written by people who worked on a real Web Application Testing framework, you can just make your best guess about how valuable it is to you. This book has 912 pages. When it was last updated in 2011, it still has a lot of information that is still useful today.

Today, if you want to work in Cyber Security, you need to know about Web App Security. So many businesses use Web Applications, but many of them have problems because they were made poorly or haven't been kept up to date. A book called the Web Application Hacker's Handbook can help you learn about the most common flaws and how to use them to get into your computer. You won't believe how many Web Application flaws you'll find in the real world, but you will.

If you want to work in Cyber Security, you won't be able to get away from this book, so you should read it. This book walks you through Web Application Security step by step, from the very beginning until you have a good idea of what it is. Definitely worth adding to your collection of Ethical Hacking Books.


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