Top Hacking books curated by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we have connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favouriteHacking books – and here are the answers.

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Top Hacking books recommended by experts
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Fundamentals of Hacking

Understanding the concepts of Hacking starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Gray Hat Hacking: The Ethical Hacker's Handbook

Gray Hat Hacking: The Ethical Hacker's Handbook

Fortify your network and avert digital catastrophe with proven strategies from a team of security experts. Completely updated and featuring 13 new chapters, Gray Hat Hacking, The Ethical Hacker’s Handbook, Fifth Edition explains the enemy’s current weapons, skills, and tactics and offers field-t…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

OSINT Techniques: Resources for Uncovering Online Information

OSINT Techniques: Resources for Uncovering Online Information

It is time to look at OSINT in a different way. For many years, and within previous editions of this book, we have relied on external resources to supply our search tools, virtual environments, and investigation techniques. We have seen this protocol fail us when services shut down, websites dis…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Web Application Hacker's Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Flaws

The Web Application Hacker's Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Flaws

The highly successful security book returns with a new edition, completely updatedWeb applications are the front door to most organizations, exposing them to attacks that may disclose personal information, execute fraudulent transactions, or compromise ordinary users. This practical book has bee…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Black Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Pentesters

Black Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Pentesters

When it comes to creating powerful and effective hacking tools, Python is the language of choice for most security analysts. But just how does the magic happen? In Black Hat Python, the latest from Justin Seitz (author of the best-selling Gray Hat Python), you’ll explore the darker side of Pytho…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide

Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide

The Metasploit Framework makes discovering, exploiting, and sharing vulnerabilities quick and relatively painless. But while Metasploit is used by security professionals everywhere, the tool can be hard to grasp for first-time users. Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide fills this gap by t…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race

Zero-day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero-day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election, and shut down the …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Additional Hacking Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Hacking, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Extreme Privacy: What It Takes to Disappear

Extreme Privacy: What It Takes to Disappear

Michael Bazzell has helped hundreds of celebrities, billionaires, and everyday citizens disappear completely from public view. Many of his previous books about privacy were mostly REACTIVE and he focused on ways to hide information, clean up an online presence, and sanitize public records to avo…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Hacker Playbook 2: Practical Guide to Penetration Testing

The Hacker Playbook 2: Practical Guide to Penetration Testing

Just as a professional athlete doesn’t show up without a solid game plan, ethical hackers, IT professionals, and security researchers should not be unprepared, either. The Hacker Playbook provides them their own game plans. Written by a longtime security professional and CEO of Secure Planet, LL…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Hacker Playbook 3: Practical Guide to Penetration Testing

The Hacker Playbook 3: Practical Guide to Penetration Testing

Back for the third season, The Hacker Playbook 3 (THP3) takes your offensive game to the pro tier. With a combination of new strategies, attacks, exploits, tips and tricks, you will be able to put yourself in the center of the action toward victory. The main purpose of this book is to answer que…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

RTFM: Red Team Field Manual

RTFM: Red Team Field Manual

The Red Team Field Manual (RTFM) is a no fluff, but thorough reference guide for serious Red Team members who routinely find themselves on a mission without Google or the time to scan through a man page. The RTFM contains the basic syntax for commonly used Linux and Windows command line tools, b…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data

The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data

Be online without leaving a trace. Your every step online is being tracked and stored, and your identity literally stolen. Big companies and big governments want to know and exploit what you do, and privacy is a luxury few can afford or understand.
In this explosive yet practical book, Kevin …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker

Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world's biggest companies -- and no matter how fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. As the FBI's …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Specializations and Deeper Hacking Knowledge

You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. Hacking is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.

Advanced Penetration Testing: Hacking the World's Most Secure Networks

Advanced Penetration Testing: Hacking the World's Most Secure Networks

Advanced Penetration Testing: Hacking the World's Most Secure Networks takes hacking far beyond Kali linux and Metasploit to provide a more complex attack simulation. Featuring techniques not taught in any certification prep or covered by common defensive scanners, this book integrates social en…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Mastering Hacking: The Art of Information Gathering & Scanning

Mastering Hacking: The Art of Information Gathering & Scanning

This book aims towards providing the best practices and methodology in the simplified approached, which would help both the technical and non-technical readers to learn and apply effectively. All the methods used are for the defence purpose and didn t intend to spread unethical activities. Throu…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

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