Top Hacking books recommended by experts

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

Table of Contents

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.

Linux Basics for Hackers: Getting Started with Networking, Scripting, and Security in Kali

Linux Basics for Hackers: Getting Started with Networking, Scripting, and Security in Kali

If you're getting started along the exciting path of hacking, cybersecurity, and pentesting, Linux Basics for Hackers is an excellent first step. Using Kali Linux, an advanced penetration testing distribution of Linux, you'll learn the basics of using the Linux operating system and acquire the tools and techniques you'll need to take control of a Linux environment.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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-tested remedies, case studies, and ready-to-try testing labs. Find out how hackers gain access, overtake network devices, script and inject malicious code, and plunder Web applications and browsers. Android-based exploits, reverse engineering techniques, and cyber law are thoroughly covered in this state-of-the-art resource. And the new topic of exploiting the Internet of things is introduced in this edition.

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 been completely updated and revised to discuss the latest step-by-step techniques for attacking and defending the range of ever-evolving web applications. You'll explore the various new technologies employed in web applications that have appeared since the first edition and review the new attack techniques that have been developed, particularly in relation to the client side.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition

Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition

Hacking is the art of creative problem solving, whether that means finding an unconventional solution to a difficult problem or exploiting holes in sloppy programming. Many people call themselves hackers, but few have the strong technical foundation needed to really push the envelope. Rather than merely showing how to run existing exploits, author Jon Erickson explains how arcane hacking techniques actually work. To share the art and science of hacking in a way that is accessible to everyone, Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd Edition introduces the fundamentals of C programming from a hacker's perspective.

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 questions as to why things are still broken. For instance, with all the different security products, secure code reviews, defense in depth, and penetration testing requirements, how are we still seeing massive security breaches happening to major corporations and governments? The real question we need to ask ourselves is, are all the safeguards we are putting in place working? This is what The Hacker Playbook 3 - Red Team Edition is all about.

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 teaching you how to harness the Framework and interact with the vibrant community of Metasploit contributors.

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 engineering, programming, and vulnerability exploits into a multidisciplinary approach for targeting and compromising high security environments. From discovering and creating attack vectors, and moving unseen through a target enterprise, to establishing command and exfiltrating data―even from organizations without a direct Internet connection―this guide contains the crucial techniques that provide a more accurate picture of your system's defense. Custom coding examples use VBA, Windows Scripting Host, C, Java, JavaScript, Flash, and more, with coverage of standard library applications and the use of scanning tools to bypass common defensive measures.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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