Introduction
I Love Books! I know as a writer it is a cliche thing to say, but I can’t deny the fact that they are my best friends – neither do they complain, nor do they demand. For me, books are an escape, and they transport me to another reality.
(Trust me, that is not a bad idea, given the current COVID scene.)
After the popularity of our previous post about Top 10 Movies on Cyber Security, I decided to publish this new blog on the best cybersecurity books. These books help solve the wickedest cyber crimes, introduce you to some new concepts, give more insights on ethical hacking, and hopefully not help you become a cybercriminal (just kidding, I truly trust your intentions).
So do have a look and thank us later.
(You can also read about the 5 best Shows About Cyber Crimes & the Top Cybersecurity Influencers you should be following.)
Best Cyber Security Books that Can Deepen Your Knowledge
Cyber Security, as a field, offers immense growth potential to anyone who is highly motivated and has a never-ending interest in technology. With the help of these Cyber Security books, you can get some tips to support a successful Cyber Security career.
1. Hacking: The Art of Exploitation
There are many hackers out there who are busy finding unconventional solutions to challenging problems and exploiting holes in sloppy programs. But only a few of them know how to push the envelope. When it comes to learning Ethical Hacking, Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, 2nd edition, is one of the best Cyber Security books. As the name says, this is the second edition, published in 2008 and the first one in 2003.
Unlike other ethical hacking books, the book gives an insight into the world of problem-solving and exploitation, a holistic view of programming, network communications, and current hacking techniques, rather than walking through the use cases. The best part about the books is that it comes with a CD providing you a complete Linux and debugging environment to help you get your hands dirty with programming without compromising your present operating system.
Author: Jon Erickson
Goodreads Rating: 4.2 / 5
Available on Kindle: Yes
2. Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking
The book, written by security researcher and trainer Georgia Weidman, teaches about every aspiring pentester’s primary skills. An ideal choice for beginners and inspiring hackers, the book teaches about the basics of programming and navigating Kali Linux—an operating system—preloaded with computer security tools like Wireshark and Metasploit. The book also discusses some advanced topics like mobile device security and bypassing antivirus software. You will discuss how to crack passwords and wireless network keys with brute force attacks and wordlists, test web applications for vulnerabilities, automate social-engineering attacks, bypass antivirus software, etc.
Author: Georgia Weidman
Goodreads Rating: 4.2 / 5
Available on Kindle: Yes
3. 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 book author is the world’s famous hacker who once gave top agencies, including the FBI, a run for their money – Kevin Mitnick. In the present age, your every swipe, tap and click on phone/tabloid/computer is being watched and analyzed. Through this book, the author (or I should say a former most-wanted hacker) wants to teach you about online and offline ways to protect you from cyber-attacks. It also tells about effortless yet easy cloaking and counter-measures for citizens and consumers in the age of Big Data. This book is about maintaining an anonymous identity on protecting your identity, private information, health, and money from hackers. He also talks about some techniques to maximize privacy that you need in the modern age.
Author: Kevin Mitnick
Goodreads Rating: 4 / 5
Available on Kindle: No
4. Cyber Wars: Hacks that Shocked the Business World
This easy-to-read yet non-technical book is all about some of the dangerous cyberattacks in recent years. The book is an ideal resource for learners who want to know the concepts of information security and looking for examples on how to communicate security practices to non-technical management and end-users. Author Charles Arthur has used his storytelling skills to narrate a gripping account of some of the biggest and frightening cybercrimes that a person with non-technical knowledge could understand. The books also tell about techniques used, the consequences, and preventive measures.
Author: Arthur Charles
Goodreads Rating: 4.2 / 5
Available on Kindle: No
The book, quite famous amongst beginners, is written assuming that the learners have zero experience in penetration testing and commences with a brief history of Metasploit and how to install it as the tool [Metasploit] is hard to grasp for the first-time users. This book makes the process of discovering, exploiting, and sharing vulnerabilities easy. You will also build your foundation in penetration testing. And once that is done, advanced penetration techniques, such as network reconnaissance and enumeration, client-side attacks, wireless attacks, and targeted social-engineering attacks, can be learned through this book. The book is an ideal source of knowledge for learners with good technical skills in Ruby and Linux.
Authors: Jim O’Gorman
Goodreads Rating: 4 / 5
Available on Kindle: Yes
6. Practical Malware Analysis: The Hands-On Guide to Dissecting Malicious Software
According to an article by Computerweekly, the average ransom paid by victim organizations, which was $115,123 (€96,666/£82,788) in 2019 in Europe, the US, and Canada, has almost trebled to $312,493 in 2020. For all those who don’t know, when Malware attacks breach your defenses, you need to quickly act on stopping the action and even make a plan. And this book helps you to do just that by teaching you tools and techniques applied by professional analysts to safely analyze, debug, and disassemble any malicious software that comes your way. Through this book, you can learn how to use primary analysis like IDA Pro, OllyDbg, and WinDbg. You will also learn how to crack open malware, determine what damage it has done, thoroughly clean your network, and ensure that the malware never comes back through the hands-on lab. The book is, in a way, written to make you beginners in the field professional.
Authors: Michael Sikorski
Goodreads Rating: 4.46 / 5
Available on Kindle: Yes
7. Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking
This book provides insights on an overview of social engineering techniques, explains how they work, and gives the reader plenty of real-world examples to back it all up. The book unraveled the mystery in social engineering by covering all its aspects, such as elicitation, pretexting, influence and manipulation, and explained by using real-world examples. The author explains how to use the most commonly used technique that can even fool the person with the most robust security personnel. Not only this. You could also discover techniques that never work in the real world. The book also came up with a second edition that included all the most current methods by sharing stories, examples, etc.
Author: Christopher Hadnagy
Goodreads Rating: 3.8 / 5
Available on Kindle: Yes
8. Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C
For all those who don’t know, the application of cryptography techniques goes beyond coding and decoding information. For developers who want to learn more about cryptographic techniques, there’s no better overview than Applied Cryptography, as it covers protocols, techniques, and real-world cryptographic algorithms. The book also includes some extensive advice on the practical aspects of cryptography implementation. This book is approximately 25 years old, and presently, you can find its 20th Anniversary Edition, which is the most definitive reference on cryptography ever published.
Authors: Bruce Schneier
Goodreads Rating: 4.2 5
Available on Kindle: Yes
Conclusion
As the world slowly opens up and the virus seems to have no end, reading these Cyber Security books might give you a different perspective to approach a problem. Apart from these, there are many more books out there that can help you in your Cyber Security learning journey.
You can also enroll in the Stanford Advanced Cyber Security Program, which will acquaint you with all the necessary skills to become a cybersecurity expert.
Gain a better understanding of Cyber Security fundamentals by reading these Cyber Security books. In the present age of digital advancement, these Cyber Security books can help you understand the basics, history, and current scenarios of the tech world.
4 Source: GreatLearning Blog
