25 Best Books for Hacking from Beginners to Expert and - How to Find Them Easily

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Today Article, we will be going to tell you the best 25 Ethical Hacking Books for Beginners to Advanced Level….

The secret to becoming a (better) Ethical Hacker, Penetration Tester, Bug Bounty Hunter or IT Security Professional is not only focusing on admission test books but also reading books on related topics such as Networking, Programming, Exploitation Development, Web Application, Network Security monitoring and Other IT topics Having at least one theoretical knowledge about these subjects gives you a lot of help in seeing information security from different angles and approaches…

This article does not only contain the Best Hacking Books, but it is also a list of my personal favorite hacking books. I personally use all of the hacking books I recommend here.

we have provided you the best 25 ethical hacking books, which will help you to learn the whole hacking resources.

There’s a saying that a book is the best gift that you can have. So, go through these 20 besting free hacking books, which will help you to learn all the necessary and main concepts of hacking.

So, Now without wasting enough time let’s get started and explore all the hacking books one by one.

1. Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking

A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking has been written by Georgia Waidman and is a good hacking book for new people for topics because it usually focuses on beginners.

What I personally like about this hacking book is that the author tells every step in the process in detail and connects it with its extensive experience in the field as an entrance examiner. So,

If you are new to the entrance exam without previous experience, then this book is a great place to start an exciting journey!

2. Advanced Penetration Testing: Hacking the world’s most secure networks

This book cannot be the first book for beginners, although it keeps what it reads about the hacking in the right perspective.

In this book, the authors include complex attack simulations and advanced persistent threat (APT) modeling, which are beyond using the Metasploit Framework and Vulnerability Scanner.

IT has included topics such as social engineering, highly secure networks, malware, C2 server, and C & C structures, and even advanced data exploration techniques.

3. The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook: Finding and Exploiting Security Flaws 2nd Edition

This great web app hacking book should be read to anyone who is interested in web app login testing and covers everything you need to know about this topic. Web App Hacker's Handbook:

Finding and Exploiting Safety Defects Second Edition is written by the founder of Portswig, which is a company behind popular security testing and a scanning tool called Burp Suite.

This book teaches you step-by-step to test the security of web applications in a phased manner. One thing that I especially like about this book is how it protects against various web technologies, how they benefit them, and especially attack.

Apart from this, very basic things have been included in this book, a web application entrance examiner needs to know in-depth, such as how the HTTP works to gain a better understanding of how communication between a web server and the visitor is done.

Helps in understanding attacks and defense.

4. Web Hacking 101

Web hacking 101 has been written by Peter Yavorsky and public vulnerabilities on Bug-Bounty programs show the general vulnerabilities found in web applications using reports.

The book includes vulnerability reports on cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site request forgery (CSRF), remote code execution (RCE), and many more vulnerability types.

With this book, you will not only learn about weaknesses and how they will be exploited but how to identify their references, effects, and them on their bug bounty huntsman.

In the end, the book also provides an overview of bug bounty platforms, tools, blogs, and some cheat sheets so that the bug bounty hunting could start immediately.

5. Applied Network Security Monitoring: Collection, Detection, and Analysis

Applied Network Security Surveillance is a great practical guideline in Network Security Monitoring (NSM) that covers the subject from the ground. This great book helps you to become an NSM analyzer and teaches important concepts of NSM with many practical tutorials and real-life examples.

Applied Network Security Monitoring is one of the best books I have read so far.

The author of book Sanders and Jason Smith is very experienced in the field of Network Security Monitoring and also knows how to teach it to others, which is very noticeable and easy to understand if you are a new topic. They almost make the NSM look easy! The author also offers online courses and training on his website that is definitely worth checking (see Training section on Chris Sanders website).

Finally, the book is divided into three primary classes (collection, identification, and analysis) which take you to all stages of the NSM process.

There are practical examples in each section and there is coverage on the hands of the necessary equipment, which makes reading the book very easy to learn the practical side of the NSM. The book provides a complete cover on the coverage of Snort, Surikata, Brow-IDS, Silk, PRADS, and many other devices.

6. The Shellcoder’s Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Holes 2nd Edition

Written by the last group of top security experts, this book contains what you need to know about how to get a security hole in operating systems and applications. You will work with security bugs, assembler, source code, pile, pile, and similar basic building blocks.

For the pre-condition of this book, you need to understand basic programming knowledge and IT concepts, but in my opinion, this is not enough. These books are written especially without any introduction or basics, which makes it very difficult and certainly not fun to read this book.

If you have a good understanding of programming concepts, x86, assembly takes advantage of development and exploit various types of advanced exploitation such as heap overflow, heap overflow, and development, return-oriented programming, fuzzing, ASLR / DEP handling and much more Want to know more about this book, more for you, this book is for you.

If you have less technical knowledge and you are starting these topics, then you will probably research a lot of things as a side effect of reading this book (though this is not a bad thing!).

Ghost In The Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker

This book was written by Kevin Mitnick in 2011. This book narrates the experience of Kevin Mitnick- is the most wanted hacker of all time who turned to a white-hat hacker from a black hat.

Kevin tolled in this book how he fooled the government agencies FBI, NSA, and other organizations and kept underground stealing money and data of big corporations.

He also tells the whole journey how he became a cybersecurity consultant and left the black hat life.

7. Hacking: The Art Of Exploitation

This book has several solutions to every hackers’ query and has the best solutions in areas of shell, programming, scripting, and exploitation. This book is very cheap and easily be found on the web.

8. Red Team Field Manual: RTFM

Mostly used by Red Team, all the codes and scripts are written in Python scripting language which makes it a more powerful book.

9. Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking

This book was written in 2010 and written by Christopher Hadnagy. As the name suggests, this book has concepts that are required for social engineering.

10. The Code Book

Have you ever looked at the clock and been surprised at how often it says 11.11 or 2.22 or 3.33? "The 11:11 Code," tells the story of yoga teacher Hilary Carter, who was brave enough to follow the coincidences around numbers to see what would happen. To her amazement, the number signs, in particular 11.11, led her to buy an ancient convent in Andalucia, Spain.

The problems this led her to were in a different league to the normal "restoring old continental properties" so common on our TV screens today. Her financial backer died, her first builder ended up in prison and her second builder was paralyzed in a tragic accident.

But that scratches the surface. Formerly home to the Knights Templar, the building was both haunted and seemed to have a will of its own. This exploration of synchronicity, destiny, and past lives sits with The Celestine Prophecy as an inspiring example of discovering the meaning behind events.

It further looks at the modern explosion of interest in the significance of 11.11, and how as a binary number it links directly to the current wars in Iraq, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. With the difference, of course, that this is a true story.

You will never look at the world in the same way after reading this book, for once you are awakened to the 11.11 sign, there is no going back to sleep.

11. CISSP All-In-One Exam Guide

CISSP (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide, 8th Edition has been completely updated for the latest 2018 CISSP Body of Knowledge. This bestselling Sybex study guide covers 100% of all exam objectives.

You'll prepare for the exam smarter and faster with Sybex thanks to expert content, real-world examples, advice on passing each section of the exam, access to the Sybex online interactive learning environment, and much more. Reinforce what you've learned with key topic exam essentials and chapter review questions.

Along with the book, you also get access to Sybex's superior online interactive learning environment that includes:

Six unique 150 question practice exams to help you identify where you need to study more. Get more than 90 percent of the answers correct, and you're ready to take the certification exam.
More than 700 Electronic Flashcards to reinforce your learning and give you last-minute test prep before the exam
A searchable glossary in PDF to give you instant access to the key terms you need to know for the exam

Coverage of all of the exam topics in the book means you'll be ready for:

Security and Risk Management
Asset Security
Security Engineering
Communication and Network Security
Identity and Access Management
Security Assessment and Testing
Security Operations
Software Development Security

12. Gray Hat Hacking: The Ethical Hacker’s Handbook

This book was written by Branko Spasojevic is a senior software engineer at Symantec... 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.

Build and launch spoofing exploits with Ettercap
Induce error conditions and crash software using fuzzers
Use advanced reverse engineering to exploit Windows and Linux software
Bypass Windows Access Control and memory protection schemes
Exploit web applications with Padding Oracle Attacks
Learn the use-after-free technique used in recent zero-days
Hijack web browsers with advanced XSS attacks
Understand ransomware and how it takes control of your desktop
Dissect Android malware with JEB and DAD decompilers
Find one-day vulnerabilities with binary diffing
Exploit wireless systems with Software Defined Radios (SDR)
Exploit the Internet of things devices
Dissect and exploit embedded devices
Understand bug bounty programs
Deploy next-generation honeypots
Dissect ATM malware and analyze common ATM attacks
Learn the business side of ethical hacking

13. Hacking: How to Hack, Penetration testing Hacking Book

This book was written by Alex Wagner. This book will focus on some of the most dangerous hacker tools that are favorite of both, White Hat and Black Hat hackers. Beginning with some of the fundamentals of networking, and technologies that are vital to be aware of every hacker.

Next, it will cover some studying techniques that can be used in order to be able to follow today's fast-growing technologies, and then will recommend additional study materials and what certification path you should be aiming in order to become an IT Professional.

The focus of this book will be to introduce some of the best well-known software that you can use for free of charge, furthermore where to find them, how to access them, and finally, in every chapter, you will find demonstrated examples step-by-step, on hacker tools.

The discussions and implementation examples will provide you not only how to use hacking tools, but how to become a Man in the Middle in multiple ways.

Additionally, you will be demonstrated how to create a Denial of Service Attack, how to manipulate the network infrastructure by creating fake packets, as well how to replicate any networking device and fool end-users to install backdoors on demand.

In order to understand hackers and protect the network infrastructure, you must think like a hacker in today's expansive and eclectic internet and you must understand that nothing is fully secured.

There are many steps by step method on how to plan a successful penetration test and examples on how to manipulate or misdirect trusted employees using social engineering.

The intention of this content is to benefit readers by reviewing detailed facts as well as personal experience. Your reading of this book will boost your knowledge on what is possible in today’s hacking world and help you to become an Ethical Hacker

14. Applied Network Security Monitoring: Collection, Detection, and Analysis

Applied Network Security Monitoring is an essential guide to becoming an NSM analyst from the ground up. This book takes a fundamental approach to NSM, complete with dozens of real-world examples that teach you the key concepts of NSM.

Network security monitoring is based on the principle that prevention eventually fails. In the current threat landscape, no matter how much you try, motivated attackers will eventually find their way into your network. At that point, it is your ability to detect and respond to that intrusion that can be the difference between a small incident and a major disaster.

The book follows the three stages of the NSM cycle: collection, detection, and analysis. As you progress through each section, you will have access to insights from seasoned NSM professionals while being introduced to relevant, practical scenarios complete with sample data.

If you've never performed NSM analysis, Applied Network Security Monitoring will give you an adequate grasp on the core concepts needed to become an effective analyst. If you are already a practicing analyst, this book will allow you to grow your analytic technique to make you more effective at your job.

Discusses the proper methods for data collection, and teaches you how to become a skilled NSM analyst
Provides thorough hands-on coverage of Snort, Suricata, Bro-IDS, SiLK, and Argus
Loaded with practical examples containing real PCAP files you can replay, and uses Security Onion for all its lab examples
The companion website includes up-to-date blogs from the authors about the latest developments in NSM

15. Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide Kindle Edition

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.

Once you've built your foundation for penetration testing, you’ll learn the Framework's conventions, interfaces, and module system as you launch simulated attacks.

You’ll move on to advanced penetration testing techniques, including network reconnaissance and enumeration, client-side attacks, wireless attacks, and targeted social-engineering attacks.

Learn how to:

Find and exploit unmaintained, misconfigured, and unpatched systems

Perform reconnaissance and find valuable information about your target
Bypass anti-virus technologies and circumvent security controls
Integrate Nmap, NeXpose, and Nessus with Metasploit to automate discovery
Use the Meterpreter shell to launch further attacks from inside the network
Harness standalone Metasploit utilities, third-party tools, and plug-ins
Learn how to write your own Meterpreter post-exploitation modules and scripts

You'll even touch on exploit discovery for zero-day research, write a fuzzer, port existing exploits into the Framework, and learn how to cover your tracks. Whether your goal is to secure your own networks or to put someone else's to the test, Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide will take you there and beyond.

16. Blue Team Handbook: Incident Response Edition

Blue Team Field Manual (BTFM) is a Cyber Security Incident Response Guide that aligns with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework consisting of the five core functions of Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover by providing the tactical steps to follow and commands to use when preparing for, working through and recovering from a Cyber Security Incident.

17. Kali Linux Revealed: Mastering the Penetration Testing Distribution

In this book, we'll focus on the Kali Linux platform itself, and help you understand and maximize Kali from the ground up.

The developers will walk you through Kali Linux features and fundamentals, provide a crash course in basic Linux commands and concepts, and then walk you through the most common Kali Linux installation scenarios.

You'll learn how to configure, troubleshoot and secure Kali Linux and then dive into the powerful Debian package manager. Throughout this expansive section, you'll learn how to install and configure packages, how to update and upgrade your Kali installation, and how to create your own custom packages.

Then you'll learn how to deploy your custom installation across massive enterprise networks. Finally, you'll be guided through advanced topics such as kernel compilation, custom ISO creation, industrial-strength encryption, and even how to install crypto kill switches to safeguard your sensitive information.

Whether you're a veteran or an absolute n00b, this is the best place to start with Kali Linux, the security professional's platform of choice.

18. 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 Python’s capabilities—writing network sniffers, manipulating packets, infecting virtual machines, creating stealthy trojans, and more.

You’ll learn how to:

Create a trojan command-and-control using GitHub
Detect sandboxing and automate com¬mon malware tasks, like keylogging and screenshotting
Escalate Windows privileges with creative process control
Use offensive memory forensics tricks to retrieve password hashes and inject shellcode into a virtual machine
Extend the popular Burp Suite web-hacking tool
Abuse Windows COM automation to perform a man-in-the-browser attack
Exfiltrate data from a network most sneakily

19. Hash Crack: Password Cracking Manual

The Hash Crack: Password Cracking Manual v3 is an expanded reference guide for password recovery (cracking) methods, tools, and analysis techniques.

A compilation of basic and advanced techniques to assist penetration testers and network security professionals evaluate their organization's posture.

The Hash Crack manual contains syntax and examples for the most popular cracking and analysis tools and will save you hours of research looking up tool usage.

It also includes basic cracking knowledge and methodologies every security professional should know when dealing with password attack capabilities.

Hash Crack contains all the tables, commands, online resources, and more to complete your cracking security kit. This version expands on techniques to extract hashes from a myriad of operating systems, devices, data, files, and images. Lastly, it contains updated tool usage and syntax for the most popular cracking tools.

20. Nmap Network Scanning

Nmap Network Scanning is the official guide to the Nmap Security Scanner, a free and open-source utility used by millions of people for network discovery, administration, and security auditing.

From explaining port scanning basics for novices to detailing low-level packet crafting methods used by advanced hackers, this book suits all levels of security and networking professionals.

A 42-page reference guide documents every Nmap feature and option, while the rest of the book demonstrates how to apply those features to quickly solve real-world tasks. Examples and diagrams show actual communication on the wire.

21. Ghost in the Wires

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 net finally began to tighten, Mitnick went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated game of hide-and-seek that escalated through false identities, a host of cities, and plenty of close shaves, to an ultimate showdown with the Feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down.

Ghost in the Wires is a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escapes -- and a portrait of a visionary who forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him and forced companies to rethink the way they protect their most sensitive information.

22. Hacking: A Beginners Guide To Your First Computer Hack

This book contains proven steps and strategies on how to hack a Wireless Network, carry out a penetration test and so much more. It gives an insight into the most used hacking techniques and how to develop your basic skills

Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn...

What is Hacking?
How to Crack Wireless Networks
Kali Linux
Linux Hacking Tools
Penetration Test
Your First Hack: WEP Network
And basically everything you need to help you to start your Hacking career

23. Advanced Penetration Testing

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.

24. 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 Python's capabilities—writing network sniffers, manipulating packets, infecting virtual machines, creating stealthy trojans, and more. You'll learn how to:

Create a trojan command-and-control using GitHub
Detect sandboxing and automate common malware tasks, like keylogging and screenshotting
Escalate Windows privileges with creative process control
Use offensive memory forensics tricks to retrieve password hashes and inject shellcode into a virtual machine
Extend the popular Burp Suite web-hacking tool
Abuse Windows COM automation to perform a man-in-the-browser attack
Exfiltrate data from a network most sneakily

Insider techniques and creative challenges throughout show you how to extend the hacks and how to write your own exploits.

When it comes to offensive security, your ability to create powerful tools on the fly is indispensable. Learn how in Black Hat Python.

Ethical Hacking Books Tutorials Conclusion

So, with the help of this article, we have given you essential knowledge of ethical hacking books using these books you can become a more advanced ethical hacker.

We have mentioned the top 25 hacking books that are helpful for you.

Therefore, after reading these books, you will have an advanced idea of hacking/pen-testing.