I. Some Books About The World Of Hacking
These books will give you a window into the world of hackers, cybercriminals, and especially state-sponsored cyberattack campaigns. You'll also gain valuable insights from how these operations are executed—their tactics, techniques, and the missteps they make along the way.
| Title | Author(s) | Description |
| This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race | Nicole Perlroth | Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers, and a few unsung heroes, written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. |
| Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers | Andy Greenberg | The true story of the most devastating act of cyberwarfare in history and the desperate hunt to identify and track the elite Russian agents behind it |
| The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage | Cliff Stoll | Stoll made the dangerous decision to begin a one-man hunt of his own: spying on the spy. |
| Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon | Kim Zetter | A top cybersecurity journalist tells the story behind the virus that sabotaged Iran’s nuclear efforts and shows how its existence has ushered in a new age of warfare |
| Ghost In The Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker | William Simon Kevin Mitnick | |
| Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks | Scott J. Shapiro, Jonathan Todd Ross, Macmillan Audio | Shapiro exposes the hackers’ tool kits and gives fresh answers to vital questions: Why is the internet so vulnerable? What can we do in response? Combining the philosophical adventure of Gödel, Escher, Bach with dramatic true-crime narrative, the result is a lively and original account of the future of hacking, espionage, and war, and of how to live in an era of cybercrime. |
II. Programming Books
Programming is the backbone of the digital world. If you want to sharpen your cybersecurity skills, it's the cornerstone you need to lay first.
1. Essential Books On Programming For The Field Of Cybersecurity
| Book Title | Author(s) | Description |
| Black Hat Programming with C++: Advanced Techniques for Exploit Writing, Malware Development, and Obfuscation | Robyn Zotev | Exploit development, malware engineering, obfuscation, low-level Windows internals |
| Windows 10 System Programming, Part 1 | Pavel Yosifovich | Delve into programming the Windows operating system through the Windows API in with C++ |
| Windows 10 System Programming, Part 2 | Pavel Yosifovich | Use the power of the Windows API to working with processes, threads, jobs, memory, I/O and more |
| Windows PowerShell in Action | Bruce Payette and Richard Siddaway | Definitive, example-rich guide to PowerShell authored by a language designer, covering language fundamentals, scripting patterns, modules, performance, and advanced administration techniques |
| The Rust Programming Language | Steve Klabnik, Carol Nichols, Chris Krycho | Offers foundational knowledge and practical examples for programming in Rust, relevant for Windows. |
| Automate the Boring Stuff with Python | Al Sweigart | Beginner-friendly, hands-on book teaching Python for practical automation tasks such as file handling, spreadsheets, web scraping, and GUI automation; free to read online and widely used for learning scripting for administrative tasks |
| PowerShell Cookbook | Lee Holmes | Practical recipe collection with 400+ task-oriented solutions for PowerShell scripting and administration, updated for PowerShell Core and Windows PowerShell environments |
2. Some Advanced Programming Books On Information Security In Windows
| Book Title | Author(s) | Description |
| Mastering PowerShell Scripting: Automate repetitive tasks and simplify complex administrative tasks using PowerShell | Chris Dent | Master PowerShell to automate real-world administrative tasks, streamline workflows, and enhance security across Windows environments |
| Python for Security and Networking: Leverage Python modules and tools in securing your network and applications | Jose Manuel Ortega | Explores advanced Python techniques for networking and security applications, tailored for Windows environments. |
| Rust Programming By Example: Enter the world of Rust by building engaging, concurrent, reactive, and robust applications | Guillaume Gomez, Antoni Boucher | Focuses on practical examples and advanced techniques in Rust programming, applicable to system-level tasks on Windows. |
| Memory Thinking for C & C++ Windows Diagnostics: Slides with Descriptions and Source Code Illustrations, Second Edition (Windows Internals Supplements) | Dmitry Vostokov, Software Diagnostics Services, Dublin School of Security | Solid C and C++ knowledge is a must to fully understand Windows diagnostic artifacts, such as memory dumps, and perform diagnostic, forensic, and root cause analysis beyond listing stack traces, DLLs, and driver information. |
III. Some Books On Attack And Defense Techniques
If you want to enrich or sharpen your skills in penetration testing, red teaming, blue teaming, and malware development…
1. Books Covering Essential Knowledge You Need To Grasp
| Title | Author(s) | Description |
| Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking | Georgia Weidman | You’ll experience the key stages of an actual assessment—including information gathering, finding exploitable vulnerabilities, gaining access to systems, post exploitation, and more |
| Hacking Active Directory: Unveiling Security Vulnerabilities | Thaddeus Maazel | A practical guide focused on attacking and securing Active Directory environments. |
| Mastering Windows Security: Unveiling Hacking Techniques and Penetration Strategies | Eden Bleich | Focuses on Windows security mechanisms, including Active Directory protection strategies. |
| Red Team Field Manual V2 | Ben Clark, Nick Downer | A practical reference covering techniques and strategies in red teaming, applicable to Windows. |
| Cybersecurity for Executives: A Practical Guide | Gregory J. Touhill, C. Joseph Touhill | While targeted at executives, it offers insights on security in Active Directory contexts. |
| Kali Linux Penetration Testing Bible | Gus Khawaja | A guide on using Kali Linux tools for security testing, including techniques applicable to malware. |
| Gray Hat Hacking: The Ethical Hacker's Handbook | Allen Harper et al. | Covers various offensive security techniques, including malware analysis and antivirus evasion tactics. |
| The Hacker Playbook: Practical Guide To Penetration Testing | Peter Kim | Offers practical approaches to offensive security tactics, including malware development insights. |
| Advanced Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments: The Ultimate Security Guide (Open Source: Community Experience Distilled) | Lee Allen | Employ the most advanced pentesting techniques and tools to build highly-secured systems and environments |
| Malware Analysis and Detection Engineering: A Comprehensive Approach to Detect and Analyze Modern Malware | Abhijit Mohanta, Anoop Saldanha | Discover how the internals of malware work and how you can analyze and detect it |
| Botnets (Series in Security, Privacy and Trust) | Marios Anagnostopoulos, Georgios Kambourakis, Peng Zhou, Weizhi Meng | This book provides solid, state-of-the-art contributions from both scientists and practitioners working on botnet detection and analysis, including botnet economics. |
2. Advanced Offensive And Defensive Techniques
| Title | Author(s) | Description |
| Mastering Windows Security and Hardening | Mark Dunkerley; Matt Tumbarello | Windows 10/11 & Server 2022 security; hardening; Defender for Endpoint; zero trust |
| Blue Team Field Manual (BTFM) | Alan J White, Ben Clark | 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 |
| PTFM: Purple Team Field Manual | Tim Bryant | The purple team field manual is a manual for all security professionals and integrates red and blue team methodologies. |
| 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 | Kevin Mitnick | Real-world advice on how to be invisible online from "the FBI's most wanted hacker" |
| The Art of Memory Forensics: Detecting Malware and Threats in Windows, Linux, and Mac Memory | Michael Hale Ligh, Andrew Case, Jamie Levy, AAron Walters | Memory forensics techniques that remain essential for Windows malware/IR |
| The Antivirus Hacker's Handbook | Joxean Koret, Elias Bachaalany | Reverse engineering AV engines, signature evasion, attack surface analysis, heuristic bypassing |
Comments
Post a Comment