Best Books for Ethical Hacking (Updated 2024)
When Facebook's user data was compromised in 2019, it faced its worst crisis. The Culture Collective leak resulted in 145GB of data. It had 22,000 plaintext passwords among its more than 540 million other entries. Sure, it's possible that your info was also compromised. However, how did it occur? Black hat hackers, or more simply ethical hackers, deserve credit for breaking into websites and using their illicit access to a network to breach security systems, disable systems, and change website functionality.
Ethical Hacking
sA type of approved or legal hacking activity called "ethical hacking" allows experts (ethical hackers) to get access to a computer, file, system, application, or data with the proper authorization. Often, it is done to uncover potential data breaches and cyber-attacks by finding weaknesses in infrastructure, network systems, software, etc.
There is rising concern about data breaches on every level as the digital world transforms so quickly. Data must always be protected because everything is shared online, including personal information, financial information, friends, family, and so forth. Several hackers are looking for ways to steal personal data for a number of reasons, including conflicts of interest, breaches of national security, terrorist operations, etc.
In 2022, Indian businesses would have to pay an average of Rs 17.6 crore due to data breaches, which is the largest amount ever reported, according to a study by IBM. In comparison to last year, when an average violation cost Rs 16.5 crore, the price jumped by 6.6%. It has increased by 25% from Rs 14 crore in 2020. The same analysis stated that for firms questioned, the average global cost of a data breach hit an all-time high of $4.35 million.
Hence, in order to stop cybercrime, you must also be knowledgeable about the subject and a skilled white hat hacker. You should be knowledgeable about the following ethical hacking techniques in particular:
- Hacking of web applications
- Hacking a web server
- Computer hacking
- Hacking a wireless network
- Using social engineering
Categories of Hackers
- White Hat Hackers: Honest hackers who use security flaws to prevent "bad guys" from exploiting them. They are permitted to do so by their respective companies specifically to identify potential security issues. White-hat hackers are sought after by businesses that store sensitive data, including Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.
- Grey Hat Hackers: White-hat hackers are one step behind grey-hat hackers. They repeatedly infiltrate networks to find and fix faults and steal money from the business. They alert authorities and intelligence services about security issues that could be dangerous without intending harm.
- White Hat Hackers: A black hat hacker tries to get unauthorized access to a network to circumvent security measures, take down systems, or modify website functionality. These hackers try to gain access to passwords, financial information, and personal data.
Each sort of hacking requires certain skills, equipment, and techniques, and ethical hackers must act like malicious hackers to fully address issues. They need to look for weaknesses, comprehend penetration testing, use the right tools to carry out the hack, and be ready. Even if there is an attack, the harm is not very severe.
Best Books for Ethical Hacking
Hence, if you want to become an ethical hacker, these 10 books will introduce you to the field and help you find answers to your cybersecurity-related problems.
1. Hacking: A Beginners’ Guide to Computer Hacking, Basic Security, And Penetration Testing by John Slavio
You will learn everything you need to know about hacking, including its history, the various types of ethical hacking, and the security precautions you should take, in Hacking: A Beginners' Guide to Computer Hacking, Basic Security, and Penetration Testing. Also, it can assist you in beginning your career as an ethical hacker, which is a quickly expanding and in-demand field.
You may avoid hackers accessing your most private information by following the advice of author John Slavio on who and what to look out for. He talks about the various kinds of viruses that burglars entering into your systems could send to your computers and also educates you on the most common malware, computer viruses, and trojans that can cause your computer to crash or become infected with a virus that can spread to other machines.
Why installing security software on your computer and other systems is essential is covered by the author. If you're just getting started with ethical hacking, this is "the book" for you.
2. James Corley, Kent Backman, and Michael Simpson's Hands-on Ethical Hacking and Network Defense
The greatest book to learn hacking, especially for newcomers with no background in networking, security, or hacking, is Hands-on Ethical Hacking and Network Defense. The key themes are thoroughly explained by the author, who uses simple language. It is primarily a theory book with little in the way of technical explanation or application. A high-level study of hacking concepts including security testing, numerous tools, penetration testing techniques, mobile security, and network protection may be found in this book.
3. Ric Messier's CEH v11 Certified Ethical Hacker Study Guide
A complete comprehension of the requirements for the CEH certification is provided through the CEH v11 Certified Ethical Hacker Study Guide through basic and concise directions. Exam objectives are used to divide the chapters into sections, and a helpful section links each objective to the appropriate chapter.
The book completely covers all topics, including challenging chapter review puzzles and Test Essentials, a feature that highlights crucial study areas. Reconnaissance and scanning are two common attack methods that are covered. The Internet of Things (IoT), intrusion detection, denial of service (DoS) attacks, buffer overflows, wireless assaults, mobile assaults, and other challenges are also covered.
4. Patrick Engebretson's The Fundamentals of Hacking and Penetration Testing
This is an excellent place to start if you want to become a penetration tester (pen-tester). The book covers a wide range of tools, including Backtrack and Kall Linux, Nmap, the Social-Engineer Toolkit, Netcat, and many more. Each topic is covered in detail for a thorough understanding and the book is well-organized. The author's voice is fun and interesting. It is an extensive training programme for ethical hacking for beginners.
5. Jon Erickson's Hacking: The Art of Exploitation
This intermediate hacking book approaches hacking in a unique way. The author advises having a strong technological foundation in addition to networking and security knowledge and describes how obscure hacking techniques work. This is a practical and hands-on book that examines a variety of hacking topics with examples. The author emphasizes the necessity of approaching problems from a hacker's perspective, being creative, and looking into uncharted territory.
6. Advanced Penetration Testing: Hacking the world's Most Secure Networks
The book discusses a number of difficult issues as well as solutions. This course is intended for those who want to conduct pen-tests on highly secured networks and think like professional hackers. C, Java, JavaScript, VBA, Windows Scripting Host, Flash, and other programming languages are used in many of the examples in the book. The author introduces you to a number of scanning tools and standard library applications in these languages.
7. Greg Hoglund and Gary R. McGraw's Exploiting Software: How to Break Code
The book is quite technical and written in an informed and skilled manner. It is designed for those with a fundamental knowledge of reverse engineering and exploitation, but wish to learn more about black hat methods for exploiting software flaws. We have not encountered any other literature that so thoroughly emphasises attack patterns as this book does. The author offers a number of up-to-date examples and case studies.
8. Penetration Testing: A Practical Guide to Cybercrime
The book starts off by describing the fundamental techniques and abilities that any pentester has to be aware of. As the title suggests, the book provides many of examples, hands-on instruction utilising tools, and a machine-based lab. You will be able to comprehend how a hacker gains access to security systems, decipher network keys and passwords, and develop your own exploits for all of the aforementioned things in addition to others. Even though the first edition's lab setup is fairly obsolete, all of the essential information can still be found online (for instance, on exploit-DB) therefore the book is still valuable!
9. Discovering and Using Security Flaws: The Web Application Hacker's Guide
One of the best-selling and economically successful books due to hacking website application An effective method for anyone wanting to learn about ethical hacking is the Hacker's Handbook. Here, the author has provided a wealth of information to back up his justifications and avoids giving any information away. Through experimenting with various instances, exercises, and situations, you will discover new things. The book's many well-written chapters offer comprehensive information on each subject. You will also discover a number of methods for both securing and exploiting web apps here. Both beginning and intermediate learners will benefit from the book.