Pentesters moving from on-prem to cloud environments. 17. Container Security by Liz Rice (2020) Why it’s top: Focuses on attacking and defending Docker and Kubernetes. Includes namespaces, cgroups, container escape techniques, and Kubernetes RBAC bypasses.
Private investigators, forensics analysts, and reconnaissance teams. Part 8: Defensive & Blue Team (Think Like an Attacker) To defend, you must attack. These books help defenders adopt an attacker’s mindset. 20. Blue Team Handbook by Don Murdoch (2018, 3rd Edition) Why it’s top: A pocket reference for SOC analysts. Covers log analysis (Windows Event, Sysmon, Apache), network traffic analysis (Wireshark filters), and incident triage. index of hacking books top
| Category | Skill Level | Best For | |----------|-------------|----------| | | Beginner to Intermediate | Building core concepts (networking, Linux, basic pentesting) | | Penetration Testing & OSCP Prep | Intermediate to Advanced | Hands-on exploitation, privilege escalation, exam prep | | Web Application Security | Intermediate | Bug bounty hunting, OWASP Top 10, API hacking | | Reverse Engineering & Malware Analysis | Advanced | Disassembly, debugging, binary exploitation | | Wireless & IoT Hacking | Intermediate | Breaking Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, embedded devices | | Cloud & Container Hacking | Intermediate to Advanced | AWS, Azure, Kubernetes pentesting | | Social Engineering & OSINT | All Levels | Human hacking, reconnaissance | | Defensive & Blue Team | Intermediate | Detection, forensics, incident response | Pentesters moving from on-prem to cloud environments
Blue teamers who need actionable steps during an alert. 21. Threat Hunting by Costa G. & Santos O. (2020) Why it’s top: Introduces the hypothesis-driven hunt process. Uses MITRE ATT&CK, data sources (EDR, DNS logs), and analytics to find hidden adversaries. These books help defenders adopt an attacker’s mindset
Each entry includes: . Part 1: Foundations of Ethical Hacking These are the building blocks. If you don’t understand TCP/IP, Bash, Python, and basic cryptography, advanced hacking books will frustrate you. 1. The Hacker Playbook 3 by Peter Kim (2018) Why it’s top: Written by a red teamer, this is the most accessible “real-world” hacking book. The third edition covers evading EDR, phishing assessments, and cloud pentesting. It’s light on theory, heavy on actionable commands.