The Best Hacking Books in 2020 – Beginner to Advanced

Out of popular request, it is time to put together a list of the Best Hacking Books in 2020. Now, this list doesn’t only contain Hacking Books that were released in 2020, but simply all the books worth mentioning as of this year. There are still some classics that will always be mentioned, even they haven’t been updated for years, they remain relevant. I basically get questions from you guys every single day, be it on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or via E-Mail, which Ethical Hacking Books should I buy to get started.“What are the best Hacking Books?” or “Do you recommend to learn from books?” are the most popular ones. I understand that nowadays we have so many possibilities when it comes to learning. We got YouTube, we have a gazillion of online courses, serving every topic one can imagine. But I am a firm believer in a good book. Why? Because putting together a good book takes a hell lot of work.

(1)-The Hackers Playbook 2

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Level: Beginner Friendly!

If I could only choose one book, this would be it.

I started out with this book and it helped me tremendously. It has just the right pace when you just start out. You learn how to set up a lab and you go through all the well-known tools that professional Penetration Tester uses.

This book could be referred to as a “Penetration Tester Guide”, whereas the Hacker’s Playbook 3 could be referred to as a “Red Team Guide”. I get to the difference between those two a little bit later. I would definitely recommend reading the second edition before the third edition. Both are excellent books, but the second edition is a little bit easier to get started.

In this book, next to learning how to set up a lab and Kali Linux, you learn about:

• Passive Discovery (OSINT)
• Password Lists
• Active Directory
• Vulnerability Scanning
• Exploitation
• Web Application Security
• How to move through a network
• Social Engineering
• Password Cracking

And many more things. The great thing is that Peter really treats you as a beginner, meaning he doesn’t skip steps that he assumes you know. I love that kind of authors. All of this being said, you can probably see that I personally really like this book and can’t recommend it enough. If you had to choose one book to get started, it’s this!

(2)-

The Hackers Playbook 3

by Peter Kim

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Level: Beginner Friendly!

The Hackers Playbook 3 is the natural evolution of its predecessor The Hackers Playbook 2. This is easily in the top 3 of my favorite Hacking Books of all time. I have read both books and the third one even tops the second one by a notch.

Peter takes you on a journey through all the phases of a penetration test. He helps you to set up your pentesting environment and then takes you through all the steps of a penetration test,  Reconnaissance, Web Application Exploitation, Compromising Networks, Social Engineering techniques, Physical Attacks, avoiding AV’s and IDS and of course, Exploitation.

This book has a great introduction to Web Application testing, there is a vulnerable Web Application included in this book that teaches you some newer techniques that are used nowadays. On top of that, there are attacks against NodeJS, SQL Injection, and some advanced XSS techniques. Many of my friends have read this book as well and highly recommend it for every beginner.

I learned a ton from this book. I worked through it several times because the techniques taught in it are extremely valuable to sharpen your skills. Peter Kim is an excellent teacher.

I will mention that this book is harder than the second edition. The techniques here are more sophisticated, so you would really benefit from reading the second edition before buying the third one. There is also a lot of information about what it means to be a Red Teamer vs. a Penetration Tester, which is really interesting to learn.

In the end, you need to know how to report your findings to your clients, this book teaches you that as well.

I do highly recommend to add this book to your Ethical Hacking Books library!

(3)-

Computer Hacking Beginners Guide: How to Hack Wireless Network, Basic Security and Penetration Testing, Kali Linux, Your First Hack Kindle Edition

Alan T. Norman (Author)

This book will teach you how you can protect yourself from most common hacking attacks -- by knowing how hacking actually works! After all, in order to prevent your system from being compromised, you need to stay a step ahead of any criminal hacker. You can do that by learning how to hack and how to do a counter-hack.