11 Cyber Security Books For Beginners: Mastering the Basics

To begin my journey in cybersecurity, I dug into numerous books that promise to be the ultimate starting point for aspiring professionals in this field.

While some truly enriched my knowledge with new discoveries, others fell short of providing the essential insights crucial for beginners.

So if you don’t want to waste your money and time, then keep reading.

In this article I have listed the top 11 Best Cyber Security Books For Beginners that will give you complete insights about the field of Cybersecurity and help you understand the basic fundamentals as a beginner.

List of 11 Best Cyber Security Books For Beginners

Here is the list of books we will cover:

1. Cybersecurity for Dummies

2. Hacking: The Art of Exploitation

3. Cult of the Dead Cow

4. Ghost In The Wires

5. The Code Book

6. Practical Malware Analysis

7. No Tech Hacking

8. The Hacker Playbook 2

9. Learn Social Engineering

10. Hacking Exposed Sixth Edition

11. The CERT Guide to Insider Threat

1. Cybersecurity for Dummies

Author: Joseph Steinberg

Rating: 4.5/5

On our list of books for cyber security for beginners, the first book I will recommend is The Art of Invisibility. The book is written by the famous author Mr. Kevin Mitnick. He is an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker.

The book is based on true-life stories where you will know the dark secrets of how your data is getting shared by teachers on the dark web without your knowledge.

In his book, he has shared deep insight into how you can hide yourself on the internet from teachers to keep yourself and your family safe.

Moreover, you will learn about topics like protecting your password from teachers and intelligent Wi-Fi usage. The book also covers how exactly vulnerabilities can be exploited and the best countermeasures.

So if you want to skill yourself with the knowledge of how to secure yourself from teachers on the web, this book is perfect for you.

2. Hacking: The Art of Exploitation

Next, the book I have on my list is Hacking: The Art of Exploitation 2nd Edition. The author of this book is Jon Erickson, who has a computer science background and work experience as a cryptologist and security specialist in Northern California.

The book focuses more on Networking fundaments, where you will learn about the different types of ports, the internet, how TCP and UDP work, and much more.

Moreover, the author also focused on complete Linux programming and debugging environment, the basics of programming computers using C language, and how you can use them in shell scripting.

The best part I like about the book is the in-depth information about networking, where the author covers topics like how to redirect the network traffic, conceal open ports, and hijack TCP connections and that in depth.

3. Cult of the Dead Cow

The Cult of the Dead Cow book refers to the history of cybersecurity, which includes one of the oldest and most revered hacking groups in the United States. The author of this book is Joseph Menn.

He is the longest-serving and most respected mainstream Journalist on Cyber Security.

When it comes to the topics this book covers then there, it slightly disappoints me as most of the chapters only cover the story part, where the author explains the old era of cybersecurity and how technology works at that time.

The book merely focuses on the cDc history and different types of hacking held back in the past. So if you love to know about the history of cybersecurity and famous cyber hacks, go with this book.

4. Ghost In The Wires

Kevin Mitnick’s memoir of his computer hacking days is a fascinating look into the mind of a man who took advantage of other people’s mistakes to get what he wanted.

From his time as a young boy, when he was first introduced to computers, through the development of his skills and eventually being caught by law enforcement agencies and spending time in prison, Mitnick paints an intimate portrait of not just himself but also the history of computers and technology as a whole.

The book covers the topic of different vulnerabilities and how the author used social engineering to exploit them. The book is well-written and mainly focused on beginners who want to know more about computers and hacking.

5. The Code Book

The Code Book is all about cryptography, where the author Simon Singh covers the clear mathematical, linguistic, and technological demonstrations of many of the codes.

This book is perfect for cyber security people looking to know more about cryptography and its hidden puzzles. Moreover, the book is written very simply, making it easy to read and understandable.

The book covers all the hidden history of cryptography and some of the famous code breakers like Alan Turing and John Nash, who could crack codes that no one else could figure out at the time.

6. Practical Malware Analysis

The book Practical Malware Analysis is a perfect choice for people who are already aware of malware and looking to know more about the topic. This book is ideal for those seeking a career as a Malware Analyst.

Michael Sikorski and Andrew Honig are the authors of the Practical Malware Analysis book. The book gives you in-depth insights into the malware, types of malware, and its countermeasures.

The author well structured the book where you can learn how to set up a safe virtual environment to analyze malware along with their signatures and host-based indicators.

You will also learn how to overcome malware tricks like obfuscation, anti-disassembly, anti-debugging, and anti-virtual machine techniques.

7. No Tech Hacking

If you want to master social engineering and the different ways of social engineering, then the book you must go with is No Tech Hacking: A Guide to Social Engineering, Dumpster Diving, and Shoulder Surfing.

The book is written by Kevin D. Mitnick & Johnny Long, who are well know personalities in the field of cyber security and have worked for the US government and tech companies like Microsoft.

The topic covered mainly concerns how to do social engineering and get information about an organization.

Some of the key points this book covers of social engineering are Dumpster Diving, Tailgating, Shoulder Surfing, P2P Hacking, and many more.

8. The Hacker Playbook 2

If you are looking to start your career as an Ethical hacker and want to master the concept of different types of networks, pivoting through security controls, privilege escalation, and evading antivirus software, then The Hacker Playbook 2 is a perfect book to go with.

The book is written by security professionals and CEO of Secure Planet Stuart McClure, George Kurtz & Joel Scambraygs. The book gives you a complete insight into the mindset of an ethical hacker and their thinking perspective.

When it comes to the topic, as I said, you will get in-detail information about networking privilege escalation, reconnaissance, scanning, and much more.

9. Learn Social Engineering

Learn Social Engineering is one of my favorite books on this list. The book focuses on the life of teachers rather than hacking itself. The book is written by Christopher Hadnagy and focuses on the psychology behind hacking.

Even those who don’t understand the intricacies of coding and hacking will find this one of the most thought-provoking books they have ever read.

The book covers social engineering threats and attacks, information gathering, and more. Moreover, it gives you a clear picture of how people are trapped by teachers by baiting, phishing, and spear phishing, to pretexting and scareware.

10. Hacking Exposed Sixth Edition

Hacking Exposed Sixth Edition is a comprehensive, in-depth look at hacking. The author of this book is Jeff Moss, also the founder of the famous Black Hat Security Conference.

The book focuses on hacking hardware, including lock bumping, access card cloning, RFID hacks, USB U3 exploits, and Bluetooth device hijacking.

Moreover, the book also covers topics like updated Windows attacks and countermeasures. However, the topic is based on old Microsoft Vista and Server 2008 vulnerabilities and Metasploit exploits, which are now outdated.

11. The CERT Guide to Insider Threat

Finally, last, on my list of best cybersecurity books, I have listed The CERT Guide to Insider Threats, written by one of the most skilled cybersecurity experts Dawn Cappelli who is also a Technical Manager of the CERT Insider Threat Center and the Enterprise Threat and Vulnerability Management Team at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI)

The book is purely focused on types of malicious insider attacks. By reading this book, I came to know more about the topic like IT sabotage, intellectual property theft, and fraud.

The book also conveys the big picture of the insider threat problem of an organization, where you can understand the complex interactions and unintended consequences of existing policies, practices, technology, insider mindsets, and organizational culture.