The only reason you have landed on this page is to learn to hack! I have handpicked the best hacking books for ethical hackers in 2022 that you can free download in PDF.
Today we get across many different possibilities when it comes to learning. To talk about a few we have got Youtube, Udemy, CBT Nuggets, for instance, many various online courses that serve on almost all the topics out there, but when it comes to books, we have a firm belief on the because putting a book together a book takes a lot of time.
For this, you require revising your content any time; you need to cut out all the irrelevant content and then select it down to the best possible version. All of this makes books much of a more luxurious experience that one can have. It is better than a youtube video as the content is selected very carefully.
Why learn Hacking from PDF Books?
We recommend you to learn from books. The best thing about books is that you can out bookmarks in the book and then quickly search for something you want to. Now you can find all these books from the links in this article.
PDF Books can be taken away and also be read on the phone, and you do not have to carry them like a traditional book. It saves you space and can be read anywhere. Plus, great apps are allowing you to view downloaded PDF books and create custom bookmarks and more.
SEE ALSO: Top 6 Best Ethical Hacking Courses of 2022 – Learn Hacking in a fun way.
8 Best Ethical Hacking Books PDF Free Download (2022 Edition)
The Hacker Playbook 2 In PDF (Practical Guide to Penetration Testing)
This is for the beginner level. If you wish to choose only one book, then the hacker’s playbook two would be. We started this book, and it helped a lot. It helps you to learn about how to set up a lab, and you also go through all the popular tools are used by professional penetration testers.
The book can be referred to as the “penetration tester guide,” and the hacker’s playbook three can be referred to as the “red team guide.” After some time, we got to know the difference between these two. We recommend you to read the second edition before the third one. Although both are the best books still the second edition is much easier to get started with.
In hackers playbook2, you shall learn about the following things:
- Passive Discovery (OSINT)
- Password Lists
- Active Directory
- Vulnerability Scanning
- Exploitation
- Web Application Security
- How to move through a network
- Social Engineering
- Password Cracking
The best thing about the author is that he knows how to treat beginners as he does not skip any step that he assumes you know. Such kinds of authors are loved. We highly recommend you get this book.
Download The Hacker Playbook 2: Practical Guide to Penetration Test PDF Book Free
SEE ALSO: 7 Best Linux Courses for Administration, Certification, and Training 2022.
The Hacker Playbook 3 In PDF
This is another book for beginners. It is seen as a natural evolution of its predecessor, the Hackers Playbook 2. This is in the top 3 list of our favorite hacking books. We have read all the books, and without any doubt, the third one tops the second one.
In this book, the author takes you on a journey through all the phases of a penetration test. He helps you on how to set up a pen-testing environment, web app exploitation, compromising networks, social engineering techniques, physical attacks, surveillance, avoiding AVs and IDS as well as exploitation.
Hacking playbook 3 comes with a great introduction to web application testing; a vulnerable web application is included in this book that teaches you newer techniques that are being used these days. Moreover, you shall see attacks against NodeJS SQL Injection and many other advanced XSS techniques. This book is highly recommended by all who read it.
The techniques that are taught in this book are precious to sharpen skills. No doubt Peter Kim the author of this book, is an excellent teacher.
Keep in mind that this one is a bit harder than the second addition. It carries sophisticated techniques; therefore, you need to give a read to the second edition first and then jump on reading the third edition. You get a lot of information regarding what it means to be a Red Teamer vs. a penetration tester, which is much interesting to learn.
You also learn how to report your findings to your clients with the help of this book. We recommend you to add this book to your library of ethical hacking books.
Download The Hacker Playbook 3 PDF Free
SEE ALSO: 10 Best Programming Languages for Hackers and Ethical Hacking in 2022.
Hacking: The Art of Exploitation In PDF
This book focuses on some common problems that people tend to face during the beginning of their ethical hacking career. The book helps many beginners out there to perform their job more efficiently. One of the best papers that takes its users through all the technicalities of areas such as shell, scripting, exploitation as well as programming.
Either you have little hacking knowledge or are a beginner. The book helps you understand all the complexities of digital security tasks. One of the excellent and well-written books that enables you to learn all the clever stuff on how to get access to a system.
Download Hacking: The Art of Exploitation PDF Book Free
SEE ALSO: 10 Most Secure Linux Distros for Security, Anonymity and Privacy 2022.
Ghost in the Wires Book In PDF
Ghost in the wires is a book by Kevin Mitnick. It got published way back in 2011. The book carries the intriguing and exciting narration of Kevin Mitnick of his journey of being the world’s most wanted hacker. Kevin Mitnick, in reading, was a black hat hacker who turned into a white hat.
The book carries everything that how he bedazzled NSA, the FBI, and many other organizations and was not tracked for many years. He hacked some significant corporations out there from where he stole money as well as manipulated data. He was also involved in hacking severe offences in time and was also turned into a consultant in preventing intrusion is various systems. The book is a journey on how he accomplished all these things.
Download Ghost in the Wires Book PDF Free
SEE ALSO: How to Hack and Cheat in Flash Browser Games.
RTFM: Red Team Field Manual In PDF
This is yet another book on the list that was written by Ben Clark. It is more of a handbook than a book. It carries contents like codes and strings of scripts that are used in any system out there to easily navigate through them and find all the weaknesses and loopholes. The codes in the book can be used in Python and many other scripting languages.
Download RTFM: Red Team Field Manual PDF Book Free
SEE ALSO: How to Perform a DDoS Attack like a Hacker – #1 DDoS Tutorial.
CISSP: All in One Exam Guide In PDF
Shon Harris wrote this book for people who are preparing for certified information systems security professional exams to get cybersecurity certifications. The book can cover all the information regarding the network, system, legal, and governance areas of an ethical hacker.
Download CISSP: All in One Exam Guide PDF Free
SEE ALSO: How to Hack Email Account Passwords in 2022 – Ultimate Guide.
Practical Malware Analysis: The Hands-on Guide to Dissecting Malicious Software PDF
This book was written down by Michael Sikorski and Andrew Honig to describe how an individual can analyze and find malware in the windows system. The book is written by keeping beginners in mind so that they can understand the overall scheme.
Download Practical Malware Analysis: The Hands-on Guide to Dissecting Malicious Software PDF
SEE ALSO: Download Wireshark Network Protocol Analyzer Free.
The basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing PDF
This is yet another book on the list that covers all the basics of penetration testing as well as Hacking. It has been written by keeping all the beginners in mind that do not have hacking knowledge. It carries a step-by-step journey of penetration testing, moving from information gathering towards scanning, exploitation, and then finally report writing. This book can provide you with a wholesome picture of hacking instead of dealing with individual concepts in depth.
SEE ALSO: How to Hack Any SQL Database Password in 2022.
Which Ethical Hacking Books are you reading?
So these were all the best free hacking books PDF downloads that you can read and learn to hack in the new year. I will recommend you have a read on the hacking terminology and jargon to familiarize yourself with the words in the books. For extra security, you can also password protect your PDF files.
This book is very helpful and I think it is true.