The Hacker Playbook: Practical Guide To Penetration Testing

I have a lot of books on penetration testing. A LOT! Out of all the books I can honestly say this one is my favorite. As a new penetration (recently got my OSCP) I wanted a book without all the fluff and without describing every single tool and vulnerability. I am starting a new job as an official penetration tester and I didn't want something to read extra book that I had to spend days/weeks to read and then only use small parts of it.So what is valuable in this book? EVERYTHING. It is really 294 pages of gold. This book is written by a seasoned pentester and he shows you from start to finish how it is done and what he has seen in most penetration tests. Everything in the book is right to the point and laid out very clean. It is also very up to date and uses all the modern tools and distros (Kali Linux). This is the book I've been looking for a long time. You still need to have a basic understanding of pentesting and the tools but if you are new to the pentesting job or even a seasoned vet, then this will be the book you need to keep with you. I have a feeling I will have to buy another one of these as I will wear out the pages of the current one. Don't think about it, buy this book now!

As you can see I normally do not write reviews even tho I have been a loyal Amazon customer. Yesterday I received around 10 security books for the holidays as I like to keep my knowledge refreshed. To my surprise I started reading "The Hacker Playbook" and let me just tell you this book kept me awed on the way it was written. It is updated, concise and to the point. This is a must have book for any pentester and even for any Network Administrator as this really places you in the mind set of an intruder and by learning the open source tools outlined in the book it will allow you to mitigate any risks that can be caused by these tools. Peter Kim you have provided the infosec community with a great piece of literature and to get me to write a review it is very hard but I finished you book in 6 hours of reading and all your commands look 100%. Highly recommended book for experienced security administrators and even for people going for their CEH. Great read.

Mr. Kim does a phenomenal job breaking down his book into elaborate play-by-plays to help the reader understand how one approaches real life penetration hacking situations. This book is filled with industry best practices, tips, recommendations, as well as tried-and-true applicable software, programs, and security applications.These series of elaborate game plans provide a targeted and precise way to accomplish and defeat the penetration testing scenario at hand. It is an ideal reference books for those who want to get into the security field as well as for those who need a primer or refresher course.The Hacker Playbook is very well written - it is meticulously comprehensive, to-the-point, and easy to follow without all the unnecessary jargon.The price is a steal considering the value you get. I bought the Hacker Playbook kindle version along with the hard copy and saved even more. It is well worth it to have a version for both at home and while you are away. Looking forward to reading the sequel if that's in the works as well!

Not a bad guide to get you started, the only complaints are that a lot of the programs and links in the book have changed and require some light Google use for the reader to find the programs mentioned. Some scripts have changed enough to make the book less useful as a guide.It does appear that this was written and published in the cheapest manner possible, some pages bleed through to others, some pages look like the printer was low on toner and the resulting pictures/screenshots are just a light grey blob on the page. There are a few typos, and some of the pages look to be printed on wrinkled paper - overall a shoddy quality to the physical book, but the content is still worthwhile.

Focus is placed on practical, relevant to current day techniques that have been proven to yield results. There is also sufficient explanation of the rationale behind the techniques and methodologies introduced which I found help glue it all together and guide the reader toward thinking like a tester/researcher--not just a professional with (even a high level of) expertise in a wide collection of tools.Another highlight for me is that the author clearly has an interest in teaching. The book is written in a familiar tone and it is clear that its creation was sincerely motivated by their desire to empower others who are also passionate about security. Anyone familiar with that quality knows what a difference it can make when you attempt to learn from such material.TL;DR:A great resource both as an "on hand" playbook or for anyone interested in learning more about current day attack techniques, their rationale, and in which common situations they may be effectively used. It's a refreshingly open knowledge dump from someone with years of hard work, passion, and dedication to security and the art of pentesting.

Like everyone else has already said, this book is an excellent resource. It is not comprehensive in the way that the Hacker Handbook series is. It does not explain every definition it defines, in detail. However, not all books need to go to that level to be great resources. Like other reviewers have said,it is an excellent resource to have at your fingertips, when you need it most. I highly recommend buying the print copy, and then using the Amazon matchbook program to purchase the ebook for another 2 or 3 bucks. I use the online kindle reader to pull this book up when i need it at work, and I use the physical one read offline or to lend out to colleagues when they need to look something up. This book has already given me some great ideas that I have used in my assessments.