Gray Hat Hacking: The Ethical Hacker's Handbook

[962817]

I must admit that I have had this book on my shelf for about two years now so this review is of the 1st Edition.

This book doesn't really explain how to use all the tools that one would find at their disposal with BT3, but it does cover the pen-testing methodologies quite well. I'm not sure that Shon Harris actually wrote any of the chapters as her usual strange humor found in her CISSP books is strangely absent from this book. The book starts out covering some required albeit boring review of relevant US laws. The chapter on disclosure is interesting if you're not sure of what it is and the processes that you can (should) take.

I think the strength of this book is not realized until youits section. With a quick review of basic coding, you are then thrust into the fire with a review of C and ASM programming. This is obviously intended to whet your appetite for the Linux and Windows exploit and shellcode chapters that follow.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a book that just reviews a bunch of tools, then this book isn't it. If you want something that will teach you some concepts which are often hard to grasp then this book would be it.

[ShadowMaster]

If you want something that will teach you some concepts which are often hard to grasp then this book would be it.

I strongly disagree. If you want a book thatll help you get started use Hacking: A guide to exploitation. This book just gives a VERY basic overview of a thousand concepts and assumes either prior knowledge, or general aptitude. While Hacking was a scintillating read, this was merely a dry reference. I did not enjoy it, and in fact only read it through because I want to take the PWB course and wanted the information contained in this book. About the only redeeming quality of the book in my opinion was the fascinating description of social and physical hacks.

[K1ngFisher]

Don't mean to necro a thread, but the Gray Hat Hacking book is not for the faint hearted. I'm sure I'll understand it one day but there are other books out there that hit the sweet spot.

[Kr0n1kK1ll3r]

This book coupled with the Hacker Playbook 3 make a great reference.