Easily the most frequently asked question I get asked is how can I learn more/get started with regards to penetration testing, especially with regards to the OSCP. Below I’ve added some resources that I found useful
The Cyber Mentor
- Zero to Hero: A Practical Network Penetration Testing Course (free)
- Pentesting for n00bs (free)
- Buffer Overflows Made Easy (free)
Note: You can join The Cyber Mentor’s Discord server where they frequently post discount codes for the below classes: https://discord.gg/ - Practical Ethical Hacking – The Complete Course ($29.99)
- Windows Privilege Escalation for Beginners ($29.99)
- Linux Privilege Escalation for Beginners ($29.99)
Linux Practice
Books
American Kingpin – Nick Bilton
NEW YORK TIMES BETSELLER. The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom—and almost got away with it
The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits’ Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime – Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden
A great book that dives into ransomware and calls out the hidden heroes of the security world who spend much of their free time reverse engineering ransomware – for free – in an attempt to stop malicious actors.
The Darkest Web: Drugs, Death and Destroyed Lives . . . the Inside Story of the Internet’s Evil Twin – Eileen Ormsby
Diving into three “dark areas” of the internet (online drugs, murder for hire, child exploitation) this is a fascinating look at some of the darkest places of the internet and the struggles that come with preventing this type of crime, if you can even detect who is conducting it at all.
Accidental Empires: How the boys of Silicon Valley make their millions, battle foreign competition, and still can’t get a date – Robert X. Cringely
Accidental Empires is the trenchant, vastly readable history of that industry, focusing as much on the astoundingly odd personalities at its core–Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mitch Kapor, etc. and the hacker culture they spawned as it does on the remarkable technology they created. Cringely reveals the manias and foibles of these men (they are always men) with deadpan hilarity and cogently demonstrates how their neuroses have shaped the computer business. But Cringely gives us much more than high-tech voyeurism and insider gossip. From the birth of the transistor to the mid-life crisis of the computer industry, he spins a sweeping, uniquely American saga of creativity and ego that is at once uproarious, shocking and inspiring.
Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon – Kim Zetter
A top cybersecurity journalist tells the story behind the virus that sabotaged Iran’s nuclear efforts and shows how its existence has ushered in a new age of warfare—one in which a digital attack can have the same destructive capability as a megaton bomb.
The Dark Net – Jamie Bartlett
In this important and revealing book, Jamie Bartlett takes us deep into the digital underworld and presents an extraordinary look at the internet we don’t know. Beginning with the rise of the internet and the conflicts and battles that defined its early years, Bartlett reports on trolls, pornographers, drug dealers, hackers, political extremists, Bitcoin programmers, and vigilantes—and puts a human face on those who have many reasons to stay anonymous.
Fatal System Error by Joseph Menn
Fatal System Error penetrates both the Russian cyber-mob and the American mafia as the two fight over the Internet’s massive spoils. It takes readers into the murky hacker underground, traveling the globe from San Francisco to Costa Rica, London, and Russia. Using unprecedented access to mob businesses and Russian officials, it shows how top criminals earned protection from the Russian government — and how Barrett Lyon and Andrew Crocker got closer to the titans of the underground economy than any previous outsider. Together, their stories explain why cybercrime is much worse than you thought — and why the Internet might not survive.
Masters of Doom: How two guys created an empire and transformed pop culture – David Kushner
About the creation of id software, the creators of Doom, Wolfenstein, and the inventors of the FPS genre.
Permanent Record – Edward Snowden
Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin’s Most Dangerous Hackers – Andy Greenberg
From Wired senior writer Andy Greenberg comes the true story of the most devastating cyberattack in history and the desperate hunt to identify and track the elite Russian agents behind it.
Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick by the Man Who Did It – Tsutomo Shimomura
An international computer security expert offers a suspenseful account of his pursuit and eventual capture of hacker Kevin Mitnick, describing his high-tech face-off with the world’s most notorious cyberthief.
Where Wizards Stay Up Late – Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon
Discusses the origins of the Internet
Worm: The First Digital World War – Mark Bowden
Articles Worth Reading
The Rise and Fall of Silk Road
Subscription Services
Documentaries
Revolution OS – Available on YouTube
Revolution OS tells the inside story of the hackers who rebelled against Microsoft’s proprietary software model and created Linux and the Open Source movement. Believing that computer software should be free – economically and intellectually – Richard Stallman and other high-profile technology experts started the Open Source movement. An admirer of Stallman named Linus Torvalds created a new operating system and called it Linux. Linux was freely distributed software that many programmers consider far superior to Windows. Revolution OS paints a compelling picture for tech heads and laymen alike.
Deep Web – Deep Web gives the inside story of one of the most important and riveting digital crime sagas of the century — the arrest of Ross William Ulbricht, the 30-year-old entrepreneur convicted of being ‘Dread Pirate Roberts,’ creator and operator of online black market Silk Road. As the only film with exclusive access to the Ulbricht family, Deep Web explores how the brightest minds and thought leaders behind the Deep Web and Bitcoin are now caught in the crosshairs of the battle for control of a future inextricably linked to technology, with our digital rights hanging in the balance.
Citizenfour – Oscar winning Documentary about Edward Snowden, unfolding by the minute as Snowden hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the NSA.
The Internet’s Own Boy – Aaron Swartz’s online presence and influence was groundbreaking. From helping develop internet protocol RSS to his work as a co-founder of Reddit, the programming prodigy helped shape the digital landscape we all use today. Chronicling his pioneering efforts crusading for open access and free speech and the resulting legal nightmare and tragedy that ensued, this movie is a dynamic and moving portrait of a brilliant tech millionaire who renounced the values of Silicon Valley startup culture and used technology to tirelessly fight for social justice, no matter what the cost.
The Dark Side of the Silk Road on YouTube
Silicon Cowboys – Three friends dream up the Compaq portable computer at a Texas diner in 1981, and soon find themselves battling mighty IBM for PC supremacy. Their improbable journey altered the future of computing and shaped the world we now know.
Zero Days – A black ops cyber-attack launched by the U.S. and Israel on an Iranian nuclear facility unleashed malware with unforeseen consequences. The Stuxnet virus infiltrated its pre-determined target only to spread its infection outward, ultimately exposing systemic vulnerabilities that threatened the very safety of the planet. Delve deep into the burgeoning world of digital warfare in this documentary thriller from Academy Award® winning filmmaker Alex Gibney.