Hacking For Dummies, 5th Edition

Foreword

There were no books on hacking when I became a penetration tester and security auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1995. There were tools, techniques, and procedures, though. While the tools have changed dramatically, the techniques and procedures have been remarkably stable, and Kevin Beaver has created the perfect introduction to hacking that incorporates the best procedures with the latest tools. Planning, footprint analysis, scanning, and attacking are all still required. Perhaps there is more emphasis on wireless and web hacking and less on things such as war dialing thanks to changes in the way companies and people are connected. The real value to extract from this book is in understanding the tools and becoming proficient in their use.

Pen testing, or hacking, is the best way to get into the rewarding field of IT security. It is open to anyone with a foundation in computing, coding, or networking. If you do not have a background in all three, you will quickly gain knowledge in the other disciplines because hacking takes you down many paths.

There was a time when a professional hacker had to be a jack-of-all-trades. Now there are thousands of subspecialties within the realm of hacking: mobile app security testing, web app security testing, network penetration, and OS-specific hacking for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and Android. Security researchers, specialists who discover new vulnerabilities, are having a big impact on the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) as ...