Preface

Maybe you’ve just finished a boot camp on ethical hacking and you can’t get enough. Perhaps you’re an administrator who has realized that it’s time to understand how the bad guys work with these dark arts. It’s also possible that someone gave you this book for your birthday after misunderstanding when you said you have a keen interest in den nesting. Whoever you are (except for that last one), this book is for you. But why this book?

Let’s be honest: this subject has a tendency to be dry. Sometimes, it feels like an author is there to just tell us how it is, providing a sparse foundation of the concepts under discussion. I think the experience is more enjoyable if it feels more like an interactive learning session than a lecture. So, I’ve endeavored to discuss pen testing in a more conversational and relaxed manner. Reading this book should feel like we’re just hanging out in the lab and exploring these concepts. I think the kids these days call this vibing. I’ll have to ask my nieces.

This book isn’t intended for complete beginners, but it is accessible to different levels of experience. Overall, it is assumed that you have some experience and education in information technology and cybersecurity. This book won’t “teach you how to hack,” and in fact, many of the labs feature old attacks that aren’t likely to succeed in a real-world environment. The foundation they all provide, however, is very much still relevant. The lessons will be valuable to those who intend to understand how the core concept works, and from there, they can be translated into modern attacks. This book emphasizes understanding over blindly following steps.