Cybersecurity Starter Books - "Tribe of Hackers"
If you read just one book when you're getting started on a career in cyber, read this one
I’m in the hugely fortunate position of having not just a “day job” that I enjoy and (genuinely) feel passionate about, but also a very rewarding and fun side gig in the same area - cybersecurity. My side gig is working as an SME (Subject Matter Expert) or Learning Facilitator for the MIT xPro Professional Certificate in Cybersecurity. I’m currently working on my third run of this course and one of the consistent hot topics or most frequent questions that students have is about which areas of cybersecurity, and which cyber job roles, they want to focus on.
My Number 1 reading / resource recommendation to address that topic and those questions has been the same since the first course run. It’s this fantastic book by Marcus J. Carey - ‘Tribe of Hackers’. As you can see in the graphic for the book above, the stated goal for this book, and the series it has spawned, is:
… to help you work and succeed in the ever-expanding information security industry.
The book - and the series - live up to that goal. Here are a couple of reasons why I think this is such a great resource for anyone looking to get started on a career, or advance in a career, in cybersecurity:
The concept for the book is great. 70 interviews with 70 legitimate experts in information security, including the author. These are people who have taken their skills and craft to the highest of levels, who are speakers at security conferences, and major contributors to the cyber/ InfoSec community.
The interviewees come from across many different areas of cybersecurity - penetration testers, application (or web application) testers, security operations center (SOC) engineers, cyber threat hunters, people who have founded and run cyber businesses, and lots of other areas in the cyber space.
The interview question set is maybe the biggest piece of what makes this book (and the series) so very useful. Here are just a few of those great questions to give you a flavor for them:
If there is one myth that you could debunk in cybersecurity, what would it be
How is it that cybersecurity spending is increasing but breaches are still happening?
Do you need a college degree or certification to be a cybersecurity professional?
How did you get started in the cybersecurity field, and what advice would you give to a beginner pursuing a career in cybersecurity?
What is your specialty in cybersecurity, and how can others gain expertise in your specialty?
What is your advice for career success when it comes to getting hired, climbing the corporate ladder, or starting a company in cybersecurity?
What qualities do you believe all highly successful cybersecurity professionals share?
What is some practical cybersecurity advice you give to people at home in the age of social media and the Internet of Things?
You can find ‘Tribe of Hackers’, and links to the series, on Amazon (I have no affiliate link or anything of that sort by the way) - currently priced at $15 for the Kindle edition and from $17-25 for the paperback version.