I started reading “Hacking for Dummies 2nd Edition” (Amazon Link) a few days ago. This book is a treasure trove of information for the beginning Ethical Hacker. It talks about the defferences between Ethical Hackers and non-Ethical Hackers. It provides a solid list of software both commercial and open source to get you started in learning how to perform “Attack and Pen” testing.

It discusses what you need to start looking for to determin if your environment is being compromised and the countermeasures to take to lock it down. It provides a good overview in terms of Information Security for Social Engineering, Physical Security, War Dialing, Networks, Operating Systems, and Applications.

The goal of the book is to give the reader a broader understanding of what “Hacking” is all about, introduce them to terminology, and get them to think about security. Its a good desktop reference for the home user and the Chief Information Security Office (CISO). I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have.