Mr. Kim does a phenomenal job breaking down his book into elaborate play-by-plays to help the reader understand how one approaches real life penetration hacking situations. This book is filled with industry best practices, tips, recommendations, as well as tried-and-true applicable software, programs, and security applications.

These series of elaborate game plans provide a targeted and precise way to accomplish and defeat the penetration testing scenario at hand. It is an ideal reference books for those who want to get into the security field as well as for those who need a primer or refresher course.

The Hacker Playbook is very well written - it is meticulously comprehensive, to-the-point, and easy to follow without all the unnecessary jargon.

The price is a steal considering the value you get. I bought the Hacker Playbook kindle version along with the hard copy and saved even more. It is well worth it to have a version for both at home and while you are away. Looking forward to reading the sequel if that's in the works as well!

Focus is placed on practical, relevant to current day techniques that have been proven to yield results. There is also sufficient explanation of the rationale behind the techniques and methodologies introduced which I found help glue it all together and guide the reader toward thinking like a tester/researcher--not just a professional with (even a high level of) expertise in a wide collection of tools.

Another highlight for me is that the author clearly has an interest in teaching. The book is written in a familiar tone and it is clear that its creation was sincerely motivated by their desire to empower others who are also passionate about security. Anyone familiar with that quality knows what a difference it can make when you attempt to learn from such material.

TL;DR:

A great resource both as an "on hand" playbook or for anyone interested in learning more about current day attack techniques, their rationale, and in which common situations they may be effectively used. It's a refreshingly open knowledge dump from someone with years of hard work, passion, and dedication to security and the art of pentesting.

As you can see I normally do not write reviews even tho I have been a loyal Amazon customer. Yesterday I received around 10 security books for the holidays as I like to keep my knowledge refreshed. To my surprise I started reading "The Hacker Playbook" and let me just tell you this book kept me awed on the way it was written. It is updated, concise and to the point. This is a must have book for any pentester and even for any Network Administrator as this really places you in the mind set of an intruder and by learning the open source tools outlined in the book it will allow you to mitigate any risks that can be caused by these tools. Peter Kim you have provided the infosec community with a great piece of literature and to get me to write a review it is very hard but I finished you book in 6 hours of reading and all your commands look 100%. Highly recommended book for experienced security administrators and even for people going for their CEH. Great read.

I like this book 'cause it is what it pray in it's main tittle, a Playbook. Since i'm a geek and not very sporty guy it was difficult to me to interpret some of the subtitles (it makes mention a lot of football strategies) but no matter this, the book is great, it gives you great strategies, I would love it to give 5 stars but some of the strategies are well know, i mean, you are going to find new tricks to hack but there is some well know hacks that you already run.

Great book from who has already the knowledge how-to but still doesn't have a well defined pentest strategies.

Excelente material

The Hacker Playbook is written very well, with Kim laying out concepts and strategies in a clear, concise, and methodical manner that makes it very easy to learn from. He is very up-to-date on the techniques and tools utilized in the field of penetration and he draws from many real-world situations to present applicable examples. From beginning to end, it's clear that Kim's years of experience and successes in the industry have given him a unique perspective on methodology which has shaped the toolbox he employs. I especially enjoyed the sections on social engineering and the more unconventional aspects of hacking. Both beginners and veterans alike can learn something from this book!

Like everyone else has already said, this book is an excellent resource. It is not comprehensive in the way that the Hacker Handbook series is. It does not explain every definition it defines, in detail. However, not all books need to go to that level to be great resources. Like other reviewers have said,it is an excellent resource to have at your fingertips, when you need it most. I highly recommend buying the print copy, and then using the Amazon matchbook program to purchase the ebook for another 2 or 3 bucks. I use the online kindle reader to pull this book up when i need it at work, and I use the physical one read offline or to lend out to colleagues when they need to look something up. This book has already given me some great ideas that I have used in my assessments.

As an aspiring penetration tester, the knowledge gained from reading this book has been tremendous. From start to finish, it provides a thorough guide into how an experienced pentester moves through an assessment efficiently and methodologically. The knowledge found in this book have been a great learning resource for me. With much of the tactics found in the book being new to me, I have found that it provides a valuable learning experience to practice and get familiar with the tools and methods before utilizing them in real world tests. While other books I have read to get started in the pentesting field have been rather basic, the author goes in depth on the most relevant tools and procedures that I feel can take me to the next level. This book has been a great read and definitely one to keep for reference. Highly recommended!

Al igual que otros lectores de habla inglesa que ya habían declarado tener dudas al respecto de este libro, no pude ser menos y tener desconfianza a priori por el contenido de este libro, pero al final ha sido una gran sorpresa toparme con un muy buen libro sobre pentesting profesional que se puede tener siempre cerca a manera de libro de recetas (¿cómo hacer esto o aquello en un test de intrusión de manera rápida y efectiva?). No he encontrado pegas a este libro, lo recomiendo encarecidamente a todo profesional de seguridad informática que se dedique a tests de intrusión (pentesting).

Acquistato di recente per formazione interna; può sembrare all'apparenza un libro datato, ma penso che sia comunque un valido acquisto per imparare la metodologia e casi d'uso reali.

A pesar de los años sigue siendo un libro que se puede tomar como guía muy básica, ojo que no es un libro con ejercicios prácticos.

This is a great book if you want to start tinkering with hacking tools and learn the craft. Very hands on and has a lot of good advise on which tools you need to sue for each of the use cases it discusses.

It seems to be interesting enough for an old book.😎