Recommended Reading on Cyber Security

Rick Howard | Sep 14, 2011

There are many cyber security books out there, fiction and non fiction, all varying in accuracy and quality of story and information. This is a list of books I've read and recommend for a variety of indicated reasons. Let me know if you've got suggestions for others I should add to my reading list.

Cyber Security Novels and Books for Historical Context:

"Neuromancer" by William Gibson
"The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage" by Cliff Stoll
"Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson
"Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords" by Joseph Menn
“Kingpin” by Kevin Poulsen
"Cyber Fraud: Tactics, Techniques and Procedures" by iDefense (shameless plug)

Cyber Security Books To Get Anyone Thinking More Seriously About Cyber Security:

"Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World" by Bruce Schneier
“Cyber Security Essentials” by iDefense (Shameless Plug)
"Security Metrics: replacing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" by Andrew Jaquith

Good Hacker Novels that Don't Exaggerate the Genre:

"The Blue Nowhere: A Novel" by Jeffery Deaver
"Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson
“Reamde” by Neal Stephenson

Interesting Cyber Security Novels that I Just Liked:

"Killobyte" by Piers Anthony
"The Zenith Angle" by Bruce Sterling
“The Girl Who Played with Fire” by Stieg Larsson

Novels about Gaming and Future Intelligence Collection:

(Interesting ideas about how gaming platforms in the future could be used for intelligence collection)

"Daemon" by Daniel Suarez
"Halting State" by Charles Stross

Information Design:

(Books that have helped me explain complex cyber security concepts to customers and new bosses)

"The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition" by Edward Tufte
"Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative" by Edward Tufte
"Envisioning Information" by Edward Tufte
"Beautiful Evidence" by Edward Tufte
"The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics" by Donna Wong

tagged: cybersecurity

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