Hey to all my fellow Security Newbies! When I first started my quest for a position in this field, there were a few books that helped me tremendously to get a grasp. One of these was Counter Hack by Ed Skoudis. Now, I found this to be extremely well written. It was my first Ed Skoudis book, but I hear that others written by him or great also. This book lays it all out for you in simple terms. Ed goes over the basics and even takes you step-by-step through the stages of a hack. There are even examples of hacking scenarios, and how they were detected. This book was great. I could hardly put it down (My wife and I argued a couple times about this). I guess because it was all so new to me, and I was just excited to learn new and interesting things. He explained the scenarios and uses of various tools and tricks of the trade in a manner that made it easy to learn. What made it even better was the fact that he goes over how the "Black Hat" comprimises the victims' systems and with what tools - and how to use them -, but then gives a defense/countermeasure for the attack. I am going to stop now, because I'm starting to drool...j/k... Am I a geek or what?...you should see me in the bookstore...my wife refuses to go...Anyway, this is a must-read for newbies. I may have a few others I'd like to tell you all about. I hope that you enjoy this one, and if you already read it, tell me what you thought of it.

Peace.