By Shira Landau, Editor-in-Chief, CyberTalk.org

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

In an age of digital everything, do you even use a bookshelf anymore? Whether you read physical books, live on Kindle or are an Audible addict, our curated list of must-reads is designed to help you stay at the forefront of innovation and incorporate the best insights into your organization.

We’re excited to share brand new titles, with a handful of the classics interspersed within. These titles push the boundaries of conventional thought, delve into emerging trends, explain groundbreaking theories, and unveil urgent business strategies. You’ll find inspiration, enlightenment and profound opportunities for individual and business growth.

1. The CISO Desk Reference Guide Vol 1, 3^rd Edition, by Bill Bonney, Gary Hayslip and Matt Stamper (2023). In every profession, there is a standard, go-to desk-reference guide that professionals can always rely on. In cyber security, The CISO Desk Reference Guide is that book.

Authored by seasoned practitioners, this guide provides new Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) with valuable insights for effectively establishing a strong cyber security program.

This is the type of book that security professionals need to have on-hand when someone from the C-suite sends an urgent message demanding swift action and sage advice is required.

2. Enterprise Cybersecurity in Digital Business, by Ariel Evans (2022). In this modern masterpiece, core areas of discussion include cyber security tools, cyber security regulation, cyber security incident response, forensics and audits, GDPR, cyber security insurance, cyber security risk management, cyber security risk management strategy and vendor risk management.

This is not only a resource for cyber security professionals – it’s also an essential read for CEOs and other business stakeholders who wish to stay informed about the latest cyber security challenges and high-impact business solutions.

3. The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security, by Kevin D. Mitnick (2003). One of the world’s most notorious hackers, Kevin Mitnick provides an insider’s perspective on security, as informed by his own cyber criminal past.

In The Art of Deception, he contends that firewalls and encryption protocols will never be enough to stop a savvy grifter who’s bent on breaching a corporate database.

Drawing on true stories, Mitnick vividly illustrates the vulnerabilities of even the most fortified information systems in the presence of a slick con artist (say, one posing as an IRS agent).

While this book is now 20 year-old, the material is as timely as ever. Most importantly, Mitnick imparts guidance around averting social engineering hacks through security protocols, training programs and more.

4. Hacking APIs, by Corey J. Ball (2022). For seasoned professionals, Hacking APIs offers valuable insight into the types of attacks that professionals may need to prevent and defend against as computing continues to evolve.

This book will prepare professionals for pen-testing APIs, succeeding within bug bounty programs, and securing APIs more effectively. Readers will also learn how REST and GraphQL APIs operate in the wild, and develop an API testing ‘lab.’

Further, readers will walk away with strong knowledge of tools that can prove useful for reconnaissance, endpoint analysis and fuzzing – think Kiterunner and OWASP Amass.

5. The CISO Evolution, by Matthew K. Sharp and Kyriakos Lambros (2022). This book aims to assist cyber security professionals in advancing their communication skills, particularly as they relate to interactions with management and boards.

Through engaging narratives, the authors guide professionals along a course to develop executive presence. They’re careful to elucidate nearly every pitfall encountered by technology experts when communicating with executives.

The CISO Evolution sets out to foster trust among senior business leaders by aligning and creating distinctive expectations around risk appetite, capital allocation and more.

Despite a title that appeals to the CISO audience, the book is intended for all types of security professionals, risk professionals, IT auditors and risk managers; anyone who seeks effective strategies that can put them on a path to better communication and stronger business outcomes.

6. A Hacker’s Mind, by Bruce Schneier (2023). Esteemed cyber security expert and New York Times best-selling author Bruce Schneier presents a treatise on the mind of the hacker, how we can reverse current hacking trends, understand the systems that underpin our society and bend the arc of history.

7. This is How They Tell me That the World Ends, by Nicole Perlroth (2021). The book reads like a John Le Carre thriller novel; part mystery, part commentary, part psychological analyses.

The author puts herself in the mind of hackers. What must it feel like to sell a zero day vulnerability? Who’s really buying these exploits? She dives into this underworld in a way that no reader could have ever anticipated.

As Perlroth weaves the story together, she describes the sensitive nature of journalistic research in relation to cyber space; at one point, she found herself enclosed in a windowless closet because of concerns about super spies who could intercept conversations with lasers.

8. Cracking the Blockchain Code, by Dikla Barda, Roman Zaikin and Oded Vanunu (2023). These experts from Check Point Software have over 15 years of professional experience each.

They wrote this book after observing a significant uptick in cyber criminal activity targeting blockchain platforms. In 2021, a staggering $14 billion in cryptocurrencies was stolen by hackers, according to CNBC research.

For those interested in blockchain and cryptocurrency, this book presents practical tools, labs and exercises designed to help readers recognize security vulnerabilities and understand the processes involved in the blockchain network.

Cracking the Blockchain Code provides a comprehensive toolkit for CISOs and security professionals, enabling them to enhance their teams’ readiness to address the evolving security challenges in the blockchain and cryptocurrency spaces.

9. The Smartest Person in the Room, by Christian Espinoza (2001). The author takes a critical look at the cultural aspects of the cyber security industry, which have been evolving across the past few decades.

Says Espinoza, “…in my more than thirty years of experience in cybersecurity and leadership, I found that…technical employees are the root of the problem,” pointing to the toxic cyber security culture found in some companies.

To address this issue, Espinoza proposes “The Secure Methodology,” a seven-step program for improving staff interpersonal skills and reducing their own personal insecurities, which contribute to a toxic culture.

With a knack for storytelling, Espinoza’s heart-felt and acutely perceptive advice is a salve for any struggling team.

10. Hands-on Artificial Intelligence for Cybersecurity: Implement Smart AI Systems for Preventing Cyber Attacks and Detecting Threats and Network Anomalies, by Alessandro Parisi (2019).

Modern organizations allocate substantial budgets to cyber security – billions of dollars annually. Artificial intelligence has emerged as a highly effective element that can be used in constructing more intelligent and secure systems.

This manual introduces widely adopted AI approaches that can be customized to identify potential attacks and to safeguard corporate systems.

Find out about integrating AI capabilities into the development of intelligent prevention and defense mechanisms. Strategies are applicable to spam filters, network intrusion detection, botnet detection and secure authentication.

After reading this book, professionals will be well-equipped to create intelligent systems that are capable of recognizing unusual patterns and attacks; effectively fortifying systems through the application of AI.