The Art of Attack

Book excerpt: Take on the perspective of an attacker with this insightful new resource for ethical hackers, pentesters, and social engineers In The Art of Attack: Attacker Mindset for Security Professionals, experienced physical pentester and social engineer Maxie Reynolds untangles the threads of a useful, sometimes dangerous, mentality. The book shows ethical hackers, social engineers, and pentesters what an attacker mindset is and how to use it to their advantage. Adopting this mindset will result in the improvement of security, offensively and defensively, by allowing you to see your environment objectively through the eyes of an attacker. The book shows you the laws of the mindset and the techniques attackers use, from persistence to “start with the end” strategies and non-linear thinking, that make them so dangerous. You’ll discover: A variety of attacker strategies, including approaches, processes, reconnaissance, privilege escalation, redundant access, and escape techniques The unique tells and signs of an attack and how to avoid becoming a victim of one What the science of psychology tells us about amygdala hijacking and other tendencies that you need to protect against Perfect for red teams, social engineers, pentesters, and ethical hackers seeking to fortify and harden their systems and the systems of their clients, The Art of Attack is an invaluable resource for anyone in the technology security space seeking a one-stop resource that puts them in the mind of an attacker.