The Book is the Professional’s Weapon of Choice

Cybersecurity Professional Reading

What’s the difference between a job and a profession? According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary:

• Job [noun]: work for which you receive regular payment

• Profession [noun]: a type of job that needs special training or skill, especially one that needs a high level of education

So the key difference between a job and a profession is the need for special training. People in cybersecurity require a lot of specialized training, skill and education. Thus our use of the term cybersecurity professional.

During the course of your professional career, you’ll need to maintain that training, keep your skills sharp, and develop new skills. In cybersecurity we do that with training courses and certifications. However, we have an additional tool at our disposal… the book.

Reading about your career field is vitally important to developing yourself as a well rounded professional. There’s a reason Presidents read the biographies of past Presidents and generals reading about past wars, both ancient and modern. Professional reading provides you the opportunity to learn from the experiences of others in your field.

As an aspiring cybersecurity professional you should do the same. What should you be reading? Fortunately, there are some well-curated lists of excellent cybersecurity books:

• Cybersecurity Canon, The Ohio State University’s Institute for Cybersecurity & Digital Trust (Ohio State assumed leadership for Cybersecurity Canon from Palo Alto Networks in July 2020)

• A Top 10 Reading List if You’re Getting Started in Cyber Threat Intelligence, Katie Nickels

• CTI Reading List, Scott J Roberts

• The 25 Best Cyber Security Books — Recommendations from the Experts, The SSL Store

Cybersecurity books come in a lot of cool flavors. There are technical or analytical books to pick up new skill sets. There are tales of hackers doing bad things to give you a view from the other side of the attack. There are riveting journalistic investigations of nation-state attacks. A well curated reading list will give you a glimpse into the past, present and future of cybersecurity.

Of course, we’re not always in the mood to curl up with a good cybersecurity book after a long day. So just for good fun, I’ve included The Complete List Of Hacker And Cybersecurity Movies by Cybersecurity Ventures. Enjoy!