Books & Study Frameworks

Editions and availability change — verify the current CEH v13 edition before buying, and prefer the latest printing.

Aligned to CEH

• CEH v13 official courseware / iLabs (EC-Council) — the authoritative source; comes with official training. https://www.eccouncil.org/train-certify/certified-ethical-hacker-ceh/
• CEH Certified Ethical Hacker All-in-One Exam Guide (Matt Walker, McGraw-Hill) — popular third-party guide; confirm the edition matches v13.
• CEH Certified Ethical Hacker Study Guide / Practice Tests (Sybex) — confirm current edition.

Foundational (fill gaps the exam assumes)

• The Web Application Hacker's Handbook (Stuttard & Pinto) — pairs with Modules 14–15 and PortSwigger Academy.
• Hacking: The Art of Exploitation (Jon Erickson) — low-level fundamentals.
• The Hacker Playbook 3 (Peter Kim) — practical methodology.
• RTFM: Red Team Field Manual — command quick-reference.

Standards you can read free (better than any book for definitions)

• NIST SP 800-115 — https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/115/final
• OWASP Testing Guide — https://owasp.org/www-project-web-security-testing-guide/
• FIRST CVSS spec — https://www.first.org/cvss/

Note-taking framework for this repo

• Keep raw command output and screenshots in a git-ignored loot/ or captures/ folder (already in .gitignore).
• Summaries and lessons go into each module's 📝 My lab log table.
• Weak areas → ../PROGRESS.md weak-area log; re-drill until ≥80%.
• Consider a spaced-repetition deck (Anki) for ports, hashcat modes, and tool→purpose pairs.