Although the book is intended for someone that has a solid background in information security the step-by-step instructions make it easy to follow for all skill levels. You will learn Linux skills, how to setup your own labs, and much much more.
This book is pretty good for learning more about the nuts and bolts of pen-testing (like if you do security for a company and don't actually get to do the sexier pentest stuff.
Covers how to set up your own virtual lab, getting as complex as you need (including firewalls and all other fun stuff.)
If your spouse or SO is into security too, this is a great book for "together" projects.
Very good book for beginners. I'm not sure why it uses "Advanced" in the title. I'm not very experienced with pen-testing myself, but I thought the outline and guidance given on the step by step recommended processes to pen-testing were explained well, but appeared to be simple examples of vulnerabilities that are already well known, and therefore not likely to be seen in a "Highly-Secured Environment". The clear explanations given were sufficient to help somebody interested in pen-testing to get started, and build a good foundation. The title, in my opinion, is a bit mis-leading. You'll be walked through vulnerabilities and examples of older operating systems, but good luck using this book to actually penetrate a highly secure environment. But you will have a good push to head in that direction. Overall it's a book and I'd recommend it. The reading for some of these types of books can be overly complicated and dry, but this one was not like that.
I started reading the book as advised from friend before starting OSCP Certification , it's really cool , contain amazing info and scenarios the reason i didn't give it 5 stars is the lake of IDS evasion and also the very less post exploitation techniques But the book is really great and highly recommended for infosec guys
Very technical with all the command line items in current applications to do specific functions.
The three sections I enjoyed the most were: 1) NMap - excellent coverage of the applications and all the command line combinations that can be used. 2) Web Site scraping - I was very interested in the section on how to detect load balancers in NMap. 3) Sample Pen Test Report.
İ spend tow day's to read this book from cover to cover and its was really so exeited to read and i really recommend every pentester to read this book .. İt open ur eyes for eveything and its easy to reconized and understand all the information inside of it ;)
As a complete novice in this field I must say, I've learned a lot! It covers many things from rules of engagement to penetration itself. After reading this one should take time to think about security of one's system and how easy it could be to penetrate it.