The 5 Best Information Security Books of 2022
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It’s been a year since I wrote The 5 Best Information Security Books of 2021, which was preceded by The Best Information Security Books of 2020 and The Best Information Security Books of 2019. With that, as the year is coming to a close, here’s my list of the Best Information Security Books of 2022.
Information security book of the year
Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency.
For every legitimate technology, there are scammers and criminals who use it to exploit people. And nothing does that more than cryptocurrencies. In this fascinating read, veteran tech journalist Andy Greenberg has written a book that reads straight out of a Robert Ludlum novel, except it’s non-fiction.
This compelling and engrossing read highlights how cryptocurrencies are the criminal underworld’s best friend. This is certainly the best information security book you will read in 2022.
Runners up
Privacy Is Hard and Seven Other Myths: Achieving Privacy through Careful Design — one of the biggest myths is that scam robocalls are too difficult to stop. Here, Dr. Jaap-Henk Hoepman destroys 8 of the biggest myths around data privacy and information security.
If It’s Smart, It’s Vulnerable — In August, Amazon bought vacuum maker iRobot for $1.7 billion. What Amazon really wants is the data in these smart vacuums. Mikko Hypponen does a great job of showing how all of those handy devices we enable with our data, are devices that are highly vulnerable.
Visualizing Google Cloud: 101 Illustrated References for Cloud Engineers and Architects — Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words. And if you use Google Cloud Platform, Priyanka Vergadia has written a valuable reference that makes sense of the massive Google ecosystem.
Computer Security and the Internet: Tools and Jewels from Malware to Bitcoin — Dr. Paul Van Oorschot of Carleton University has written a highly-technical reference that provides the reader with a detailed overview of computer security.
Honorary mention
What Privacy Is Hard and Seven Other Myths does for security and privacy, Drug Wars and Covert Netherworlds: The Transformations of Mexico’s Narco Cartels, by James Creechan, does the same for the war on drugs.
While it has nothing to do directly with information security, this engrossing book will show you that nearly everything you know about Mexico’s narco cartels and the US war on drugs is erroneous.
And there are, a lot of lessons learned here that do apply to security. Perhaps your approach to the war on hackers is wrong too.
