This page serves as a record of books, courses and projects that I’ve spent time on. It’s easy to forget and it’s a good place to keep a record.

IT Certifications

• 2018 – OSCP – Offensive Security Certified Professional
• 2018 – Cobit 5 Foundation
• 2017 – CISA – Certified Information Systems Auditor
• 2015 – ITIL v3 Foundation
• 2013 – CISM – Certified Information Security Manager
• 2012 – CISSP – Certified Information Systems Security Professional
• 2011 – SCSECA – Sun Certified Security Administrator
• 2010 – Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Associate
• 2010 – SCNA – Sun Certified Network Associate
• 2009 – CompTIA Security+ Certification
• 2009 – SCA – Sun Certified Administrator

Books Read

2019

• Gulp: Travels around the Gut by Mary Roach – A book that takes the reader on a tour through the digestive tube from the entrance to the back passage. I felt this book had so much promise but just didn’t deliver. I expected a systematic science packed account but just felt like I was reading a series of disjointed anecdotes.
• Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker – This book was an eye opener about a state we spend one third of lives in. It is a crucial function that we need but often fight daily with long term consequences. I have definitely changed my approach to sleeping as a result of reading this book.
• The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis – Not a book I would typically choose but Michael was in Dublin and I attended his launch. He documents the major US government departments and their functions along with Trumps poor appointment of staff to run them.
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari – An incredible account of our complex human beginnings.
• Debt : The First 5000 Years by David Graeber – A fantastic account of money and its uses throughout time. I listened to the audio book.
• Hacking: The Art of Exploitation by Jon Erickson – I absolutely loved this book. It is packed full of code examples, really intuitive and even comes with a prepared virtual machine for the examples. I cannot recommend this enough as the start of someones journey in to exploit development.
• The Shellcoder’s Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Holes – I used this book more as a reference but its still great to pickup and consult when writing shellcode.

2018

• Bulletproof SSL and TLS by Ivan Rustic – The most comprehensive coverage of TLS that is out there. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it remains one of my few books that I regularly reference.
• How to Lie with Statistics by Darren Huff – Sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.
• Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold – A classic and interesting read. The examples and concepts are deceptively simple but if followed should produce very clear code that is easy for others to follow.
• Thinking, Fast and Slow Paperback by Daniel Kahneman – Another Book sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.
• Sweet Poison: Learn how to break your addiction with sugar for life by David Gillespie I discovered this while looking for something to read in a little Cafe in Vanuatu. What a joy it was. A whistle stop tour of the human endocrine system and sugar.
• The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger by Marc Levinson – What did global trade look like sixty years ago and how did the humble shipping container change it? An incredible book that delves deep into something we don’t often consider. In a world of frequent tech disruptions was the container the pioneer?!
• The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet by Nina Teicholz – A shocking account of the way dietary health has been influenced and misdirected by individuals of influence, trade bodies and supposition rather than science based evidence. This book will change the way you view food.

2017 – 2014

Unfortunately I took a hiatus from blogging and didn’t log my books ….

2013

• The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook: Finding and Exploiting Security Flaws by Dafydd Stuttard and Marcus Pinto -THE book for web application security. A must read if you want to work in the industry.
• Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy by Martin Lindstrom – This fascinating book exposes how advertisers target us using highly manipulative tactics.
• Priceless: The Hidden Psychology of Value by William Poundstone – Learn about the way people attribute value to everyday things.
• IPV6 Essentials by Silvia Hagen – A great introduction to the features of IPV6.
• Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders by Adam Morgan – How smaller players can challenge the market leaders with creative marketing strategies. 
• Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham – I bought this book as it is regarded as an iconic investing book. It’s a hard read but so informative.
• Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust that Society Needs to Thrive by Bruce Schneier – Bruce is a juggernaut in the security industry and his book does not disappoint. I bought a signed copy from his website.
• Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It by Simon Singh – A recount of the most important event in human history.
• Security Power Tools by Brian Burns – How to use, tweak, and push the most popular network security applications.

2012

• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman – A powerful primer on how–and why–some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.
• Master Switch: The rise and fall of information empires by Tim Wu – The book is both a history and an analysis of the telephone, radio/television, and the internet.
• The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature by Geoffrey Miller – The focus of this book is that the origin of several human traits (language, for example) is due, not to natural selection, but to sexual selection.
• Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Kerry Patterson – Very impressive giving me a new insight into conversations and how important even the least conversation is and how it can become so crucial.
• Founders at Work : Stories of Startups’ Early Days – Jessica Livingston – A collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days.
• Tribal Leadership: How Successful Groups Form Organically: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan – This book shows corporate leaders how they can use tribes – the groups that naturally form within any company – to maximize productivity and profit within their own firms.
• PCI Compliance: Understand and Implement Effective PCI Data Security Standard Compliance by Anton Chuvakin – This book will provide the information that you need to understand the current PCI Data Security standards.
• Switch: How to change things when change is hard by Dan Heath – This book argues that we need only understand how our minds function in order to unlock shortcuts to switches in behaviors.
• Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? by William Poundstone -This book reveals the extreme interview questions and uncovers the lengths that companies will go to find the right staff.
• What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-reading People by Joe Navarro – Understanding how nonverbal cues such as body language, dress, and demeanor affect how you are perceived and understood.
• Learning Python by Mark Lutz – A great way to learn Python programming.
• How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnege – The iconic book to get along better with others and win them over to their way of thinking.

2011

• Nmap Network Scanning: The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning by Gordon Lyon – The official guide to the Nmap Security Scanner
• Fermat’s Last Theorem: The story of a riddle that confounded the world’s greatest minds for 358 years by Simon Singh – A great account of the riddle that perplexed mathematicians for centuries.
• The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Code Breaking by Simon Singh – A fantastic account of code breaking through out the ages.
• Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C by Bruce Schneier – Great book to introduce anyone to cryptography on a detailed level, providing readable definitions of protocols, and a valuable mathematical introduction.

2010

• CISSP Practice Exams by Shon Harris – Loads of practice questions for CISSP. It really helped me out as I think it suits my learning style.
• CCNA – Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide by Todd Lammle – Great book to learn about networking and how to use Cisco switches
• The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eli Goldratt – A great introduction to the The Theory of Constraints. It’s written in a fun way set in a fictional manufacturing plant. The reader is taken on a journey of never ending problems that are eventually overcome.
• CISSP All-in-One Exam Guideby Shon Harris – This is the book I studied to pass the CISSP exam. I really recommend it.
• Schaum’s Outline of German Grammar by Edda Weiss – A good German Grammer Book.
• Schaum’s Outline of German Vocabulary by Edda Weiss – A good German Vocabulary Book.