// Prerequisites
What to read before Network Security Through Data Analysis
If Network Security Through Data Analysis feels too steep at intermediate level, here is what to read first. Lighter books in the same topics that build the prerequisites this one assumes.
01 · 2013
The Practice of Network Security Monitoring
Richard Bejtlich's NSM playbook: how to deploy collection sensors, validate that you actually see what you think you see, and build detection workflows around open-source tools.
Intermediate5/5Richard Bejtlich02 · 2017
Practical Packet Analysis
Chris Sanders' working manual for Wireshark, geared at troubleshooting and incident response rather than abstract protocol theory. Updated for Wireshark 2.x.
Beginner4/5Chris Sanders03 · 2019
Foundations of Information Security
Jason Andress' compact tour of the field: confidentiality / integrity / availability, identification and authentication, network and OS controls, written for newcomers and adjacent disciplines.
Beginner4/5Jason Andress04 · 2021
How Cybersecurity Really Works
Sam Grubb's gentle, exercise-driven introduction for non-specialists who need a working mental model of attacker behaviour and basic defence.
Beginner4/5Sam Grubb05 · 2007
Linux Firewalls
Michael Rash, author of psad and fwsnort, on building and operating Linux-native packet filtering and intrusion-response tooling. Pre-nftables in detail but conceptually durable.
Intermediate4/5Michael Rash06 · 2017
Zero Trust Networks
Evan Gilman and Doug Barth's pre-marketing-bubble treatment of zero-trust architecture — what it is when you actually implement it (trust evaluation, device identity, dynamic policy) versus what the vendor pitch turned it into.
Intermediate4/5Evan Gilman, Doug Barth07 · 2020
Web Security for Developers
Malcolm McDonald's developer-side primer on the OWASP-class issues, framed around real attacks and defended with code patterns rather than vendor products.
Beginner4/5Malcolm McDonald08 · 2021
Cyberjutsu
Ben McCarty maps declassified medieval ninja scrolls onto modern adversary tradecraft. More analogy-driven than technical, useful for security-program framing.
Beginner3/5Ben McCarty