* [Blog](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog)
* [Palo Alto Networks](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/corporate/)
* [Cybersecurity Canon](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/category/canon/)
* Announcing the 2018 Cyber...

# Announcing the 2018 Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Famers!

[](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paloaltonetworks.com.au%2Fblog%2F2018%2F05%2Fannouncing-the-2018-cybersecurity-canon-hall-of-famers%2F)  
[](https://twitter.com/share?text=Announcing+the+2018+Cybersecurity+Canon+Hall+of+Famers%21&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paloaltonetworks.com.au%2Fblog%2F2018%2F05%2Fannouncing-the-2018-cybersecurity-canon-hall-of-famers%2F)  
[](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paloaltonetworks.com.au%2Fblog%2F2018%2F05%2Fannouncing-the-2018-cybersecurity-canon-hall-of-famers%2F&title=Announcing+the+2018+Cybersecurity+Canon+Hall+of+Famers%21&summary=&source=)  
[](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com//www.reddit.com/submit?url=https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/2018/05/announcing-the-2018-cybersecurity-canon-hall-of-famers/&ts=markdown)  
\[\](mailto:?subject=Announcing the 2018 Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Famers!)  
Link copied  
By [Rick Howard](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/author/rick/?ts=markdown "Posts by Rick Howard")  
May 16, 2018  
5 minutes  
[Cybersecurity Canon](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/canon/?ts=markdown)  
[Points of View](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/points-of-view/?ts=markdown)  
[cybersecurity](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/tag/cybersecurity/?ts=markdown)  
[cybersecurity canon awards](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/tag/cybersecurity-canon-awards/?ts=markdown)  
[hall of fame](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/tag/hall-of-fame/?ts=markdown)

On May 3, Palo Alto Networks hosted the 5^th^ Annual Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame Awards Dinner at the beautiful Washington Oriental Hotel in D.C. It was a great crowd, including students, book lovers, Palo Alto Networks employees and customers, members of the Cyber Threat Alliance, and partner organizations that share our passion for great cybersecurity books, like the Army Cyber Institute and Cybrary.

Rick Ledgett, the former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency keynoted the event and the inductee authors all showed up to receive their awards. It was a magical night -- our work on the Canon gets bigger and more visible every year.

Without further ado, here are the four books and associated authors that we inducted into the Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame at the 2018 ceremony:

Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide

*by David Kennedy, Jim O'Gorman, Devon Kearns, and Mati Aharoni*

**Summary:**

Learning to think like a criminal is a requirement for all penetration testers. Fundamentally, penetration testing is about probing an organization's systems for weakness. While the goal of Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide is to provide a useful tutorial for beginners, it also serves as a reference for practitioners. The authors write in the Preface that, "This book is designed to teach you the ins and outs of Metasploit and how to use the Framework to its fullest." While the book is focused on using the Metasploit Framework, it begins by building a foundation for penetration testing and establishing a fundamental methodology.

Using the Metasploit Framework makes discovering, exploiting, and sharing vulnerabilities quick and relatively painless. While Metasploit has been used by security professionals for several years now, the tool can be hard to grasp for first-time users. This book fills the gap by teaching readers how to harness the Framework and interact with the active community of Metasploit contributors. While the Metasploit Framework is frequently updated with new features and exploits, the long-term value of this book is its emphasis on Metasploit fundamentals, which, when understood and practiced, allow the user to be comfortable with both the frequent updates of the tool and also the changing penetration testing landscape.

[Brian Kelly's Book Review](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/2015/12/the-cybersecurity-canon-metasploit-the-penetration-testers-guide)

Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems

*by Betsy Beyer, Chris Jones, Jennifer Petoff and Niall Richard Murphy*

**Summary:**

Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems is the consummate DevOps how-to manual. Where one of last year's Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame books, The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business, discusses the overarching DevOps concepts in a novel form, Site Reliability Engineering, written by Google engineers, provides all the practical knowledge necessary for how to build your own DevOps program. The only shortcoming is that the authors don't consider security operations as part of their SRE team and only barely mention how SRE might improve security operations. That said, this is an important book and should be part of the Cybersecurity Canon. It shows the way that we all should be thinking about deploying and maintaining our IT and security systems.

[Rick Howard's Book Review](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/2017/09/cybersecurity-canon-site-reliability-engineering-google-runs-production-systems/)

Worm: The First Digital World War

*by Mark Bowden*

**Summary:**

Worm: The First Digital World War is the story of how the cybersecurity community came together to do battle with what seemed at the time to be the largest and most significant cyber threat to date: the Conficker worm. It was the time of the Estonian and Georgian distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and the Conficker botnet was growing to be the largest DDoS delivery system ever created. A white hat group of cyber übergeeks formed the Conficker Cabal to stop the worm because most of the world could not even understand it, let alone do something about it. Mark Bowden, who wrote Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, among other books, accurately captures the essence of our cybersecurity community in times of crisis. He compares us all to cybersecurity superheroes, like the X-Men of Marvel Comics fame, because of what he sees as our superhuman ability to work with computers and our desire to help each other.

Seasoned security professionals will learn nothing new here in terms of technology and craft, but they will remember that time and how we were all very worried about 1 April 2009: the day that the world thought that Conficker would come to life. I think freshmen security practitioners will get a lot out of this book, however. Bowden does a great job of simply and clearly explaining many of the key technical pieces that make the Internet run. If you're new to the community, this book makes a great introduction. It is canon-worthy material, and you should have read it by now. (But more importantly, how can you not like a book where the author favorably compares the cybersecurity community to the X-Men? As Stan Lee likes to say, "'Nuff said.")

[Rick Howard's Book Review](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/2014/02/cybersecurity-canon-worm/)

Unmasking the Social Engineer: The Human Element of Security

*by Christopher Hadnagy*

**Summary:**

The winner of this season's Cybersecurity Canon People's Choice Awards was "Unmasking the Social Engineer: The Human Element of Security" by Christopher Hadnagy. After five rounds of voting and 33 books, Mr. Hadnagy's work emerged as the popular winner. Ben Rothke, the Cybersecurity Canon Committee member who reviewed the book, said this: "For serious readers who want to understand everything they can about the topic of social engineering, Unmasking the Social Engineer should be one of references in the cybersecurity reading arsenal." Congratulations Christopher!

[Ben Rothke's Book Review](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/2016/09/the-cybersecurity-canon-unmasking-the-social-engineer-the-human-element-of-security/)

Congratulations to all the hall of fame inductees and thank you to everyone who made our Gala awards dinner a success. Head to the [Cybersecurity Canon website](https://cybercanon.paloaltonetworks.com/) for more on the Canon and an introduction to the 2019 Canon review season, which kicks off this month.

*** ** * ** ***

## Related Blogs

### [Partners](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/partners/?ts=markdown), [Points of View](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/points-of-view/?ts=markdown)

[#### Democratising Cybersecurity](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/2024/10/democratising-cybersecurity/)

### [Points of View](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/points-of-view/?ts=markdown)

[#### Why Financial Institutions Are Adopting the CRI Profile](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/2023/12/financial-institutions-are-adopting-the-cri-profile/)

### [Company \& Culture](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/company-culture/?ts=markdown), [Points of View](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/points-of-view/?ts=markdown)

[#### Navigating Cybersecurity in a Social-First Campaign](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/2023/10/navigating-cybersecurity-in-a-social-first-campaign/)

### [Announcement](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/announcement/?ts=markdown), [Points of View](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/points-of-view/?ts=markdown), [Public Sector](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/public-sector/?ts=markdown)

[#### SEC Rule Sparks Reimagining of Cybersecurity Operations](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/2023/08/sec-rule-cybersecurity-operations/)

### [Points of View](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/points-of-view/?ts=markdown), [Products and Services](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/products-and-services/?ts=markdown)

[#### Cybersecurity Consolidation --- What It Is and Why You Should Care](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/2023/04/cybersecurity-consolidation/)

### [Points of View](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/points-of-view/?ts=markdown), [Products and Services](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/products-and-services/?ts=markdown), [Public Sector](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/category/public-sector/?ts=markdown)

[#### Cybersecurity Guidelines for New Governors](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/2023/02/cybersecurity-guidelines-for-new-governors/)

### Subscribe to the Blog!

Sign up to receive must-read articles, Playbooks of the Week, new feature announcements, and more.
![spinner](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/blog/wp-content/themes/panwblog2023/dist/images/ajax-loader.gif) Sign up  
Please enter a valid email.  
By submitting this form, you agree to our [Terms of Use](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/legal-notices/terms-of-use?ts=markdown) and acknowledge our [Privacy Statement](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/legal-notices/privacy?ts=markdown). Please look for a confirmation email from us. If you don't receive it in the next 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.  
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https://policies.google.com/terms) apply.  
{#footer} {#footer}

## Products and Services

* [AI-Powered Network Security Platform](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security?ts=markdown)

* [Secure AI by Design](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/precision-ai-security/secure-ai-by-design?ts=markdown)

* [Prisma AIRS](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/prisma/prisma-ai-runtime-security?ts=markdown)

* [AI Access Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/ai-access-security?ts=markdown)

* [Cloud Delivered Security Services](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/security-subscriptions?ts=markdown)

* [Advanced Threat Prevention](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/advanced-threat-prevention?ts=markdown)

* [Advanced URL Filtering](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/advanced-url-filtering?ts=markdown)

* [Advanced WildFire](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/advanced-wildfire?ts=markdown)

* [Advanced DNS Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/advanced-dns-security?ts=markdown)

* [Enterprise Data Loss Prevention](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/enterprise-data-loss-prevention?ts=markdown)

* [Enterprise IoT Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/enterprise-device-security?ts=markdown)

* [Medical IoT Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/medical-device-security?ts=markdown)

* [Industrial OT Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/medical-device-security?ts=markdown)

* [SaaS Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/saas-security?ts=markdown)

* [Next-Generation Firewalls](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/next-generation-firewall?ts=markdown)

* [Hardware Firewalls](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/hardware-firewall-innovations?ts=markdown)

* [Software Firewalls](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/software-firewalls?ts=markdown)

* [Strata Cloud Manager](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/strata-cloud-manager?ts=markdown)

* [SD-WAN for NGFW](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/sd-wan-subscription?ts=markdown)

* [PAN-OS](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/pan-os?ts=markdown)

* [Panorama](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/network-security/panorama?ts=markdown)

* [Secure Access Service Edge](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase?ts=markdown)

* [Prisma SASE](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase?ts=markdown)

* [Application Acceleration](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/app-acceleration?ts=markdown)

* [Autonomous Digital Experience Management](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/adem?ts=markdown)

* [Enterprise DLP](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/enterprise-data-loss-prevention?ts=markdown)

* [Prisma Access](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/access?ts=markdown)

* [Prisma Browser](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/prisma-browser?ts=markdown)

* [Prisma SD-WAN](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/sd-wan?ts=markdown)

* [Remote Browser Isolation](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/remote-browser-isolation?ts=markdown)

* [SaaS Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sase/saas-security?ts=markdown)

* [AI-Driven Security Operations Platform](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex?ts=markdown)

* [Cloud Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cloud?ts=markdown)

* [Cortex Cloud](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cloud?ts=markdown)

* [Application Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cloud/application-security?ts=markdown)

* [Cloud Posture Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cloud/cloud-posture-security?ts=markdown)

* [Cloud Runtime Security](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cloud/runtime-security?ts=markdown)

* [Prisma Cloud](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/prisma/cloud?ts=markdown)

* [AI-Driven SOC](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex?ts=markdown)

* [Cortex XSIAM](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cortex-xsiam?ts=markdown)

* [Cortex XDR](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cortex-xdr?ts=markdown)

* [Cortex XSOAR](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cortex-xsoar?ts=markdown)

* [Cortex Xpanse](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cortex-xpanse?ts=markdown)

* [Unit 42 Managed Detection \& Response](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/managed-detection-and-response?ts=markdown)

* [Managed XSIAM](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/managed-xsiam?ts=markdown)

* [Threat Intel and Incident Response Services](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42?ts=markdown)

* [Proactive Assessments](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42/assess?ts=markdown)

* [Incident Response](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42/respond?ts=markdown)

* [Transform Your Security Strategy](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42/transform?ts=markdown)

* [Discover Threat Intelligence](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42/threat-intelligence-partners?ts=markdown)

## Company

* [About Us](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/about-us?ts=markdown)
* [Careers](https://jobs.paloaltonetworks.com/en/)
* [Contact Us](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/company/contact-sales?ts=markdown)
* [Corporate Responsibility](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/about-us/corporate-responsibility?ts=markdown)
* [Customers](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/customers?ts=markdown)
* [Investor Relations](https://investors.paloaltonetworks.com/)
* [Location](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/about-us/locations?ts=markdown)
* [Newsroom](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/company/newsroom?ts=markdown)

## Popular Links

* [Blog](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/?ts=markdown)
* [Communities](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/communities?ts=markdown)
* [Content Library](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/resources?ts=markdown)
* [Cyberpedia](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cyberpedia?ts=markdown)
* [Event Center](https://events.paloaltonetworks.com/)
* [Manage Email Preferences](https://start.paloaltonetworks.com/preference-center)
* [Products A-Z](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/products/products-a-z?ts=markdown)
* [Product Certifications](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/legal-notices/trust-center/compliance?ts=markdown)
* [Report a Vulnerability](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/security-disclosure?ts=markdown)
* [Sitemap](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/sitemap?ts=markdown)
* [Tech Docs](https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/)
* [Unit 42](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/)
* [Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information](https://panwedd.exterro.net/portal/dsar.htm?target=panwedd)
  ![PAN logo](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/etc/clientlibs/clean/imgs/pan-logo-dark.svg)
* [Privacy](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/legal-notices/privacy?ts=markdown)
* [Trust Center](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/legal-notices/trust-center?ts=markdown)
* [Terms of Use](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/legal-notices/terms-of-use?ts=markdown)
* [Documents](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/legal?ts=markdown)

Copyright © 2026 Palo Alto Networks. All Rights Reserved

* [![Youtube](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/etc/clientlibs/clean/imgs/social/youtube-black.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/user/paloaltonetworks)
* [![Podcast](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/content/dam/pan/en_US/images/icons/podcast.svg)](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/podcasts/threat-vector?ts=markdown)
* [![Facebook](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/etc/clientlibs/clean/imgs/social/facebook-black.svg)](https://www.facebook.com/PaloAltoNetworks/)
* [![LinkedIn](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/etc/clientlibs/clean/imgs/social/linkedin-black.svg)](https://www.linkedin.com/company/palo-alto-networks)
* [![Twitter](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/etc/clientlibs/clean/imgs/social/twitter-x-black.svg)](https://twitter.com/PaloAltoNtwks)
* EN  
  Select your language