About the Author

Dr. Bryson Payne is an award-winning cyber coach, professor, author, TEDx speaker, and the founding Director of the Center for Cyber Operations Education at the University of North Georgia. He has taught aspiring coders and cyber professionals at UNG since 1998, including coaching UNG's #1-in-the-nation NSA Codebreaker Challenge cyber operations team. He served on the coaching staff for the national team representing the US at the 2021 International Cybersecurity Challenge. He enjoys working with K-12 schools worldwide to promote computer science and cybersecurity education, and is the author of Teach Your Kids to Code and Learn Java the Easy Way (both No Starch Press).

Reviews

"An excellent guide for anyone wishing to learn about offensive information security . . . This book is perfect for aspiring penetration testers, security analysts who want more insight into how hackers approach a target, or individuals who want to better protect themselves online. Its practical, hands-on approach provides opportunities for readers to try out real hacking techniques in a safe, legal way. I'll be recommending it to my mentees."
—Matt Burrough, Principal Penetration Testing Team Manager at Microsoft

"Full of detailed, well-explained exercises ... fascinating and informative ... Anyone with a basic grasp of tech know-how should pick up this book, read it, apply its lessons in their own life, and share the knowledge they learned."
—Joshua Allen Holm, Opensource.com

"This is a great introduction level book for someone looking to get a feel for hacking on various platforms. The information was easy to follow, and the phrasing made clear what to do from the beginning."
—Sam Zeigler, Security Researcher, Tripwire

"A great introduction to cybersecurity that includes both theory and hands-on practice."
—Rex Lam, Senior Consultant, Guardian Forest Security

"Go H*ck Yourself is a great introduction to many angles of offensive security and digital self-defense! It not only gives solid advice as to what someone should do to be safe, but demonstrates why by having them become the hackers themselves—demystifying attack methods to expose that they are also just logical steps, potentially fragile or easily avoided altogether if you know how to reason about their operation."
—Jamie G., Advanced Reviewer