Silence on the Wire
Silence on the Wire by Michal Zalewskiby Michal Zalewski
Ranked 4 of 4 security books by recommenders
Readers recommend it as an inspiring book whose described techniques still come to mind years after reading it. No critical caveats were raised.
Readers recommend it as an inspiring book whose described techniques still come to mind years after reading it. No critical caveats were raised.
2 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Techniques still come to mind years later
“very inspiring to me and the techniques he described often come to my mind years after reading the book”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “The Secret Life of Circuits” Called an amazing book
“the amazing book Silence on the Wire”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Pingfs: Stores your data in ICMP ping packets (2020)”
Other security books people recommend
The three most recommended other security books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applied Cryptographyby Bruce Schneier | 3 | 1 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| The Car Hacker's Handbookby Craig Smith | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Hacking the Xboxby Andrew Huang | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Silence on the Wireby Michal ZalewskiThis page | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 2 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“very inspiring to me and the techniques he described often come to my mind years after reading the book”
“the amazing book Silence on the Wire”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.