Description

Written by hackers for hackers, this hands-on book teaches penetration testers how to identify vulnerabilities in apps that use GraphQL, a data query and manipulation language for APIs adopted by major companies like Facebook and GitHub.

Black Hat GraphQL is for anyone interested in learning how to break and protect GraphQL APIs with the aid of offensive security testing. Whether you’re a penetration tester, security analyst, or software engineer, you’ll learn how to attack GraphQL APIs, develop hardening procedures, build automated security testing into your development pipeline, and validate controls, all with no prior exposure to GraphQL required.

Following an introduction to core concepts, you’ll build your lab, explore the difference between GraphQL and REST APIs, run your first query, and learn how to create custom queries.

You’ll also learn how to:

• Use data collection and target mapping to learn about targets  
• Defend APIs against denial-of-service attacks and exploit insecure configurations in GraphQL servers to gather information on hardened targets
• Impersonate users and take admin-level actions on a remote server
• Uncover injection-based vulnerabilities in servers, databases, and client browsers
• Exploit cross-site and server-side request forgery vulnerabilities, as well as cross-site WebSocket hijacking, to force a server to request sensitive information on your behalf
• Dissect vulnerability disclosure reports and review exploit code to reveal how vulnerabilities have impacted large companies

About the Author

Dolev Farhi  is a security engineer and author of Black Hat GraphQL (No Starch Press, 2023). He has extensive experience leading security engineering teams in the fintech and cybersecurity industries and is currently a Distinguished Security Engineer at Palo Alto Networks, where he builds defenses for the largest cybersecurity company in the world. He has provided training for official Linux certification tracks and, in his spare time, enjoys researching vulnerabilities in IoT devices and building open source offensive security tools.

Nick Aleks is a prominent cybersecurity leader whose work has been vital in protecting the financial data of millions of Canadians. He is the Senior Director of Security at Wealthsimple and has served as a patented Distinguished Security Engineer at TD Bank. Aleks is also the Chief Hacking Officer at ASEC.IO, coauthor of Black Hat GraphQL (No Starch Press, 2023), and serves as a Senior Advisory Board Member for the University of Guelph and George Brown’s cybersecurity programs. He specializes in offensive security, penetration testing and has over a decade of experience hacking everything from websites, safes, locks, cars, drones, and even smart buildings.