If you’re looking to put a smile on an InfoSec person’s face with a relevant gift for a birthday, Christmas, or just feeling like expressing some compassion towards a fellow human lifeform in the InfoSec industry, then we might have just the perfect ideas that could help you make your decision and your person’s day! All of these gift ideas are aimed towards technical tinkerers and ethical hacking practitioners. Have a look!
1. A fast USB 3.1 drive with on-the-go security-testing tools [$7 – $40 and above]:
Load a bunch of security-testing utilities such as relevant “Live” operating systems, logon bypass tools, password cracking and reset tools, etc. into a nice, fast USB drive, all tucked neatly within a custom GRUB menu to use on boot. Get your bud one of those decent, non-overheating USB 3.1-enabled drives instead of cheaping out!
2. A wireless adapter with packet injection + monitor mode (and/or AP-creation) [$10 – $100 and above]:
Who doesn’t find wireless security testing interesting?! Get your bud an ethical-hacker-friendly wireless adapter that that enables sniffing, WEP/WPA/WPS-related attacks, deauthorizing clients, creating access points, etc..
3. The Flipper Zero [$180]
We don’t think you need an introduction for the coolest, yet hottest little device of 2022 (and possibly 2023 too) — the almighty Flipper Zero!
This thing does sub-GHz (up to 1GHz) radio frequencies, RFID, NFC, iButton, infrared, badUSB attacks, and also features GPIO for those interested in the electronics side of things. One portable, battery-operated, cable-less device for all of this, and it easily fits in your pocket. The Flipper Zero is just as deadly as it is cool; and just as capable as it is cute.
4. The Red/Blue Team Field Manual [$10]:
If you’re an InfoSec person yourself, there’s quite a good chance you have heard of the famous Red Team Field Manual (RTFM) and the Blue Team Field Manual (BTFM). These are the most popular reference manuals out there for an ethical hacker, and contain a useful ton of security-relevant and testing-relevant commands and information for quick “reference” or learning for Red (offensive) and Blue (defensive) security practitioners.
5. NodeMCU ESP8266 boards [~$5]:
These are super-cheap, Wi-Fi-enabled Arduino-IDE-programmable boards that could be used for wireless security testing such as deauthorizing clients, IoT testing, creating access points, and more. Since they’re so cheap, get your bud a bunch!
6. Digispark ATTiny85 boards [$1 – $4]:
These are super-cheap, Arduino-IDE-programmable boards that could essentially be made into USB Rubber Duckys that are significantly cheaper than the famous USB Rubber Ducky by Hak5. Since they’re so cheap, get your bud a bunch!
7. Raspberry Pi Pico boards [$4]:
These are not the conventional Raspberry Pi as you may think. The Pico is essentially a development board that works the same as the ATTiny85 listed above, but could be programmed using Python instead of the C/C++ used in Arduino IDE. These are also significantly faster than the ATTiny85.
8. A TryHackMe subscription [$10 per month]:
Nothing more “looking-out-for-a-bud” than looking out for a bud’s ethical hacking knowledge! TryHackMe is the best platform to learn ethical hacking concepts practically through their virtual machines with walk-throughs and guided modules. While a majority of their content is 100% free, there is a chunk of highly insightful and important content that requires a subscription.
Read our beginner’s TryHackMe guide to get started yourself!
9. A Raspberry Pi 4 [$35 – $80 and above]:
Every computer geek respects the beautiful little full-on pocket-computers from the Raspberry Pi line-up. They can also be converted into security-testing Kali rigs-to-go that can be powered via USB, and can function just as your typical Kali OS machine. While these are a fantastic gift for a tinkerer and ethical hacker, they could be unavailable or significantly expensive than usual at present due to the current, infamous COVID-19 silicon shortage in many regions.
10. TCM Security courses & certifications [$20 – $299]:
The best and most inexpensive practical ethical hacking course at the beginner–intermediate level in our opinion is—hands down—the Practical Ethical Hacking (PEH) course by TCM Security. Get your bud the PEH course and they would appreciate it immensely. If your bud is special enough for you shell out $299 (or less during offers), get them our personal favorite and highly-respected Practical Network Penetration Tester (PNPT) certification and they would absolutely love you for it forever!
TCM Security almost always has special offers with 20%-off and 50%-off coupons that you should be on the lookout for!
NOTE: None of these are affiliate links.
11. Hak5’s security-testing devices [$50 – $150 and above]:
Again, if you’re an InfoSec person yourself, there’s quite a good chance you know these as well. These are super-cool and unique security-testing devices used for interception, sniffing, exfiltrating credentials, etc. but are also quite expensive in many regions. You could, however, Frankenstein many of their products by building similar projects yourself using the super-cheap ATTiny85, ESP8266, and Raspberry Pi Pico boards mentioned earlier in this list.
Here’s our list. Got any other neat ideas? Let’s know in the comments!
The Computer Noob 