Hackers are always pushing the envelope, investigating the unknown, and looking for ways to improve their art. One new book promises to show curious readers just how they do it.

A follow-up to the best-selling "Gray Hat Python," Justin Seitz's "Black Hat Python" from No Starch Press explores the darker side of Python programming. In the 192-page, US$34.95 book, Seitz shows readers how to write network sniffers to intercept traffic, create stealthy trojans to monitor (and disrupt) targets, manipulate packets to perform sophisticated attacks, infect virtual machines with malware, and more. Readers learn how to:

° Create a trojan command-and-control using Github;

° Detect sandboxing and automate common malware tasks, like keylogging and screenshotting;

° Escalate Windows privileges with creative process control;

° Use offensive memory forensics tricks to retrieve password hashes and inject shellcode into a virtual machine;

° Abuse Windows COM automation to perform a man-in-the-browser attack;

° Exfiltrate data from a network most sneakily.

This book should appeal to anyone interested in offensive security. Go to http://tinyurl.com/p4cogf6 for more info.