Hackercool Magazine January 2026

Edition 9 Issue 1 Welcome to 2026’s first issue of Hackercool Magazine, where we focus on one of the most important shifts in modern cybersecurity: how attacks are evolving beyond exploits and into identity, trust and human behavior. For beginners, ethical hacking can often feel tool-heavy and confusing. This issue is intentionally different. Instead of chasing trends, in this issue we focus on foundational understanding—the kind that helps you recognize real attacks, not just run commands. We begin by exploring Deepfake and AI-generated social engineering, an emerging threat that targets people rather than systems. From there, we examine how misconfigured edge devices have quietly become one of the most effective entry points for attackers today. As environments move to the cloud, we clarify the difference between cloud pentesting and traditional…

The Human Is the New Zero-Day For decades, cybersecurity focused on breaking systems and software, although it focused on breaking trust a bit. In year 2025 and beyond, attackers are increasingly focusing on breaking trust. AI-generated emails, cloned voices, synthetic videos and hyper-personalized messages are quietly replacing traditional phishing. These attacks don’t exploit software vulnerabilities but they exploit human psychology and they are slowly increasing in scale. For beginners learning ethical hacking or red teaming, understanding AI-powered social engineering is no longer optional. It’s now one of the most realistic and impactful attack paths in real-world engagements. In this feature of our Issue, we explain what deepfake and AI-generated social engineering really is, how attackers use it step-by-step and how beginners can safely learn to detect and defend against it.…

Hackers Are No Longer Knocking on the Front Door For years, attackers focused on endpoint devices like laptops, desktops, servers and applications. In 2025, that focus shifted outward, to the edge. Edge devices are those devices that sit at the boundary between internal networks and the internet. They include routers, firewalls, VPN gateways, load balancers and remote-access appliances. These devices are designed to protect networks but when misconfigured, they become silent yet powerful entry points. For beginner red teamers and pen testers, this trend is critical. Many modern breaches don’t start with phishing or malware anymore. They start with an exposed management interface, a forgotten admin account or a default configuration on an edge device. In this feature of our latest Issue, we explain why edge devices are being targeted,…

Pentesting Has Changed, Quietly For years, ethical hacking meant scanning IP ranges, exploiting servers and popping shells on on-premises systems. That world still exists but it’s no longer where most real attacks are beginning now. Today, most organizations run on cloud platforms. Identities are replacing IP addresses. APIs are replacing open ports and Misconfigurations are replacing exploits. So, traditional pentesting is itself not enough. The need of the time is Cloud pentesting. For beginners entering ethical hacking or red teaming, understanding the difference between traditional pentesting and cloud pentesting is critical. Treating cloud environments like on-prem networks is one of the fastest ways to miss real risks. In this article feature of our latest Issue, we explain to you both approaches in simple terms, highlight the key differences between them…

Why Tools Matter and Why Beginners Often Learn the Wrong Ones Red teaming isn’t just about collecting tools. It’s about understanding attacker behavior and using the right tools to simulate it safely and responsibly. In 2026, real-world attackers rely less on exotic zero-days and more on: • Misconfigurations • Identity abuse • Automation • Living-off-the-land techniques • Cloud and hybrid environments Open-source tools remain the backbone of red team operations because they are: • Transparent • Community-vetted • Widely used in real engagements • Ideal for learning fundamentals In this article, we highlight the most important open-source red team tools beginners should learn in 2026, grouped by what they teach you, not just what they do. So, let’s begin. 1. Nmap: Still the Foundation of Reconnaissance If red teaming has…

MITRE ATT&CK Is Not Just for Blue Teams If you’re new to red teaming, chances are you’ve heard of MITRE ATT&-CK framework and immediately you felt overwhelmed. Why not? It has hundreds of techniques, endless tables, strange IDs like T-1059 or T1027. For many beginners, ATT&CK framework feels like a documentation problem, not a hacking tool. You are not wrong for feeling so but here’s the truth: MITRE ATT&CK framework is one of the most practical frameworks a red teamer can use, if you approach it the right way. In this article made for beginners, we strip away the complexity of MITRE ATT&CK Framework and show you how beginners can use it to: • Plan realistic attacks • Understand attacker behavior • Avoid random “tool running” • Write better reports…