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wtf is awesome-security?

sbilly/awesome-security — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

14,328Audience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TL;DR

Community-curated directory of security tools, libraries, books, and resources organized by category, a starting map for finding security tools and learning material, not software to install.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Awesome Security))
    Network
      Scanning tools
      Honeypots
      Firewalls
    Endpoint
      Anti-virus
      Mobile security
      Forensics
    Web Security
      WAF tools
      Runtime protection
    Learning
      Free ebooks
      Related lists

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Find network scanning and penetration testing tools without doing an open web search.

REASON 2

Discover monitoring, logging, and intrusion detection tools for securing a server.

REASON 3

Locate books and ebooks for learning a specific area of computer security.

REASON 4

Find preconfigured Docker images for security testing workflows.

How it stacks up

sbilly/awesome-securityjindongwang/transferlearningintervention/image
Stars14,32814,33414,336
LanguagePythonPHP
Setup difficultyeasymoderatemoderate
Complexity1/53/52/5
Audiencedeveloperresearcherdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Wtf does this do

This repository is a community-maintained list of software, libraries, documents, books, and other resources about computer security. It follows the awesome-list format, which means it is not a program you install and run. Instead it is a categorized directory of links, each with a short one-line description, pointing to tools and reading material kept elsewhere. The README notes it was inspired by similar lists for PHP and Python, and it thanks the many contributors who have added entries over time. The list is organized into broad sections. The Network section is the largest, with sub-groups for scanning and penetration testing, monitoring and logging, intrusion detection and prevention, honeypots, full packet capture and forensics, sniffers, security information and event management, VPNs, firewalls, anti-spam, and ready-made Docker images for security testing. Well-known entries here include Nmap for network discovery, the Metasploit Framework for exploit development, and Kali Linux, a Linux distribution that ships with many testing tools preinstalled. Further sections cover Endpoint security (anti-virus, configuration management, authentication, mobile, and forensics), Threat Intelligence, Social Engineering, and Web security, the latter including web application firewalls and runtime protection. Additional shorter sections list resources for red team infrastructure, exploits and payloads, big data, DevOps, terminal tools, operating systems, datastores, fraud prevention, and free ebooks. A final section links out to other related awesome lists. You would use this collection as a starting map when you want to find security tools or learning resources in a particular area and prefer a curated set of pointers over an open web search. The full README is longer than what was shown.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Based on the awesome-security list, recommend the best open-source tools for monitoring network traffic on a Linux server.
Prompt 2
From the sbilly/awesome-security list, which honeypot tools can I use to detect unauthorized access on my home network?
Prompt 3
Help me choose a web application firewall from the options listed in the awesome-security repository.
Prompt 4
What free ebooks on penetration testing are linked in the sbilly/awesome-security repository?

Frequently asked questions

wtf is awesome-security?

Community-curated directory of security tools, libraries, books, and resources organized by category, a starting map for finding security tools and learning material, not software to install.

How hard is awesome-security to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is awesome-security for?

Mainly developer.

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