A collection of hacking / penetration testing resources to make you better!
17.2k
Stars
2.2k
Forks
24
Open issues
30
Contributors
AI Analysis
Awesome Hacking Resources is a curated index repository collecting links to learning materials, tools, and references for penetration testing, cybersecurity, reverse engineering, and AI red-teaming. It serves as a navigation guide for security professionals and students seeking structured learning pathways and specialized resources, rather than standalone tooling. Best suited for practitioners entering or progressing in infosec roles who need a vetted reading list; not for those seeking imple...
Inferred from signals mentioned in the README (tests, CI, type safety) — not a review of the actual code.
AI's overall editorial judgment — not an average of the bars above, can weigh other factors too.
Curated hacking and pentesting resource list with 17K stars and recent AI red-teaming additions
Awesome-Hacking-Resources is a curated markdown reference list aggregating learning materials, tools, YouTube channels, CTF platforms, vulnerable practice environments, and community links for security practitioners and learners. It targets beginners entering cybersecurity as well as intermediate pentesters seeking organized reference material. With 17K stars and a recent expansion into AI security/red-teaming topics, it fills a discoverable starting-point role rather than a technical tooling role. Maintenance appears active as of May 2026.
Created in October 2017 by vitalysim, the repo follows the 'awesome-list' convention popularized by sindresorhus. It has grown incrementally over nearly nine years, recently adding AI red-teaming as a new category, reflecting the field's evolution.
Early growth was driven by the general popularity of awesome-lists and the broad appeal of cybersecurity. Star velocity appears to have plateaued at modest weekly increments (32 stars/week as of late June 2026), suggesting the repo is stable but no longer experiencing viral growth. Addition of AI security content in recent updates may attract a new audience segment.
Adoption not verified in production software deployments — this is a reference/learning resource, not a deployed tool. Indirect adoption evidence includes 17K stars, 2,210 forks (suggesting personal copies and mirrors), and sustained star accumulation over nine years. Presence in curated security education curricula is plausible but not directly documented.
Appears to be a static markdown documentation repository with no executable code. Likely organized as a single README.md plus a companion tools.md file. No software architecture applies; value is entirely in curation quality and link freshness.
not documented in README — not applicable for a documentation-only repository
Last push was May 21, 2026, approximately 5 weeks before the evaluation date, indicating active maintenance. The README references a contributing.md and welcomes PRs, suggesting an ongoing editorial process. Maintenance appears healthy for a resource list of this type.
ADOPT IF: you are a beginner or intermediate security learner seeking a single organized starting point for curated courses, tools, YouTube channels, and practice environments. AVOID IF: you need up-to-date tool comparisons, active community discussion, or programmatic integration — this is a static link list, not a living platform. MONITOR IF: the AI red-teaming section expands significantly, which could make it uniquely valuable in that emerging niche.
Independent dimensions
Mainstream potential
3/10
Technical importance
2/10
Adoption evidence
3/10
- Link rot is a persistent risk for any curated URL list; without systematic link validation, a non-trivial fraction of resources may become stale or dead over time.
- The repo faces discoverability competition from much larger lists in the same ecosystem, which may limit organic growth.
- Single-maintainer dependency: if vitalysim reduces activity, editorial quality and freshness could degrade without a strong contributor community to compensate.
- The format (static markdown) limits interactivity and searchability compared to dedicated platforms like HackTricks or TryHackMe's own resource indexes.
- AI red-teaming content is currently a small addition; if not expanded with rigor, it may attract criticism for superficiality in that rapidly evolving area.
Likely to remain a stable, slowly growing reference bookmark for security newcomers. Mainstream growth potential is limited given the crowded field of similar lists, but the repo appears positioned for long-term niche utility rather than explosive growth.
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Languages
No language breakdown available.
Information
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Last updated
- 2mo ago
- Created
- 106mo ago
- Analyzed with
- anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5
Stars over time
No commit data available.
Contributors over time
Top 100 contributors only — repos with more will plateau at 100.
Open issues
No open issues — clean slate.
Open pull requests
No open pull requests.
Top contributors
Contributor data not available yet.
Recent releases
No releases published yet.
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| Repository | Stars | Week Δ | Language | Score | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
vitalysim/Awesome-Hacking-Resources
this
|
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|
Hack-with-Github/Awesome-Hacking
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115.9k | — | — | 7/10 | 2mo ago |
|
enaqx/awesome-pentest
|
26.6k | — | — | 7/10 | 6mo ago |
|
taielab/awesome-hacking-lists
|
1.4k | — | — | 6/10 | 7mo ago |
|
The-Art-of-Hacking/h4cker
|
28.3k | — | Jupyter Notebook | 8/10 | 2w ago |
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Significantly larger at 115K stars and serves as an aggregator of other awesome-security lists rather than a direct resource list. Less granular and more meta in scope; the two serve complementary rather than identical purposes.
More focused specifically on penetration testing tools and frameworks with 26K stars. Skews toward tool enumeration rather than learning pathways; more useful for practitioners already in the field.
27K stars and includes Jupyter notebooks alongside resources, making it more hands-on. Maintained by a Cisco security professional with apparent institutional backing, lending it different credibility.
Narrower in scope at 10K stars, focused exclusively on OSINT and search engine resources. Serves as a complement rather than a competitor to this broader collection.
