9 Best Cybersecurity YouTube Channels in 2026 (Ethical Hacking to SOC)

By the LearnPath Team - published May 2, 2026, last verified September 15, 2026

Quick Answer: The Best Cybersecurity YouTube Channels in 2026

The nine best YouTube channels for cybersecurity in 2026 are NetworkChuck (networking and Linux fundamentals), Professor Messer (CompTIA Security+ and Network+ prep), John Hammond (CTFs and threat analysis), IppSec (HackTheBox walkthroughs), David Bombal (networking and ethical hacking interviews), The Cyber Mentors (practical pentesting), 13Cubed (digital forensics and DFIR), HackerSploit (offensive security tutorials), and LiveOverflow (binary exploitation and CTF). Together they cover every entry-level skill a 2026 SOC analyst, junior pentester, or DFIR analyst needs.

Every channel, subscriber count, and starting playlist below was re-checked live on September 15, 2026. Two of the nine have stopped publishing, and we say so rather than quietly leaving them in the list.

Channel Comparison Table

Subscriber counts and last-upload dates were read from each channel's own YouTube page on September 15, 2026. Counts are rounded to bands because YouTube itself only publishes rounded figures.

How We Ranked the Channels

Cybersecurity content rots faster than almost any other technical subject on YouTube. A great 2019 video on Active Directory exploitation may now demonstrate techniques that modern Windows defenses neutralize. We weighted four criteria, in this order:

• Currency - Has the channel published high-quality videos in the last 18 months? Are tool versions explicit?
• Hands-on pairing - Does the channel naturally pair with TryHackMe, HackTheBox, OverTheWire, or PicoCTF labs?
• Pedagogical clarity - Can a motivated beginner with basic IT knowledge follow along without a prerequisite degree?
• Career relevance - Does the content map to what 2026 hiring managers actually test for in entry-level interviews? Real curricula start with the OWASP Top 10, now in its 2025 edition, and CompTIA Security+ - the two reference points most SOC teams hire against.

Channels that score well on three of these four criteria earned a spot. Channels that optimize for shock value, "hacker aesthetic," or subscriber count without teaching you to do the work were excluded.

Currency Check: Which Channels Are Still Publishing

Seven of the nine channels published within the last two weeks, checked September 15, 2026. Two have gone quiet: Professor Messer last uploaded on August 23, 2025, about 13 months ago, and HackerSploit on April 9, 2025, about 17 months ago. Neither is deleted and neither has been removed from this list, but a dormant channel is a different kind of resource, and most roundups never tell you which is which.

The distinction matters differently for each of them.

Professor Messer stays a top recommendation despite the gap. His two flagship courses target SY0-701 Security+ and N10-009 Network+, and both were still the current CompTIA exam codes when we checked on September 15, 2026. Exam-prep content ages on the exam's clock, not the upload clock, and on that clock his courses have longer to run than the 13-month upload gap suggests. SY0-701 launched on November 7, 2023 and N10-009 on June 20, 2024, and CompTIA's own certification page publishes a retirement date for the English SY0-701 exam of June 11, 2027. So Messer's Security+ course has most of another year of exam life in it, whatever its upload gap suggests. Its successor, SY0-801, is the less certain half: training providers tracking the roadmap point to a preview around late 2026, but that date is a provider estimate rather than a CompTIA commitment, and CompTIA has slipped announced dates before. Check the exam code on your voucher against the playlist title before you commit to the course.

HackerSploit is the riskier of the two, and its gap is the longer one at roughly 17 months. Offensive tooling moves fast, and a Kali, Metasploit, or Active Directory walkthrough from early 2025 can demonstrate steps that current defenses block or that current tool versions have renamed. His long-form course structure is still genuinely useful for understanding methodology. Follow the sequence, then confirm individual commands against current documentation rather than typing them verbatim.

One related trap worth flagging: NetworkChuck is one of the most active channels here, but his free Security+ playlist is titled for SY0-601, a superseded exam version that SY0-701 replaced. For Security+ specifically, use Professor Messer's SY0-701 course instead.

The 9 Best Channels

1. NetworkChuck - Best for Networking and Linux Fundamentals

Subscribers: ~5.4M | Last upload: 6 days ago | Focus: Networking, Linux, beginner cybersecurity

NetworkChuck (Chuck Keith) is the single best entry point into the world of cybersecurity for someone who has not touched a terminal. His teaching style is energetic, project-based, and ruthlessly beginner-friendly. The "Linux for Hackers" and "Networking for Hackers" series cover the prerequisites every cybersecurity job requires, and he frames them in a way that feels exciting rather than tedious.

What makes NetworkChuck irreplaceable is his refusal to skip foundations. Most aspiring hackers want to skip straight to Kali Linux and exploit code. Chuck makes you sit with subnetting, DNS, and the OSI model first - because every senior practitioner knows that exploits are easy and networking fundamentals are what separate a junior analyst from a useless one.

Best for: Complete beginners. Watch this before anything else on this list.

Start with: Linux for Hackers (and everyone) // FREE Course for Beginners, then You Suck at Subnetting for the networking half. Both are free playlists on his channel. Skip his Security+ playlist, which covers the retired SY0-601 exam.

2. Professor Messer - Best for CompTIA Security+ and Network+ Prep

Subscribers: ~1.4M | Last upload: ~13 months ago | Focus: CompTIA certification training

Professor Messer (James Messer) runs the best-known free CompTIA training on YouTube. His Security+ (SY0-701) and Network+ (N10-009) playlists cover every objective from the official exam outlines, and his pacing is calibrated for the exact level of detail the test expects. Both exam codes were still current when we re-checked on September 15, 2026, against CompTIA's certification page.

Professor Messer's value is not entertainment. His videos are short, dense, and structured around exam domains, which is why they remain useful despite the channel having gone quiet for about 13 months. Certification content ages when the exam version changes, not when the upload stops. Verify the exam code on your voucher matches the playlist before you commit to it.

Best for: Anyone preparing for Security+ (the most-requested entry-level cert in 2026) or Network+.

Start with: CompTIA SY0-701 Security+ Training Course, watched in order, or CompTIA N10-009 Network+ Training Course if networking comes first for you. Both are free and complete on YouTube.

3. John Hammond - Best for CTFs and Threat Analysis

Subscribers: ~2.2M | Last upload: 5 days ago | Focus: CTFs, malware analysis, threat hunting

John Hammond is the most prolific cybersecurity educator on YouTube, with thousands of videos covering capture-the-flag walkthroughs, malware analysis, threat hunting, and emerging vulnerabilities. He works as Senior Principal Security Researcher at Huntress, a role he has held since December 2025 and which we re-confirmed on September 15, 2026, which means his content reflects what real practitioners do every day rather than abstract textbook scenarios.

His CTF content (PicoCTF, HackTheBox, TryHackMe) is the best on the platform for learning how attackers actually think. He narrates his thought process out loud, including dead ends and mistakes - which is far more educational than channels that edit out the messy parts.

Best for: Intermediate learners who have NetworkChuck and Security+ behind them and want to start practicing offense.

Start with: PicoCTF 2022, which is the most beginner-friendly CTF set on the channel, then his Malware playlist.

4. IppSec - Best for HackTheBox Walkthroughs

Subscribers: ~320K | Last upload: 3 days ago | Focus: Penetration testing, HackTheBox machines

IppSec's channel is essentially a free OSCP-prep companion. He publishes long-form walkthroughs of retired HackTheBox machines, and his methodology - enumeration first, structured note-taking, no shortcuts - is exactly what real pentesters do. The OSCP exam-style mindset is baked into every video. It is by some distance the smallest channel on this list, which is the point: reach and teaching quality are not the same measurement.

What sets IppSec apart is his refusal to take cosmetic shortcuts. He shows the full enumeration process, including approaches that fail, so viewers learn how a methodical pentester narrows down attack surfaces. If you are working through HackTheBox boxes and get stuck, his channel is the highest-signal resource on the internet.

Best for: Learners with at least 2-3 months of hands-on lab experience, preparing for OSCP, eJPT, or similar offensive certifications.

Start with: CTF - Nix - Easy, his easiest-rated Linux machines, then @TJ_Null's OSCP Prep once you are comfortable.

5. David Bombal - Best for Networking Depth and Career Interviews

Subscribers: ~3.1M | Last upload: 2 days ago | Focus: Networking, ethical hacking, career interviews

David Bombal is a Cisco-certified instructor who built one of the most diverse cybersecurity channels on YouTube. He alternates between deep networking tutorials (Cisco, Python automation, Wi-Fi security) and high-signal interviews with practitioners - pentesters, CISOs, hiring managers - about how to actually break into the field.

His interview content is uniquely valuable for newcomers because it demystifies hiring. He has interviewed people who landed jobs without degrees, who switched in from non-technical careers, and who built six-figure consulting practices from cybersecurity skills. The career advice density rivals any paid course.

Best for: Learners who want technical depth plus realistic career guidance.

Start with: 2026 Cybersecurity Roadmap with a Master Hacker, then How to get your first Cybersecurity job.

6. The Cyber Mentors - Best for Practical Pentesting

Subscribers: ~1.0M | Last upload: 11 days ago | Focus: Penetration testing, ethical hacking, business of consulting

The Cyber Mentors (Heath Adams) runs a pentesting consultancy and teaches his actual day-to-day work on YouTube. His "Practical Ethical Hacking" approach - and the related TCM Security training platform - is one of the most respected entry points into offensive security in 2026. Note that the Practical Ethical Hacking course itself is a paid TCM Security product; the playlists below are the free YouTube material and are what we recommend starting with.

What makes Heath's content different is that he teaches the business side too: how to scope an engagement, how to write a report a client will pay for, how to charge what a pentester is worth. For learners aiming at consulting or boutique pentest firms (which often have lower hiring bars than FAANG security teams), this context is hard to find anywhere else.

Best for: Aspiring pentesters who want hands-on offense plus career economics.

Start with: Zero to Hero: A Practical Network Penetration Testing Course, his free full-length course, then Beginner Linux for Ethical Hackers.

7. 13Cubed - Best for Digital Forensics and DFIR

Subscribers: ~69K | Last upload: 13 days ago | Focus: Windows forensics, incident response, DFIR

13Cubed is the best free DFIR (digital forensics and incident response) channel on YouTube. Richard Davis publishes deep-dive videos on Windows forensic artifacts, memory analysis, and incident response workflows - content that directly maps to what SOC tier 2 and tier 3 analysts do for a living.

It is the smallest channel in this list by a wide margin, at roughly 69,000 subscribers against the millions the generalist channels carry. That gap says more about how narrow DFIR is as a niche than about quality. Content in this specialty is thin outside paid SANS courses, which list at $8,780 for a six-day forensics course on SANS's own October 2026 training event pages, with the matching certification attempt a further $999. 13Cubed is essentially a free curriculum for the discipline.

Best for: Aspiring SOC analysts and DFIR practitioners.

Start with: Introduction to Windows Forensics, then Introduction to Memory Forensics.

8. HackerSploit - Best for Offensive Security Tutorials

Subscribers: ~1.0M | Last upload: ~17 months ago | Focus: Penetration testing, Kali Linux, network security

HackerSploit is one of the most structured offensive-security channels on YouTube. Alexis Ahmed publishes long-form courses on topics like ethical hacking, web application pentesting, Active Directory pentesting, and cloud security - covering topics in depth that most channels treat as one-off videos.

His content is intentionally course-shaped: prerequisites are stated, lab setups are explained, and topics build on each other. That structure is why the channel stays on this list even though it has not published in roughly 17 months, the longest gap of any entry here. The caveat is real and it applies more sharply to this channel than to any other: offensive tooling changes fast, so treat these courses as a map of the methodology rather than a script to type verbatim, and check commands against current tool documentation as you go.

Best for: Learners who prefer long-form structured courses to one-off videos, and who are willing to verify commands against current tool versions.

Start with: Penetration Testing Bootcamp.

9. LiveOverflow - Best for Binary Exploitation and CTF Depth

Subscribers: ~940K | Last upload: 13 days ago | Focus: Binary exploitation, CTFs, low-level security

LiveOverflow makes the deepest, most technically demanding cybersecurity content on YouTube. His videos cover binary exploitation, reverse engineering, browser security, and CTF challenges that most channels do not touch. The pacing assumes serious technical chops - usually programming experience plus assembly language familiarity - but the payoff is unmatched.

This is not a beginner channel. It is the channel you graduate to once you have a foundation and want to understand how memory corruption works, how browser sandboxes are escaped, or how crypto challenges are solved. Many serious red-team practitioners cite LiveOverflow as the channel that changed how they think about security.

Best for: Advanced learners with programming and assembly experience who want low-level depth.

Start with: Binary Exploitation / Memory Corruption by LiveOverflow.

How to Use These Channels Together

The mistake most beginners make is treating YouTube cybersecurity content as a buffet - sampling videos from every channel without finishing any path. A better approach: pair channels by phase.

Months 1-2 (foundations): NetworkChuck + Professor Messer in parallel. Get networking, Linux, and Security+ knowledge solid before touching offensive content.

Months 3-4 (hands-on basics): John Hammond CTF walkthroughs + start TryHackMe. Get used to working in a Linux command line under pressure.

Months 5-6 (specialization): Pick a path. Aspiring SOC analysts switch to 13Cubed. Aspiring pentesters switch to IppSec + The Cyber Mentors. Both groups should keep doing TryHackMe daily.

Months 7-12 (advanced): Add HackerSploit's long-form courses for structure. Start HackTheBox machines and watch IppSec walkthroughs only after you have spent at least 4-6 hours on each box yourself.

Sequencing is the part almost nobody actually does, and we can put a number on it. Across LearnPath's own database, re-queried on September 15, 2026, there are 194 cybersecurity learning paths built by 187 learners, holding 775 queued videos at an average of 4.0 per path. Counting every path whose topic names cybersecurity, security, hacking, pentesting, malware or forensics, only 80 of those 775 videos have been watched past the one-minute mark, spread across 60 of the 194 paths, and not one video has been finished.

Quiz scores need their filter stated too, because the two honest versions of the number tell different stories. Of 80 quizzes taken on cybersecurity videos, 37 passed. The average score across every attempt is 51.4%. But 26 of those 80 attempts scored a flat zero, which is what an opened-and-abandoned quiz looks like in the data; counting only the 54 attempts where the learner actually answered, the average is 76.1%. We report both rather than the flattering one, because roughly a third of attempts being abandoned is itself the finding.

That is our own data and it is not flattering, but it is the most useful thing on this page. The failure mode in cybersecurity learning is not a shortage of good channels, and this list does not fix it. Nine excellent channels queued up and never watched past minute one is the normal outcome. Pick one channel, one phase, and one lab, and finish something small before you add anything else.

What This List Won't Give You

Be honest with yourself about what YouTube cannot provide:

• Hands-on labs. Watching a HackTheBox walkthrough is not equivalent to solving the box. Subscribe to TryHackMe (Premium is 16.99 a month, or 10.50 a month billed annually, per TryHackMe's own pricing page on September 15, 2026 - it charges in your local currency, so those are dollars from a US address and euros from an EU one) or HackTheBox (Labs VIP+ is $25 a month or $223 a year, per HackTheBox's own help documentation) and put in lab hours.
• Certifications. Security+ is the entry-level cert most jobs ask for, and the voucher lists at $439, raised from $425 on June 1, 2026 in a rise that hit CompTIA's whole exam line. Professor Messer prepares you for it, but you still need to take and pass the exam.
• Resume signal. A GitHub portfolio of CTF writeups, blog posts, and tooling matters far more than YouTube watch hours. Document everything you learn publicly.
• Mentorship. YouTube cannot give you feedback on your specific career path. Cybersecurity Twitter, LinkedIn, r/cybersecurity, and Discord communities can.

If you do all four of those things plus consistent video learning from this list, you can realistically reach hireable for an entry-level SOC role in 6-12 months.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best YouTube channel for cybersecurity beginners in 2026?

NetworkChuck and Professor Messer are the two best starting points for absolute beginners in 2026. NetworkChuck makes networking and Linux fundamentals approachable through energetic, project-based videos. Professor Messer is the gold-standard free prep for CompTIA Security+ and Network+, the two certifications most entry-level SOC and IT security jobs ask for. Most learners watch both in parallel during their first 2-3 months.

Are these YouTube channels enough to land a cybersecurity job?

For an entry-level SOC analyst or junior pentester role, yes - pairing the channels in this list with hands-on labs (TryHackMe, HackTheBox) and CompTIA Security+ is sufficient training. The bottleneck for most learners is not content quality. It is structure, certifications, and provable hands-on lab experience. Plan for 6-12 months of consistent study before applying.

Should I focus on red team or blue team channels first?

Defensive (blue team) channels first. Roles like SOC analyst have far more open positions and lower barriers to entry than red team roles. Channels like Professor Messer, NetworkChuck, and 13Cubed give you the foundation employers actually hire for. Once you have a defensive job, layer in John Hammond and IppSec for offensive depth. Trying to break in via red team often stalls because employers expect deeper technical skills than a YouTube-only learner has.

How current is YouTube cybersecurity content in 2026?

We re-checked all nine channels on September 15, 2026. Seven had published within the past two weeks. Two had not: Professor Messer last uploaded on August 23, 2025, about 13 months ago, and HackerSploit on April 9, 2025, about 17 months ago, so treat their back catalogues as reference rather than current practice. Stick to videos from the last 12-18 months for offensive technique.

Do I need any paid resources alongside these YouTube channels?

You need two paid things alongside YouTube: a lab subscription and the exam. TryHackMe Premium is 16.99 monthly or 10.50 a month billed annually, charged in your local currency - dollars in the US, euros in the EU. HackTheBox Labs VIP+ is $25 monthly or $223 a year. CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) is $439, raised from $425 on June 1, 2026. HackTheBox for a year plus the exam is $662, checked September 15, 2026.

How does this list differ from other cybersecurity YouTube roundups?

This list ranks channels by what 2026 hiring managers actually test for, not by subscriber count or charisma. We weight currency (Is the content less than 18 months old?), hands-on practicality (Does the channel pair with TryHackMe or HackTheBox?), and pedagogical clarity (Can a beginner follow along?). We deliberately exclude channels that are popular but optimize for entertainment over learning outcomes.

What to Read Next

• How to Learn Cybersecurity from YouTube in 2026 (Free Roadmap) - The full structured roadmap with monthly milestones, certification timing, and how to land a first SOC job.
• How to Stay Consistent Learning Online - The biggest blocker for self-taught cybersecurity learners is consistency, not content. This guide covers the systems that work.
• Best YouTube Channels for Cloud Engineering (AWS, Azure, GCP) - Cloud security is the fastest-growing cybersecurity specialization in 2026. Cloud fundamentals are non-negotiable before you specialize.
• Free vs Paid Online Courses: What Actually Works - Before you pay for a $5,000 bootcamp, here is what free YouTube + TryHackMe + Security+ actually gets you.
• What Is Adaptive Learning, and Why It Works - Why YouTube-only learning plateaus, and what to add to keep progress moving.

LearnPath turns YouTube channels like the ones in this list into structured, AI-curated learning paths with quizzes, spaced repetition, and progress tracking - completely free. If you want the structure of a paid bootcamp without the price tag, start a path on cybersecurity in under a minute.