I have spare time and I wanna learn some hacking basics

Hi there. I got some time down this summer and I'd love to learn how to hack stuff so I can learn more and more in the future. My experience with Linux is fairly limited, I don't know how to program but I'm willing to learn.

Can you guys give me any tips on where to begin? Websites? Books? Whatever. Thank you

Consider learning how computers talk to each other when they are on the same subnet. Next, apply it to how a wireless access point and your IPad communicate. Next, see if you can use a language like python to mess up that communication channel.

I'd use Linux as your OS for any "investigating" you'll be doing. For this look into OSI layer 2 networking, layer 3 network addressing, http and HTTPS protocol and how to find other computers on your same subnet.

This will teach you basic networking, computer hardware, and programming. If you use nix like I suggested you'll pick up some commands along the way.

Of course do this on a network you own or have permission to poke around on, and always use what you learn for good.

2 Likes

Of course, I'm not going to do anything bad I just want to test myself and see how far I can go learning about this. I've always been interested in this kind of stuff but not in a delictive way, I'm way too soft for that. I've been looking to learn C as well and I'm watching some Linux tutorials so I can see what is going on with the OS.

Do you have any websites or pdfs or whatever to learn btw?

C is a great language and I have A LOT of respect for that language - but it may a better use of your time to learn another language like python or ruby first. Heck my first "language" (and I use that term loosely here) was javascript. It's possible that by learning C first you'll spend more time learning how to program in C rather than learning how to program.

When I was learning C++, I had a person with 10+ years in industry programming C++ who was really dangerous with Unix recommend that I read these two links and I'll suggest the same as a starting point:

http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/index.html

1 Like

Programming is not bad if you dont do it for malicious stuff.

Is this what people consider when they hear hacking? I hack software everyday, been working with Firefox lately.

A good rule of thumb is don't think of yourself as a hacker. Just do stuff and let it come naturally. There's not some ceremony where you get a badge. Don't worry about it.

Too many people provide highly abstract information which does not provide any real direction. Just Google, "How to hack" and the first response is "Ugghhh, learn a programming language" (yes, because that really provides the knowledge to comprise computer systems).

If you are looking for a practical guide, read the consist book The Basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing by Patrick Engebretson. Additionally, install Kali Linux and search for information online, on YouTube, for its pre-installed tools (Nmap, Metaspolit, OWASP ZAP, sqlmap, THC Hydra, et cetera). Learn bash and python for automating various related tasks. However, if you learn C++ or the easier Java, it will become trivial for you to pick up most languages. Knowledge of computer systems and networking can be learnt as needed. Search anything you do not know.

Practise using attacking and targeted virtual machines, with free and open source (FOSS) visualisation software such as VirtualBox.

The greatest issue beginners encounter is, phrasing search engine terms, because most lack the knowledge of the necessary formal technical terms. So, do not ignore them.

1 Like

Learn how to code. That's about 60% of what you need to "hack". Another 20% is learning how to write scripts in command interpreters like Bash, Powershell, Fish, etc. For programming languages, I would start off with Python, because it's lightweight, powerful, useful for writing scripts and most of all it teaches you good coding by forcing you to use good syntax structure. Then you can go on to others. Learn how to do stuff with a Raspberry Pi or an Arduino. Learn how to code scripts to do stuff you need to do on a regular basis automatically.

The word "hacking" has become such a buzzword. Back when it was first used, a hacker was someone who just knew a lot about computers, and a cracker was someone who used their skills for malicious purposes. But the media turned the word Cracker into an unusable slur, and the word Hacker into a word that the mindless, clueless, unfathomably-ignorant zombie hordes that are The Consumer now immediately associate with this:

That's not hacking, that's a tactic of Hollywood to make everyone associate that with hacking, to make it seem like a scary, otherworldly skill that only people with questionable motives have.

"Can you hack that?"
"Yes, but not in the way that you're thinking."
"What do you need?"
"A twenty-four pack of Dr. Pepper, a small cheese pizza, and for you to shut up and go away for about... 10 hours at least."

1 Like