Now, it is my understanding that only crackers use handles. Is that correct?

I would think hackers are much more likely to use a handle than crackers are to use their real name.

I don't try to hide my real name, it's just easier to type "plik". It means something to me but is unlikely to be registered on forums etc.

Handles I got my handle "slimjim" back before i used computers on the CB radio. I used the handle slimjim100 after too many other slimjim's started to show up on the net in 1995. I use the handle to make sure only when i did something on the net it could be tracked back to me. i have been online so much and with Google i can track a lot of where content i have made is now. In this forum and a few other places you will see my real name "Brian Wilson" (which is very common). I am not hiding anything with my handle I just have a name that is too common like John Smith.

Brian
(aka Slimjim100)

So essentially, handles are fine as long as you use the same one all the time so your work is recognized?

Handles... Are they good or bad depends on who you ask. As for finding out if one is taken that can be harder but Google is the best test.

Brian

Yah it sounds awesome dude. Before you start using it, you might want to learn to hack first, that way you won’t get totally flamed. Any way, if one is engaged in any kind of hacking, ethical or otherwise, hiding you identity is imperative!  I was wondering how many full time pentesters are on this forum?  Any one out there that has made the mistake of letting everyone know that they hack is in for a lot of problems.  I used to let everyone know, partly because I thought it made me look cool (my secret shame) and partly to help drum up business. It didn’t help on either of those!  The big problem is when ever there is a problem or security breach, everyone thinks you had something to do with it. Sure you can try and explain that you are an Ethical Hacker, but most people only seem to hear “Hacker”.  Hacker is a bad term to the public and people freak if they think you have the ability to get into there computers.

For instance, an old girlfriend of mine used to work in a place that stored a lot of sensitive information consisting of client’s bank accounts and other assets. One day their entire network crashed. Well they heard that her boyfriend was a hacker! Great!   Another example, my CPA was dragging his feet in getting my tax returns together. I kept bugging him.  One day he noticed that someone was trying to breach his firewall over and over. Guess who he thought was doing it?  Jeeze, I can give story after story, even about family members that get a little paranoid about there computers if something suspicious occurs, LOL! 

My advice is to only let clients that you are targeting know that you can hack. If anyone out side that group is curious as to what you do, use terms like security consultant, etc...

Sup Kevan,
  Did you see this topic on the forum ?
http://www.ethicalhacker.net/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,54/topic,1083.0/

Begin by downloading a few free scanners. Nmap, Super scan and Angry scanner. After that, play with Nessus. They are all free and are the first place to start. Dont rush in trying to learn them. Specially Nmap. The important thng to remember is hacking is a slow, careful process. It takes a patient person.  The best movie description of it is the movie War Games. In it you will see the main character use social engineering to get passwords to the school server. He runs a boring war dialing program for hours to find open modems. He spends hours and days going to the library researching the inventor of the computer he wants to hack in hopes of discovering the password he used. Could that password be the name of someone in his family or a birth date?
  The movie Hackers on the other was crap. I wish it was that exciting, lol! When that movie first came out and advertised on the internet, it was the first "official" defacement of a website by real hackers.  Do you know what they wrote on the website? They simply changed the title form "Hackers" to "NOT hackers"!  Ha Ha

ok i am going to throw up the flag that it might not be the best idea for the new guy with no lab to play with nmap, superscan, angry scanner and nessus.

kevan, until you can build a safe lab  nvironment to play in you should check out any of the gazillion wargames sites like

http://hellboundhackers.org/
http://hackthissite.org/
http://mod-x.co.uk
http://pulltheplug.org

etc

this way you can learn what you are doing without having to worry about someone complaining to your ISP or worse...