Teach me to hack!!!!

[Kev]

How to hack?  Well if you really are serious you need to understand it’s a mentality. How did hackers do it early on?  Did they whine and beg for people to show them. NO!  Yes google is good but if you really want to know you need to make an effort. I never had anyone spoon feed me. Please stop making PMs to me about how to hack an email,etc. because I will NOT respond.   Jeeze you could be the FBI as far as I know, lol.  Get real fool.  Any way if you really need to ask just pm the Don, LOL.    Yes he is the man behind the curtain!                     

[don]

Hmmmmmmm... how should I respond to that post?

1. I am the FBI, and I'm logging everything about you.
2. I already get more than my fair share of those types of PMs, so PM Chris.
3. Ooh... ummm... That's not me behind the curtain. It's the uhh... great and powerful Oz!!!! 

Better yet, I paste my standard response which is, "This is the "Ethical" Hacker Network, and you won't get that kind of help here." Or if it is a PM that is a legit question, I paste, "Start a new post. That way you get several opinions not just mine, plus others get to learn as well from the discussion."

Don

PS - On the other hand, I could have answered that Kev respects persistant people. Start sending him PMs every day, then twice a day, then 3 and so on and so on. He will eventually break down and teach you to hack. 

[geekyone]

LOL  Don thats just evil!

[Kev]

LOL, I guess I deserve that!  On second thought I like response number 2! 

[LSOChris]

sure PM me

of course its commonly known that most people have to pay for my time...sorry thats just the way it is and i have a house payment to make 

this aint unicef

[iSmith]

Teach me how to hack... what kinda question is that? Hacking is 50% common sense, 20% knowledge, and 30% ingenuity. That's all I can say. Professional hacking, self taught or in a course takes years to properly learn.

[LSOChris]

you forgot that percentage of luck.  because finding that one box in the class B that didnt take a patch so you can run an exploit against it is usually straight up luck.

i'm also going to disagree with your 50% common sense, what is common sense about going thru and finding the mistakes that people make?

i'd say 50% as a methodological process would be more accurate.

[Kev]

Yes we should never forget the element of luck. When I find a vulnerable server or fuzz an app and find a possible exploit, I know I must have the same feeling  a prospector has when he finds gold! 

[advnet]

Hi.  Please advise.  I see most of the tools used for ethical hacking is done on linux.  Could someone please advise me which would be the best version of linux to use and also what spec  notebook i would need.
Thanks.

[xXxKrisxXx]

Hello Advnet, I'm Sure Everyone Would Agree BackTrack All The Way. You Dont Need A High End Top Of The Line Type Of Laptop If Your Going To Run A Linux Box.

[advnet]

Thanks for a reply Kris.  So do you think a P3 laptop would work with a PCMCIA wifi card?  Please help me out here to get started and forgive my ignorance.  If I do go for a PCMCIA wifi card what would you suggest.  Also what distribution of linux will be best suited for my needs.  I also want to learn more about using linnux for firewalls and VPN.  Thanks.

[Kev]

I have been recommending Ubuntu for those new to linux. There is an amazing amount of support for the beginner and you will find most security tools compile with no or little problem.  As far as laptops go, the real key is have at least 1 gig of memory. I have had really good luck with my Acer aspire 5610, If you want to look cool at a hacker convention, then those really small ultra thins are the way to go, lol. But I hope "looking cool" at a hacker convention is not the goal, because IMHO its impossible. We are just different levels of computer nerds, but I digress. 

[g00d_4sh]

I'll second the idea of learning some basics about pen testing off of BackTrack.  It's a great linux distro for getting your feet wet.  For learning about Linux itself, I also second Kev's suggestion of Ubuntu.  For laptop choice... just get something that's a few years old, and somewhat popular and you're set 90% of the time.

I had a bit of trouble with my laptop at first, since it's a tad newer... and has a 512 meg dedicated video card.  I got a few too many shiny whistles in my laptop, so it took me a bit of searching to get all the drivers and whatnot.  None the less, you'll find Ubuntu will work out of the box about as easily as Winblows on most year to two year old laptops.

[advnet]

Hi.  Thanks.  I managed to get a copy of Debian, this was the closest distributor near me without having to download.  What do you think.  Also a year or 2 older laptop, would be something around a P3/P4 with 256mb ram, is this good enough.  Thanks.

[g00d_4sh]

To do some basic learning with?  Yes.  Ideally I would say you're going to want 1 gig of ram, and probably a lower p4 to a dual core to get any really intensive work done.  I have a box running at home with a 1600 mhz processor and 256 RAM.  It's not speed racer, but it works just fine.  Since you're learning, that should be ok.