Learning how to become a hacker. How to acquire hacking skills

It is unlikely that you sat quietly in your room for 20 years, studied well, obeyed your parents in everything, never deceived anyone, never took anything from someone else in your life, and then, bam, you wanted to become a cyber hacker. Most likely, this already lives in you: you are easily captivated by the search for an original solution, you absorb computer knowledge like a sponge, you hate guidance, you trust only your own trial and error method, and professional literature is only one of the assistants. And now a grain of truth began to sprout in your head, a desire to stand on the other side of the law. Not for money, just out of curiosity. Where to begin?

Learn a language

Since you have decided to become a hacker, then for sure you know English perfectly. If not, then any of your further tasks becomes twice as difficult - first, with a dictionary, you will look for what exactly you are hacking, and only then look for ways - again with a dictionary. In addition, if the career goes uphill, then it’s good to know the basic part of some other languages ​​\u200b\u200b- Spanish, German, French. And it will come in handy in life, and it will not interfere with work. Developers also sometimes come across ignorant.

Choose a specialization

As in any other hobby, it is important to decide on a specialization as soon as possible. No, of course, you first need to start by studying the shell of applied hardware - applications and operating systems, then move on to a larger level. The main thing to remember is that there are dozens of types of attacks and hacking techniques: it will take years to master everything at a decent level. Therefore, if you are ambitious and want not just to try, but to achieve serious success, decide on the area of ​​​​work and develop skills in this direction. With due perseverance, in six months you will have the first significant scalp on your account.

Read Literature

Even though a good hacker is different in that he gets all his knowledge empirically, it would be foolish to try to surpass years of experience in the field of security without using someone else's experience. Here's where to start your literary digression: "The Art of Deception", "Hacking: the Art of Exploitation", "The Basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing: Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing",Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide. After mastering them, at least you will no longer have stupid questions from the category of “where to go” and “what to do”.

Don't listen to anyone

The whole essence of the activity of a hacker lies more in research than in sabotage. Therefore, if you have your own head on your shoulders, never take someone else's criticism seriously, do not believe in the existence of a "right" path and do not succumb to provocations. If hackers don't do what they like, then who will?

keep the rhythm

No matter how famously you are dragged into a new hobby, do not rush to get into serious projects. Gradually study the chosen business, learn not only to destroy, but also to create. And of course, try to immediately kill the desire to hack something big and famous. This is fraught not only with the possibility of hitting an insurmountable wall, but also with getting a very real time.

Challenge

However, do not rush to rest on the laurels of the first successes. While people on the other side are working to create more and more perfect protection, your task is to keep up with the times and look for flaws and patterns in it. No one calls for immediately hitting the jackpot at the competition pwnium, but it is necessary to seriously think about this, and most importantly, strive for this.

Find the right job

To catch a criminal, you have to think like him. To get around the built protection, you need to get into the team that creates it. This will greatly help to accelerate professional growth, to some extent monetize your hobby, and in general, it will probably make you think about the correctness of the chosen side.

However, there is an alternative universal option - just change the type of activity. On the one hand, this way you will approach your favorite business with great enthusiasm and a fresh head, on the other hand, you will not fall out of society. After all, even the most malicious hackers should have a personal life.

stop being afraid

And in general, it is enough to spend at least 10 seconds in any search engine to realize that there are a huge number of ways in the world (competitions, competitions, work) that allow you to thoroughly stretch your brain and at the same time earn money. Today, the protection of information is, literally, an international problem associated, among other things, with the main threat to humanity - terrorism. Therefore, if your inquisitive mind wants, and most importantly, can hack something, but is critically afraid of getting punished for it, a huge number of IT companies will be ready to cooperate with you.

A large number of Internet users ask themselves the question - how can one become a hacker, and where should one start? As a rule, connoisseurs of this hobby are guys aged 16 to 20 years. Do not think that this is impossible. If you know some information, then everything can definitely work out.

Profession hacker

Hacker is a high-level programmer working with a ready-made software, And with the help of various programming languages, he tries to turn his own fantasy into reality. For many people, this work is the whole meaning of their life. Such inclinations often begin to be laid in early childhood. Basically, it concerns hackers-professionals. How you can become such a hacker, you can find out by reading our article.

Try to understand the main programming languages ​​first. This experience will help you reach your desired goal. According to many professionals, you can study this database yourself, being at home and devoting a lot of time to studying these materials, computer technology and programming languages. And the basic basics of programming contain similar principles and structure. A few of them you will need to learn by heart. These include Java, PHP, MySQL, etc. In addition to programming languages, you will also need to learn different Operating Systems which may seem very simple to you at first glance. In this case, we are talking about Linux platforms. And UNIX. Professional hackers don't work with Windows firmware. They try to work on the Internet correctly.

If you really decide to become a real pro in this business, then you will need to get as much knowledge as possible. And in this, only the Internet can help you. Try to understand how the World Wide Web works and try to figure out why clients relay HTTP servers, how the system's browser interacts with the server, and so on. Without this knowledge in your head, you will not be able to count on an excellent result in the future. Try to find a package of necessary programs for yourself. We will warn you right away that choosing the right programs is not so easy. But still, your strong desire and perseverance can greatly simplify this task. First try to find some assemblers and compilers. The latest solutions translate program texts into an equivalent program. As for the very first option, this is the so-called software, which converts programs into machine-type instructions. You will also need a good text editor that can modify and create text files, print and view, and find textual information. You will also need a special editor that allows you to create and modify the initial data of the program. This solution may well be some separate program, or part of the development environment. So WTO, now you have been able to get a little idea of ​​how you can become a hacker. If you decide to build a career on this job, then it will not be superfluous for you to learn 2-3 foreign languages. Many experts in the field advise choosing English as the language of study because it is the most commonly used language on the Internet.

Video instructions.

Summing up, it should be noted that work and perseverance, together with an understanding of the need for goals, and the ability to correctly implement your ideas in life, will help you become a very successful hacker. But it is worth noting that you will have to conduct this work only within the framework of the current law, since malicious hacking is punishable under criminal law.

How to become a hacker from scratch

The work of a professional hacker is very exciting. Theft of important information, hacking sites, embezzlement of funds, disclosure of secrets and penetration. Yes, it is worth noting that there are many opportunities for a hacker. As for his real name, he, of course, is carefully hidden. As a rule, young people are fond of active activities related to the theft of information and hacking sites.

But, unfortunately, they do not understand that they will have to answer before the law for these misconducts. This activity is not always associated with illegal work. If you want to work in the computer field, then as a rule, large organizations will use your services. And this should not be surprising, since the hacker is an excellent IT specialist. In practice, the largest banks and corporations want to see a professional hacker in their staff. Companies try to protect important information using all sorts of computer technologies, and a professional hacker can find various loopholes in this protection and thus prevent the theft of important information.

Only self-development will help you get this profession. We will share some tips in this article, and with the help of them you can bring your dream closer, and maybe even realize it.

Step by Step Action Plan Basic Skills

First, you need to get to know the Internet as closely as possible, try to find out the meaning of all kinds of headers, study a lot of basic concepts and try to understand the interaction of browsers with servers.

Programming languages.

Much attention should also be paid to a thorough study of programming languages. Using the manuals that can be found on the Internet, you can learn how to write the simplest programs. If you put a little effort into this work, you can easily master the basic skills of programming. And in the future you can improve them. If you want to work as a hacker, then your main focus should be on learning the hypertext markup language. It is called HTML.

English language.

You should also study English. This language is used in all world services. Based on this, you need to master it perfectly. After you cope with the tasks, you will need to start learning all sorts of intricacies of hacking and professional issues. It is worth noting that the Internet is simply overflowing with information that relates to our topic today. You should pay attention to the tips that we share with you. They can help you gain discipline, professionalism, diligence and perseverance. Try to value your personal time and your colleagues. You should share your new achievements with them and respect the code. Yes, it is worth noting that hackers have their own code. He forbids taking or giving in return. If you were able to hack someone else's program, you should inform its owner about it so that he can think over options for protecting his own offspring. Thought patterns should also be eliminated. A hacker should not think in stereotypes. He must have the ability to instantly find answers. don't be afraid to ask for advice. If you do not understand something, then do not be shy to ask for advice on various thematic forums.

If you were able to solve the task without anyone's help, then you need to tell your colleagues about it. In the future, they will do the same. It is necessary to follow the technique. The computer is a living organism. He is also a very close friend of the IN specialist. Based on this, a laptop, computer equipment, various stationary systems always require care. You will be able to reach your goal fairly quickly if your team of colleagues is replenished with free time and perseverance. You will need to learn a lot of new information every day. This in turn can bring you a lot of experience and knowledge. You should forever forget about computer games. You will need to spend your personal time on acquiring new knowledge that will definitely be useful to you in the future. You should also study the criminal code, in order to avoid various unpleasant moments. Continuing our topic today, we will try to look at the main stages of training, in order to be able to find out in more detail where to start in order to become a professional hacker. In many feature films, hackers are engaged in hacking into various payment systems, websites of large corporations, government agencies and industrial facilities. The main objective of these hacks is very important information or money. In reality, everything is not so easy. A hacker is an ordinary programmer who can simply crack the program code. In this case, he has completely different goals. Hackers do not want to get hold of important information and sell it for a lot of money in order to sell it on the black market in the future. At the time of hacking a program, a hacker learns its basic principles of operation, tries to study the code in order to be able to find various loopholes and create a similar program. Most people are convinced that hackers are criminals involved in hacking a program. on this basis, there are many specialists who are by no means hackers, but still lead a similar lifestyle. Even a novice hacker can harm any site or computer if he uses malicious scripts that can disguise themselves as a regular program and are placed on sites. In reality, it is very difficult to find a real specialist in this field. A professional hacker will never share with others what exactly he does. He conducts his work alone, because he knows that his type of activity is punishable. You should have as much patience as possible. It is also necessary to realize that the study of various information and mastery of skills will require years from you. Try to pay special attention to the study of applied mathematics. Without obtaining this knowledge, you will not be able to become a real hacker. It is also necessary to buy books that are devoted to the operation of software platforms, programs, and security systems. Try to learn how to write code, and also create all kinds of encrypted systems without outside help. You will not be able to work without these skills. Try to read more different thematic magazines, visit all kinds of forums and sites that are dedicated to hacker activities. All these sources of information can greatly help you in self-development.

Also try to keep a diary every day. Record the statistics of your new achievements and successes in it. Over time, you will be able to notice that your skills have become the most perfect. It is also worth being prepared for selfeducation will be quite long and will require a lot of effort and work from you. Only in this way can you achieve significant results and break stereotypes. You should also always remember that you need to work within the framework of the current law.

Finally

If you decide to learn how to become a hacker from scratch in 15 minutes, then this post was able to make it clear to you that this business is not easy. Every person who decides to become a hacker must remember that many difficulties await him. And this is all because you have to study serious information. But don't be afraid of it. Remember, you need to act within the law. We sincerely hope that our article can help you. And you, in turn, having studied this material, will be able to achieve success in a short period of time. But remember that modifying or creating programs that lead to the destruction of important information is a punishable crime in our country. For these transactions, you can be imprisoned for a period of three years and fined a large amount. If your actions lead to very serious consequences, then a very severe roll awaits you. Based on the foregoing, remember, before starting work, think carefully about whether you can avoid various temptations in this activity and not break the law. We wish you good luck!

Watch the video

How to become a hacker or tips for a beginner.

I'll talk right away. It's hard to give advice on how to become a hacker without being one yourself. But with the development of freedom of speech, when almost any uttered phrase can seem to the young mind as an indisputable truth, often without any consequences for the speaker, this situation is normal. I'll be careful. So, what would I never do if I wanted to get top-secret data on controlling satellite combat lasers.

What are the typical mistakes a person makes when he enters the warpath with the digital world around him. I will try to outline those points that should be avoided at the beginning of this interesting, but dangerous path.

At the beginning of my journey, I would not exactly trust those blogs and sites that ask for money for a link to some super collection of hacker programs. No one does these builds. It is not an easily liquid product in high demand. Absolutely all links and any content on this topic should put an end to further visits to such a site.

It's funny to watch how in videos on YouTube or somewhere else, a program is offered for quickly hacking a popular social network. There are no programs for hacking the site. The principles of penetration are fundamentally different from making changes to programs that are subject to a crack. You can download some program, but most likely, along with it you will download some kind of . No wonder the “manufacturer” of such an application asks to disable the antivirus and firewall for a while.

Long ago I came to the conclusion that the use of third-party keyloggers and trojans, especially those freely distributed, would be the height of stupidity. By downloading and installing such a program, consider that you have been hacked in the first place. We think - why disseminate such information? Help follow a friend? No, get rich on fools.

It is not worth starting your activity if you do not know programming languages ​​and scripts and, most importantly, do not want to delve into them. This point should be put first, of course. Do not amuse yourself in vain, knowledge here is by no means basic. What will you break? Internet resource? PHP and MYSQL are at your fingertips. We crack the program? Apparently C and Assembler. Hacking is an art. Sleepless nights and smoked cigarettes. It's a lot of wasted time. You can rely on stupid admins, there are many of them. But to show on the screen the result of a simple batch file, the script of which is downloaded on a site like mine, while calling yourself a hacker, is bad manners. There is a lot to learn: the details of cross-site scripting, all kinds of injections, to study possible gaps and look for vulnerabilities ... Again, the author is a little far from this. But I think I managed to warn you from the above points.

This article was created for those readers who know that hacker activity (in the usual negative sense of the word) is illegal and entails a number of negative consequences for both the hacker and society as a whole. For comparison, let's imagine an apartment burglar - he acts illegally, committing and sometimes stealing it. In this sense, a hacker is no different from this type of person: both are found, tried and imprisoned.

Therefore, the first rule in mastering this business is: before you become a hacker, read the law and think about responsibility.

The hacking case became popular almost immediately after, Today you can often hear: “I want to become a hacker, cracker”, and questions about how to break the site filled the Internet, even considering that recently there are many examples of show trials in the case about information pests of the network space.

Definition

Before you become a hacker, you need to understand what it is. There are several myths in society regarding this computer craft, and all of them are only partially true.

Firstly, it is considered that a hacker is a programmer who is very well versed in this area and breaks into programs, databases, security systems, etc. Part of this statement is true, namely that these people are highly qualified. The rest does not correspond to the truth: initially, hackers programs in detours, solving a lot of complex problems. Those who crack programs for destructive purposes are called "crackers" and do not enjoy much respect among programmers.

The word "hacker" itself is sometimes used when it comes to a first-class specialist who knows the slightest intricacies of his craft and knows how to solve professional problems outside the box.

But now, most people understand hackers as intruders who steal information that is not intended to be published or fall into "the wrong hands" (for example, passwords, secret government documents, users' personal information, etc.).

Also, the understanding of hacking in society is so vague that those who create and distribute viruses, illegally gain access to money accounts.

We can say that a large group of people also consider pests.

We will adhere to the concept of a hacker as a capable and intelligent programmer, whose activities are not aimed at destruction and theft.

How to become a hacker: creativity

To be a hacker, you need to become a creative person, because the basis of this activity is in finding atypical solutions.

A feature of hacker activity is diversity, so you need to solve new problems that require a non-standard approach. This is how skill develops, which is the main sign of a hacker.

knowledge and languages

To become one, you need to have a high level of intelligence, specific knowledge and practice.

The most important thing is to learn how to program. To do this, choose a language, learn it and practice. For a real master, it is not enough to know one language perfectly, so you need to understand the principle itself, the method of any language, in order to be able to learn any other in a couple of days, correlating some differences with those already known.

How to become a hacker: practice

Books and lessons can only give a general theoretical idea of ​​this matter, so if there is no desire to teach languages, you want real practice, then the most effective method- read other people's codes and write your own.

Let's guess - you liked movies about spies since childhood. You were not particularly interested in your studies, but you had normal grades. You grasped everything faster than the rest. And from your youth you were drawn to computers. Something inside you was drawn to the hacker community, but you understood that you are a good person and do not want to ruin other people's lives or end up in jail.

How to be, you ask. The answer is to become a "white hat" hacker to do all these illegal things without the risk of getting jailed, but while making money.

I want to warn you right away - I'm not an expert. I've only been able to get a legal hacking job once (and still do). But I worked a lot in other IT sectors, dreaming of getting into security. As a result, I managed to communicate with a lot of people and read a lot of useful information.

Does not exist universal way getting your first job in the field of information security. Recently, the hashtag #MyWeirdPathToInfosec was launched on Twitter, where you can read the stories of different people about how they got into this field. They were completely different - someone went to jail (not the best option), someone used to be a musician, some got a job right after college, someone was offered a job after breaking into a company and telling how it was done (also not I recommend this option).

The main thing is to look around - career opportunities often come from the most unexpected places.

My path to cybersecurity

I remember my first "hacker" experience. I was about ten years old, and I learned how to save web pages locally. I went to the main Google page, downloaded it and edited it in Notepad so that the text "Luke was here!" appeared on it. When I opened the edited page, I was delighted. I felt like I fooled Google. That and look, the FBI agents will start knocking on the door. Maybe tell your parents before they find out?

Frame from the series Mr. Robot

In my time, there were no sites with challenges for hackers. Then there was almost no information at all, in any case, I found little. My first source of information about hacking was Carolyn Meinel's website called "A Guide to (Mostly) Safe Hacking." The manuals were set in Comic Sans, which is considered bad taste by designers from the 90s and 00s. Among them were such classic guides as "Telnet: the main hacking tool" and "How to hack with Windows XP part 1: the magic of DOS. They can still be found on the site.

After leaving school, I got a job in the IT field, started studying computer science, almost finished my education, but I was expelled. Then he became a bachelor of music and began working as a musician. I performed on cruise ships for several years, then met my future wife, went to the UK, got married, returned to Australia and got a job as a web developer.

All this time, my love for hacking has not faded. I never liked development. I had a great job with great colleagues, but it didn't excite me. One day I was working on a project related to e-commerce and confidential information, and my boss suggested that I take a course on data security. I wrote to the CEO of the local cybersecurity agency and asked what courses he would recommend. He advised me to get OSCP certified, which I did.

Frame from the series Mr. Robot

It was probably the turning point in my career. The training took two months. and I devoted all my free time to studying the art of hacking. Even when I was tired, I couldn't sleep at night because my brain kept thinking about tasks. Then I realized that it was hacking, and not development, that would become my job.

A month or two after passing the OSCP, I completed the online hacker challenge and landed my first job at a cybersecurity agency through the recruiter who posted the challenge.

But enough about me. Here are some tips on what to do to get a job as a hacker.

Actively communicate with the white hat hacker community

Contribute to tool development with open source, write your own, record podcasts, attend hacker gatherings, and connect with people on Twitter. You will learn a lot and meet a whole community of friendly and smart people who can help you.

Write to those you respect

You may know someone who is working in the position of your dreams. Write to them and find out how they got it. At worst, you will be ignored, and at best, you will find a mentor and receive important advice that can change your life.

Frame from the series Mr. Robot

Earn Trust

You may have all the existing hacker certifications, but if you are enthusiastic about some illegal deals that you have done in an interview, no one will take the risk of hiring you. The white hat community often works with top secret information, so you need to be trusted by the employer and clients.

If you can't answer a technical question in an interview, it's better to say "I'm sorry, I don't know, but I'll definitely look for the answer later" than to try to bluff. The recruiter will figure you out, and he needs an honest employee. There aren't many great cybersecurity professionals these days, so many companies can hire even a less experienced person if they have the right mindset and attitude. For such an employee, then simply additional training in technical skills is carried out.

Get certified

To be honest, many hacker certifications are not indicative of technical skill. However, their presence increases the chances of employment. Certifications show that you are interested in the industry and have spent time and money improving your knowledge.

Participate in Challenges

Try some of them from HackerOne, BugCrowd, hackthebox.eu. And be sure to write about your successes in your resume. From the outside, all these challenges may seem like a game, but their passage shows that you are interested in your business and you have some skills.

Frame from the series Mr. Robot

Don't be afraid of recruiters

Recruiters have a notorious reputation for constantly calling and using tricky methods to get the right contacts. But not all recruiters are like that. Find a good one with the right connections. In particular, you need to look for someone who specializes in the information security industry. Most likely, an ordinary IT recruiter is not familiar with the right people.

Get your current work on track

Are you a developer? Find a bug in the application you're developing, show it to your boss, and ask for more serious security testing. Are you a sysadmin? Find a vulnerability in your network (you probably know where to look for it), inform your superiors about the danger and ask them to do further testing. Wherever you work, you can earn a reputation as a local security specialist.

Now, on your resume or in an interview, you can say that you were a security specialist, even if your official title was “developer”. You can also mention in the “responsibility” column that you have performed some security tasks.