using math in hacking

It’s going to be a lot if you’re working specifically with cryptography. But overall, I would say a decent amount in general.

Hacking is very flexible. I mean I didn’t start applying math until starting working with encryption and decryption. When I first joined this site is when I finally broke down and decided I need to get involved with cryptography and some other assets I was lacking. I guess you could argue that you don’t even need to know any programming to be a hacker. I have an Uncle who makes bank working network security back home and doesn’t know any programming whatsoever. Therefore you could probably argue the same with math and hacking. Put it this way. It really depends on what you’re involved in. Meaning, are you using other peoples tools, using exploits that have been recently found and spread across the web, etc. I’m still trying to figure out how to make my own scale of experience. So far I’ve noticed there are the Skiddies (Kiddy Scripters), Intermediate Hackers, and the “L337” (Elite) Hackers. Your Elite Hackers being the ones who look for their own vulnerabilities and exploit them, your hackers who spend hours looking for errors in mathematical– algorithms, the ones who build their owns tools, their own frameworks, who understand every aspect of what they are doing, if they aren’t yet doing everything. You could be an elite hacker even if you don’t do/know everything, but are to a level in experience where you can easily pick it up in one or two days on the web. For example, if you don’t PHP and have to pick it up and have a very good understanding of how server side scripting works already and can spend a couple days doing some research before your next job or big attack, something like that.

This guy may explain what I’m saying a bit better… Skip to 8:44

So, in conclusion it all is determined on where you are, what you are doing/involved in, where you want to be, where you want to see yourself, and what your goals are in life. By all means, if you want to be a “L337” hacker then yes I would say math is very important. I can say that it’s not going to be the same as school math though. Unless you’re writing your own framework and hardware to intercept and interact with wave lengths and patterns to intercept sensitive data that is being transmitted across networks in which you may not easily online (that I know of). Don’t get me wrong, packet sniffers and such are out there but I’m talking about pointing an antenna and stealing somebodies facebook password and credit card credential type stuff, Hollywood movie status stuff. Then yeah you can find that in Algebra 2, Trigonometry, Calculus, and beyond. Maybe check out Trig functions. If you’re interested in stuff like that then you’re going to have to pick up some assembly and hardware work (circuit board etching, soldering, etc). Again, it all has to do with what you’re doing. Are you trying to break a custom encryption key or sitting under a banana tree with a radio and a pair of intennas? In a short answer you will definetly see math in hacking depending on what you’re doing and it is a very good asset to pick up. I personally can be pretty math savvy if I apply myself. When it comes to computers and math, fantastic! School…. haha, wish! :P

Sorry for any slaughtered grammar, I just got off of work

@MaxLockhart : I personally like reading your posts. You put a lot of thought into it and it shows in your post.
Its always fun to read your posts. Excellent post as usual.
@dfalcon : Yeah as @qwerert and @MaxLockhart suggested , I too feel the same….well maths falls in a close range when you talk about hacking….not just with implementation of logic but also with analysis of the data or info.
You may see some direct applications as in the case of cryptography and encryption handling but its not just till that….the applications are far reaching !!!

Lol thank you @Abhi_hacker .

[quote=Abhi_hacker] I too feel the same….well maths falls in a close range when you talk about hacking….not just with implementation of logic but also with analysis of the data or info.[/quote]

Good point, couldn’t think of how to say it.

thanks MaxLockhart, that was very informative. I am more interested in the cryptography then the javascript aspect of hacking.

Hey everyone has their own methods and what they do. Personally I think people work better in a team or group where everyone is organized and has one aspect covered over another.

So how many people would you recomend in a group? and what different things would you recomend that they specialize?

@dfalcon I wrote a lot and thought of posting it here, but I think it’s WAY too much (bulky) to post here in the forums. I’ll PM you

can you post the stuff you pm'ed to dfalcon? it sounds like it is really awesome

no, it’s off topic

@MaxLockhart would you please PM me about the stuff that you told @dfalcon? Would be muchly appreciated. Back to the topic at hand. Yes there can be a lot of math in hacking especially if you are writing something up yourself. There can also be very little math in hacking if you are using a program that someone else made but you need to remember that they put time work and yes math into it.