Preparing a Self-Study in Hacking and Pen-Testing

Dracorex5
10 years ago

0

Hello there everyone! I am currently a student in the IT and Security field, hoping to become a Security Consultant and Pen-Tester for companies who need to get their shiz together.

I have arranged with a professor to do an independent study in order to deduce just what I need to learn and how fast I need to learn it. I am fluent in Java as well as Python, and have taken a class on Programming Language Theory (the class itself was meh, but it inspired a lot of personal study on the inner workings and functions of languages that I find to be endlessly fascinating).

This is a call out to any hackers of any experience level. What do YOU think is the most vital park of computer hacking? What mindset do you believe you need to be in to succeed best at code breaking? Any languages in particular you find to be the most useful to know? What tools do you use, and where did you learn to use those tools? Besides sites like Hack This! and HackThisSite, what other references do you use to hone your skills? Anyone here working in IT Security (pen testers especially I’d love to hear from)? How did you get to the point you are at, and what do you suggest to someone still in the early stages of their programming experience?

Thank you all! I look forward to becoming a part of this community! I’m ready to learn, and find even the earliest stages of programming and code breaking to be, well, really cool! And you know what they say, you can’t protect yourself properly if you don’t know how anything works anyway!

jayssj11
10 years ago | edited 10 years ago

1

hi Dracorex5 , i too am currently a student of IT ( bsc IT ) . how should i put this [quote=Dracorex5 ]What do YOU think is the most vital park of computer hacking? [/quote] there are so many fields in hacking . it all comes down to your interest and what you want to do in future , and welcome to HT :D

JAYSSJ11- “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.”

Abhi
10 years ago

1

@Dracorex5 : A friend of mine who’s into Pentesting and Security Consultancy often tells me that excellent programming skills are a must for any pentester. So ,though there might be more important things needed ,stil I’d say , sharp programming skills are vital for this field !

“ENJOY LEARNING AS YOU HACK !! ”

dloser
10 years ago

1

The most important things are probably to be curious about everything and to be able to figure stuff out yourself. Every little thing that isn’t quite like expected but everyone else would just shrug at and ignore, that’s an opportunity to learn something. Realise when you are working on assumptions; make sure what you believe is actually true (check specs etc.).

Languages and tools aren’t that important. Use whichever languages work best for you, but don’t get too attached to anything. Making your own tools helps a lot too; both for learning and in being flexible.

And don’t forget that an essential part of it all is time (measured in years). Keep doing stuff and it will almost happen by itself.

There are some other posts here with similar questions that might have some useful insights as well. Easy starting point for more sites is wechall.net.

Good luck. ;)

incog
10 years ago

0

Hacking is not the same as pentesting. Pentesting is the equivalent of getting to stick the tip of your dick in a beautiful girl but not being allowed to cum. If you want to understand the differences I suggest you read the ‘line in the sand’ article in the latest issue of Phrack.

dloser
10 years ago

0

Hacking is not just what you appear to think it is or what that article is talking about. Also, if you want to make a sexual analogy, I think a better comparison is to say that pentesting is like consensual sex, while what you seem to call hacking is raping someone in their sleep.

incog
10 years ago

0

I’m not even going to get dragged into the tired semantic battle of the definition of hacking, point is its not the same thing as pentesting, so the OP shouldn’t expect the same thrill. That’s all.

dloser
10 years ago

0

Good, because there is no battle. Thank you for your insight.

incog
10 years ago

0

Herpa derp