Learning to become hacker is not as easy as learning to become a
software developer. I realized this when I started looking for learning
resources for simple hacking people do. Even to start doing the simplest
hack on own, a hacker requires to have in depth knowledge of multiple
topics. Some people recommend minimum knowledge of few programming
languages like C, Python, HTML with Unix operating system concepts and
networking knowledge is required to start learning hacking techniques.
Though knowing a lot of things is required, it is not really enough
for you to be a competent and successful hacker. You must have a passion
and positive attitude towards problem solving. The security softwares
are constantly evolving and therefore you must keep learning new things
with a really fast pace.
If you are thinking about ethical hacking as a career option, you may
need to be prepared for a lot of hard/smart work. I hope these free
resources will help you speed up on your learning. If you decide you
pursue ethical hacking as a career option, you may also want to read
some
in depth ethical hacking books.
A lot of people (including me before doing research for this article)
think that they can become a hacker using some free hacking tools
available on web. Its true that some common types of hacking can be
easily done with help of tools, however doing it does not really make
you a hacker. A true hacker is the one who can find a vulnerability and
develop a tool to exploit and/or demonstrate it.
Hacking is not only about knowing “how things work”, but its about
knowing “why things work that way” and “how can we challenge it”.
Below are some really useful hacking tutorials and resources you may want to explore in your journey of learning to hack
Hacking For Dummies – Beginners Tutorials
These tutorials are not really simple for anyone who is just starting
to learn hacking techniques. However, these should be simple starting
point for you. I am sure you have different opinion about complexity of
each tutorial however advanced hacker are going to be calling this a job
of script kiddie (beginner hacker). Even to acquire the skills of a
script kiddie you need to have good understanding of computer
fundamentals and programming.
- Cybrary
– For those looking to learn ethical hacking skills online, Cybrary
provides the perfect platform to do so. Cybrary is a free online IT and
cyber security training network that provides instruction in the form of
self-paced, easy-to-follow videos. Featuring courses on topics such as
Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking, Advanced Penetration Testing,
Post Exploitation Hacking and Computer and Hacking Forensics, Cybrary
provides instruction from the beginner to the highly-advanced level of
hacking. Additionally, Cybrary offers supplemental study material along
with their courses free of charge. With their in-depth training videos
and study guides, Cybrary ensures that users develop the best hacking
skills.
- Hacking Tutorials for Beginners – By BreakTheSecurity.com
- How to learn Ethical hacking – By Astalavista.com
- Penetration Testing Tutorial – By Guru99.com
- Backtrack Penetration Testing Tutorial
- Introduction to Penetration Testing
- Information Gathering with Nmap
- Simple How To Articles By Open Web Application Security
- The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security
- Secure Design Principles
- 10 steps to secure software
Cryptography Related Tutorials
Cryptography is must know topic for any aspiring security
professional or a ethical hacker. You must understand how encryption and
decryption is done. You must understand why some of the old encryption
techniques do not work in modern computing world.
This is a important area and a lot of software programmers and
professional do not understand it very well. Learning cryptography
involves a lot of good understanding of mathematics, this means you also
need to have good fundamentals on discrete mathematics.
- Introduction to Public Key Cryptography
- Crypto Tutorial
- Introduction to Cryptography
- An Overview of Cryptography
- Cryptography Tutorials – Herong’s Tutorial Examples
- The Crypto Tutorial – Learn How to Keep Secret Secret
- Introduction to cryptology, Part 1: Basic Cryptology Concepts
Websites For Security Related Articles And News
These are some websites, that you may find useful to find hacking
related resources and articles. A lot of simple tricks and tips are
available for experimenting through these sites for improving yourself
to become advanced hacker.
In recent years, many people are aspiring to learn how to hack. With
growing interest in this area, a lot of different types of hacking
practices are evolving. With popularity of social networks many people
have inclined towards vulnerability in various social networks like
facebook, twitter, and myspace etc.
Continuous learning about latest security issues, news and
vulnerability reports are really important for any hacker or a security
professional. Some of the sites that keep publishing informative
articles and news are listed here.
- http://www.astalavista.com/
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/
- http://www.blackhat.com/
- http://www.metasploit.com/
- http://sectools.org/
- http://www.2600.com/
- DEF CON – Hacking conference
- http://www.breakthesecurity.com/
- http://www.hacking-tutorial.com/
- http://www.evilzone.org/
- http://hackaday.com/
- http://www.hitb.org/
- http://www.hackthissite.org/
- http://pentestmag.com
- http://www.securitytube.net/
- https://www.ssllabs.com/
EBooks And Whitepapers
Some of the research papers by security experts and gurus can provide
you a lot of information and inspiration. White papers can be really
difficult to read and understand therefore you may need to read them
multiple times. Once you understand the topic well, reading will become
much faster and you will be able to skim through a lot content in less
time.
- Handbook of Applied Cryptography
– This ebook contains some free chapter from one of the popular
cryptography books. The full book is also available on amazon at Cryptography Book.
- Network Penetration testing Guide
- How to hack anything in Java
- Mcafee on iPhone and iPad Security
- A Good Collection of White papers on security and vulnerabilities
– This site contains collection of white papers from different sources
and some of these white papers are really worth referring.
- Engineering Principles for Information Technology Security
- Basic Principles Of Information Protection
- Open Web Application Security Project – OWASP is one of the most popular sites that contains web application security related information .
Videos & Play Lists
Those who like to watch video tutorials, here are few I liked.
However there are many small video available on youtube. Feel free to
explore more and share with us if you like something.
- Cryptography Course By Dan Boneh Stanford University
- Open Security Training–
Youtube Playlist of More than 90 hours. I have found this to be the
biggest free training available for security related topic.
- OWASP AppSec USA 2011: Youtube Playlist containing compilation of OWASP conference highlight in 2011.
- Defcon: How I Met your Girlfriend
– Defcon is one of the most popular hacker conference. The presenters
in this conference are well know inside the hacking industry.
- Defcon: What happens when you steal a hackers computer
- Defcon: Nmap: Scanning the Internet
- Public Key Cryptography: Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange
- Web application Pen testing
- Intro to Scanning Nmap, Hping, Amap, TCPDump, Metasploit
Forums For Hackers And Security Professionals
Just like any other area, forums are really great help for learning
from other experts. Hundreds of security experts and ethical/non-ethical
hackers are willing to share their knowledge on forums for some reason.
Please keep in mind to do enough research before post a question and be
polite to people who take time to answer your question.
- Stackoverflow for security professionals
- http://darksat.x47.net/
- http://forums.securityinfowatch.com/
- http://forums.cnet.com/spyware-viruses-security-forum/
- http://www.hackforums.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=47
Vulnerability Databases And Resources
Vulnerability Databases are the first place to start your day as a
security professional. Any new vulnerability detection is generally
available through the public vulnerability databases. These databases
are a big source of information for hackers to be able to understand and
exploit/avoid/fix the vulnerability.
- http://www.exploit-db.com/
- http://1337day.com/
- http://securityvulns.com/
- http://www.securityfocus.com/
- http://www.osvdb.org/
- http://www.securiteam.com/
- http://secunia.com/advisories/
- http://insecure.org/sploits_all.html
- http://zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/published/
- http://nmrc.org/pub/index.html
- http://web.nvd.nist.gov
- http://www.vupen.com/english/security-advisories/
- http://www.vupen.com/blog/
- http://cvedetails.com/
- http://www.rapid7.com/vulndb/index.jsp
- http://oval.mitre.org/
Product Specific Vulnerability Information
Some of the very popular products in the world require a special
attention and therefore you may want to look at the specific security
websites directly from vendors. I have kept Linux. Microsoft and apache
in this list, however it may apply to any product you may be heavily
using.
- Red Hat Security and other updates Site
- Microsoft Products Security Bulletin
- Apache Foundation Products Security Repository
- Ubuntu Software Security Center
- Linux Security Repository
Tools And Programs For Hacking / Security
There are dozens of tools available for doing different types of
hacking and tests. Tools are really important to become more productive
at your work. Some of the very common tools that are used by hackers are
listed here. You may have different choice of tools based on your own
comfort.
- nmap
- NSS
- Hping
- TCPDump
- Metasploit
- Wireshark
- Network Stuff
- Nikto
Summary
I have tried to compile some of these resources for my own reference
for the journey of learning I am going to start. I am not even at a
beginner level of becoming hacker but the knowledge of this field really
fascinates me and keeps me motivated for learning more and more. I hope
will be able to become successful in this.
A lot of people use their knowledge skills for breaking stuff and
stealing. I personally think that doing harm to someone is a weak choice
and will not have a good ending. I would recommend not to use your
skills for any un-ethical endeavor. A single misuse of your skill may
jeopardize your career since most companies do a strict third party
background check before they hire a ethical hacker or a security
personal.
There are dozens of companies looking for ethical hackers and
security professionals. There are really good number of opportunities in
this area and its really niche compensation segment. You will be easily
able to get a decent job without even acquiring all the expert level
skills to become a pro hacker.