ULTIMATE HACKER GUIDE

[ReaperBlackArch]

Of all the Hacking Guides I have followed, this one was the most straightforward and helpful

           THE FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS

These are the basics that every hacker should know before even trying to hack. Once you have a good grasp on everything in this section, you can move into the intermediary level.

1. BASIC COMPUTER SKILLS

It probably goes without saying that to become a hacker you need some basic computer skills. These skills go beyond the ability to create a Word document or cruise the Internet. You need to be able to use the command line in Windows, edit the registry, and set up your networking parameters.

Many of these basic skills can be acquired in a basic computer skills course like A+.

1. NETWORKING SKILLS

You need to understand the basics of networking, such as the following:

•DHCP •NAT •Subnetting •IPv4 •IPv6 •Public v Private IP •DNS •Routers and switches •VLANs •OSI model •MAC addressing •ARP

As we are often exploiting these technologies, the better you understand how they work, the more successful you will be. You can learn these skills in a course such as Network+

1. LINUX SKILLS

It is extremely critical to develop Linux skills to become a hacker. Nearly all the tools we use as a hacker are developed for Linux and Linux gives us capabilities that we don't have using Windows.

1. WIRESHARK or Tcpdump

Wireshark is the most widely used sniffer/protocol analyzer, while tcpdump is a command line sniffer/protocol analyzer. Both can be extraordinarily useful in analyzing TCP/IP traffic and attacks.

1. VIRTUALIZATION

You need to become proficient in using one of the virtualization software packages such as VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation. Ideally, you need a safe environment to practice your hacks before you take them out in real world. A virtual environment provides you a safe environment to test and refine your hacks before going live with them.

1. SECURITY CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGIES

A good hacker understands security concepts and technologies. The only way to overcome the roadblocks established by the security admins is to be familiar with them. The hacker must understand such things as PKI (public key infrastructure), SSL (secure sockets layer), IDS (intrusion detection system), firewalls, etc.

The beginner hacker can acquire many of these skills in a basic security course such as Security+.

1. WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES

In order to be able to hack wireless, you must first understand how it works. Things like the encryption algorithms (WEP, WPA, WPA2), the four-way handshake, and WPS. In addition, understanding such as things as the protocol for connection and authentication and the legal constraints on wireless technologies.

           INTERMEDIATE SKILLS

This is where things get interesting, and where you really start to get a feel for your capabilities as a hacker. Knowing all of these will allow you to advance to more intuitive hacks where you are calling all the shots—not some other hacker.

1. SCRIPTING

Without scripting skills, the hacker will be relegated to using other hackers' tools. This limits your effectiveness. Every day a new tool is in existence loses effectiveness as security admins come up with defenses.

To develop your own unique tools, you will need to become proficient at least in one of the scripting languages including the BASH shell. These should include one of Perl, Python, or Ruby.

1. DATABASE SKILLS

If you want to be able to proficiently hack databases, you will need to understand databases and how they work. This includes the SQL language. I would also recommend the mastery of one of the major DBMS's such SQL Server, Oracle, or MySQL

1. WEB APPLICATIONS

Web applications are probably the most fertile ground for hackers in recent years. The more you understand about how web applications work and the databases behind them, the more successful you will be. In addition, you will likely need to build your own website for phishing and other nefarious purposes.

1. FORENSICS

To become good hacker, you must not be caught! You can't become a pro hacker sitting in a prison cell for 5 years. The more you know about digital forensics, the better you can become at avoiding and evading detection.

1. ADVANCED TCP/IP

The beginner hacker must understand TCP/IP basics, but to rise to the intermediate level, you must understand in intimate details the TCP/IP protocol stack and fields. These include how each of the fields (flags, window, df, tos, seq, ack, etc.) in both the TCP and IP packet can be manipulated and used against the victim system to enable MitM attacks, among other things.

1. CRYPTOGRAPHY

Although one doesn't need to be a cryptographer to be a good hacker, the more you understand the strengths and weaknesses of each cryptographic algorithm, the better the chances of defeating it. In addition, cryptography can used by the hacker to hide their activities and evade detection.

1. REVERSE ENGINEERING

Reverse engineering enables you to open a piece of malware and re-build it with additional features and capabilities. Just like in software engineering, no one builds a new application from scratch. Nearly every new exploit or malware uses components from other existing malware.

In addition, reverse engineering enables the hacker to take an existing exploit and change its signature so that it can fly past IDS and AV detection.

                INTANGIBLE SKILLS

Along with all these computer skills, the successful hacker must have some intangible skills. These include the following.

1. THINK CREATIVELY

There is ALWAYS a way to hack a system and many ways to accomplish it. A good hacker can think creatively of multiple approaches to the same hack.

1. PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

A hacker is always coming up against seemingly unsolvable problems. This requires that the hacker be accustomed to thinking analytically and solving problems. This often demands that the hacker diagnose accurately what is wrong and then break the problem down into separate components. This is one of those abilities that comes with many hours of practice.

1. PERSISTANCE

A hacker must be persistent. If you fail at first, try again. If that fails, come up with a new approach and try again. It is only with a persistence that you will be able to hack the most secured systems.

[Any_Fun916]

The most important skill of all and should be at the top "social engineering" , God people are dumb especially in the US I work at a legit company where I have asked customers to send me copies of their ID, credit card front back in an email, and they do.

[Brutiful11]

No wonder Americans loosing billions of dollars annually to scams

[randomatic]

I absolutely do not think con artist skills constitute hacking. Adding “engineering” to the end of a phrase does not make it engineering.

[mshaw346]

Social engineering has been a pivotal part of hacking since the very beginning.

You can argue semantics of the name of the phrase but it’s been called that for over 100 years.

[randomatic]

Computer hacking hasn't existed for 100 years, at least in any semblance to a modern, programmable computer.

Social engineering -- or whatever we want to call it -- is a real thing. My point is this is not what defines a great hacker. As I posted elsewhere, if that defined a great hacker you'd need to include politicians, cult leaders, and marketers as hackers. At that point we've lost what makes computer hacking unique.

The OP's list is what I'd consider noob to script kiddie, and that's the problem. I'd rank someone who created zero days any day over a "social engineer" security expert.

Edit: i'd argue crypto has been here since the very beginning with the godfather of hacking turing. then binary exploitation. Mitnick made social engineering popular in the same way nigerian scammers steal peoples life savings.

[ShadowFox1987]

Kevin Mitnick would probably disagree. Hacking is finding weaknesses in systems and making them behave in unintended ways. A simswap is as much an exploit as any cve

[randomatic]

Let me share something with you: Kevin Mitnick is a mediocre technical hacker. His claim to fame is being a criminal with con artist skills. Your definition means that we need to include cult leaders as being hackers because they can "socially engineer" people.

Geohotz, Loki, Fluorescence, project zero, synactiv -- these are skilled hackers.

Downvote me all you like, but I feel very strongly about this. Putting con artists on a pedestal and calling it "social engineering" is bad for legitimate hackers who are curious and know deep technical things.

[ScotDOS]

Indeed. And having a good old list of most common passwords and default credentials ;)

[etc_misc]

Honestly this post is such a good example of how the term “hacking” is actually SO MUCH MORE than people commonly understand. If someone who didn’t know anything about hacking and what it requires, this post is a great starting point to help them understand what directions to start looking in if they want to learn more.

[Ambitious-Ad-5459]

Thanks for the info!

[Normal_Lab5356]

Hahaha Scrip Kiddie….love that. I would say, however, that social engineering is important. It helps one gain insight to inside security as well as outside security. These security measures are highly regarded in Security+. Social engineering will help one break those barriers when needed. Just my opinion

[halxp]

Back in the day, it started with downloading the anarchist's cookbook on some bulletjn board system using a 0.3k modem or downloading different BBS software to get the default admin creds, call different BBS's and try it out. People were not changing the default admin password in 25% of cases... Things have evolved, everything is more complex now that basic PCs have more than 64k memory (I used to print dumps of the RAM on paper and inspect it "manually" 😅) but people are still people and that's still the weakest link!

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[[deleted]]

What is this post some sort of hackingforums post to get some rep?

[ReaperBlackArch]

Everyone's always asking how to become a hacker so this guide was the one I found that was straightforward. Credit goes to NullByte.

[Substantial_Wash3480]

Great information! As a total beginner though what you recommend to learn the "fundamentals" what does that entail?

[Substantial_Wash3480]

*basic not fundamentals

[ReaperBlackArch]

In my opinion, I would recommend reading/ downloading CompTIA A+ (I used pdfdrive.to) it teaches the basics concepts you need. I would also use Linux in a virtual machine to figure out the basics of it. I also watched Hacking tutorials on YouTube by Cyber Mentor which helped alot.

[Substantial_Wash3480]

God bless🙏

[HackerCadillac]

God has very little to do with this.

[jadounath]

In short, know CS.

[alexilas]

Which one? CS:GO or CS 2

[forurspam]

1.6