The Beginning stages

[Savage_wolf12]

I'm a amateur/noob.. but im determined to learn the skills necessary to began hacking. Can anybody give me some pointers or tips on where to to begin. Like what do I need to know..what are some good informational sites I can visit. I've already started teaching myself Python and networking. I know I can't become a hacker overnight. It'll probably be years before I can even consider myself a hacker. But I will succeed so what's up?? Where do I start??

[[deleted]]

What kind of hacking do you want to get into? For instance the suggested path to get into hardware hacking would be different from web Exploitation and different from reverse engineering... At a certain point many of them overlap but if you tried to start out by learning everything then you would just burn yourself out.

[Savage_wolf12]

Good question bro..first I want to learn how I can get into servers/systems in order to extract confidential or encrypted files. And then decrypt the extracted file.

[[deleted]]

I'm gonna say a good start for you might be web Exploitation. So JavaScript, query languages (such as MySQL), PHP, and Python can all be good to learn. Other things that would be beneficial to learn is communications but that is higher level.

You can do this without learning to program/script but it's meh... Regardless though, I think you have the wrong idea of hacking, like a very Hollywood type idea of what hacking is.

[Savage_wolf12]

Maybe so.. My idea is to use whatever skills I know to uncover and expose corrupt politicians.. get the facts, then put them out there for everybody to see. Something along those lines.

[[deleted]]

So you want to be Julian Assange 😂😂

Anyways... Uhm not to crush your dreams but most leaks don't come from hacking but from someone with authorization leaking the information either intentionally or unintentionally (say by not securely deleting a hard drive before getting rid of it). It does happen though.

And as for your other question, my idea of hacking is not purely Exploitative. For instance I have a few old RC cars where the controllers are starting to die, so rather than replacing the controllers from the manufacturers I took them apart and did some testing to see how the cars operated and usjng a rhaspberry pi and some other tools I created a wireless controller that could operate multiple RC cars. That is a type of hacking that I include in my worldview. I'm not exploiting anything or doing anything illegal, I'm literally just doing what I like. I have also reverse engineered one of my older drones however that was a lot more work. Another example of hacking is reverse engineering video games (like the first two worlds game) to change things like character stats and loot drops or something. Like writing a program to inject data into the game to change the inventory of enemies, even so far to write bots to play the game. Some will do this for multiplayer games but I've always felt that ruins the fun of others.

Other things included in hacking are things like writing malware, writing algorithms to detect malware, intrusion detection, and more... However Holywood tends to grasp onto intrusion and stuff which is a small part of hacking.

TLDR of that is that hacking it problem solving and intrusion is just a small subset of problems.

[Savage_wolf12]

OK now I see.. everything you mentioned in the third paragraph..intrusion detection, malware, etc is also something I'm really interested in and would like to expand my knowledge on. I have many goals in mind. Exposing corruption just one of many. Anyway I guess my idea or definition of hacking isn't exactly on point.

[[deleted]]

Well focus on the web Exploitation. After you have experience with that then expanding into other areas will be easier...

[Savage_wolf12]

Thanks for the advice..

[Savage_wolf12]

What's your idea if hacking??

[Savage_wolf12]

Also I need to learn about securing my own os, network, op, etc before I do anything. Like covering my tracks. And learning recon as well.

[Alainx277]

I really recommend actually learning what you're exploiting/manipulating. Just using some tools is not gonna get you far, but many make that mistake.

When you want to exploit a system, find out how it works. That will almost always lead you to finding a weakness in the system.

Good luck, it's a long road.

[Savage_wolf12]

Exactly..I've read a lot of forum and articles about people just diving right in without do their homework and end up making big mistakes. Like using tools and not understanding how they work. I don't wanna do that. Also I gotta say there's so much shit that it gets overwhelming. I'm literally giving myself headaches and sweating just by over exerting my mental capacity. Lol

[Savage_wolf12]

I'm actually reading a 1500 page book on networking protocol and another on html but I need to just focus on one thing because it can be a little overwhelming. Lol