[Newbies] Where To Start "Hacking"?

Where To Start "Hacking"?

Many new people arrive here on HF every day, looking for something to start with. Even though most people help out, they are still lost, this results in multiple threads that block everything else up on the Beginner Section.

So let's start with the definition of "hack" and "hacker":

+ Hacker - A person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data.

+ Hack - To gain unauthorized access to data in a system or computer.

The definition of hack is what many newbies have in mind instantly, but should they really stick to this?

What Are Other Ways To Learn, Besides HF?

I would say Codecademy, however as far as coding your own tools and such, Codecademy has limited use.

YouTube is a great way to have specific tools set up, learn the usage of these and how it actually works. I wouldn't recommend downloading directly from links off of YouTube, as many people use it to spread RAT's.

Some may disagree here, but plainly searching Google is helpful for learning the basics! There is a huge amount of blogs around that teach you how to hack.

Programming Languages!

People say Python is the best language to learn, this can be taken both ways. Yes, Python is good for the absolute Beginner. Many tools included in Kali Linux, named the best penetration testing OS and a better BackTrack, were programmed in Python. SQLmap is a brilliant example of this! However, Python is not that good for anything Web-Based. HTML, CSS and Javascript are the main programming languages for this. Python would be more software based. Creating the more advanced tools requires a language such as C++, C# or VB.NET.

Extra Points & Tips

+ Read books. Reading is fundamental. Not everything is covered in videos and not everything that is worth to be known is covered and everything that is unnecessary is taught.

+Learn networking. Just by knowing web design you won't learn TCP/IP, sockets, UDIP/IP, Mac Address etc.

+Don't be a script kiddy : Start learning languages like C/C++. In fact I recommend learning C before any other language.

+Don't tell you are a "hacker" while you are still a student : If you pretend to be Anonymous/[censored]/AntiSec/AnonGhost/SEA just because you like that particular group over a damn social network. Stay behind the source code. You'll earn some respect only if you know your shit.

+Use your knowledge for the good of mankind, perhaps ethical hacking. Being a black-hat criminal will not get you anywhere. It'll just prevent you from sleeping at night. Remember that there's still humanity left, so thence you actually learnt what you know.

Hope this helped many of you.

[Newbies] Where To Start "Hacking"?