Mampt0n

Wugfresh toolkit is a sweet GUI that grabs images and dependencies and lets you flash with or without root.

Saw an excellent talk on this topic the other day which I would copy closely As Cooper says, the important thing is to play carrot, not stick. You should be continually encouraging and helpful rather than just bemoan the people who will always click the link because the subject says "free".

Also check out the boxes on VulnHub, there are several web application based ones of varying degrees of difficult, all for free!

Armitage is a good shout. Maybe try Nessus as well? Great advice from Cooper

Oh man I only just spotted this thread and heard about SteelCon, HOURS after I've booked a holiday over the same dates. And it would've been so handy to pop over from Manchester. Ah well, there's always next year! Any other decent cons in the UK? Have considered DerbyCon and Shmoo in the past but it always works out so pricey with flights and hotels. Plus like you guys said, it sounds a little lonely when none of your friends are interested in coming..

Another point on your original post, I think anyone would struggle to get the information from a Telco unless law enforcement were the ones who found the bug and it had proper chain of custody, criminal investigation etc. Otherwise it would just be an irate IT manager demanding private customer info from a Telco based only his say so that it was related to illegal hacking. If the Telco distributed that info without a court order or police involvement, you could sue them blind!

I've always found a degree more proves your willingness to learn and demonstrates your desire to better yourself. I have a degree completely unrelated to my job in IT, that got me in the door to the interview and discussions about my experience and passion is what actually secured the job. So having certifications will hopefully do the same thing for you, and your personal projects will get you the rest of the way. Good luck

May I recommend HashcatGUI? It's a frontend for oclHashcat produced by the guys on the Hashkiller forums. Very useful, especially when learning and trying to get your head around rules, masks etc http://www.hashkiller.co.uk/hashcat-gui.aspx