SignusX-1

The ideas from everyone else are great. Really what's essential to "hacking" is being curious, as Burncycle put it. I'd say, grasp 1-2 or more programming languages, I'd suggest C++, Python, or Perl, and I would at least make sure you understand some HTML and CSS, and maybe a little PHP (which I don't highly suggest). Then you need a good understanding of Linux, because most tools creating for exploitation are used in Linux, and one way that I learned a lot of reverse engineering was by taking any program in Linux that somebody else wrote, and reading the source code to understand how and why the program works. Source code is readily available for you to read on almost any program you'll find in Linux. Use the power of open source my friend. A good way to do get an understanding of Linux is to get VirtualBox, download a few distros, and try them out. This way you'll get a real feeling for what you like. Now I'd say you need a real grasp of TCP/IP and networking, which is not in my opinion complicated, but I learned TCP/IP flawlessly while working towards my Cisco CCNA certification, so yes, certifications are very helpful. Websites offer courses, Cisco has their "Net Academy", and Offensive Security has a nice program that will help you learn and utilize Backtrack and the programs it comes with. You'll also need a strong math foundation, and the ability to think logically. So I would say taking advanced Algebra or Calculus might be useful for problem solving for programs. It's great that you're interested in hacking, but the problem is that most "hackers" are self taught, usually with a few helpers, and are naturally curious. I don't think I've ever met a person who was taught out of a program on how to hack, because it requires so much of your time in learning and building that foundation, so usually hacking isn't a hobby, it's an occupation. So if you're wanting to learn how to hack because you might want to impress someone or damage a system, then hacking is not for you. There is too much learning involved for such shallow inspiration.

What motherboard and BIOS revision are you running? Also, are you using the USB ports on the motherboard or a USB hub?

I haven't been given administrator privileges. I've been given the freedom to freely exploit the network and report any vulnerabilities to the NOC. If I had administrator privileges, I wouldn't have this question, I would have already disabled access lists across the network, disabling any hardware from blocking my access to torrents. I wanted really to test any ways to get around hardware port blocking without an external tunnel, but I can probably manage a spare machine whenever I do go home, which means torrentless holidays. How sad. I know exactly what you mean. From "hacking" in video games to "hacking" a MySpace/Facebook. I'm really more of a hardware "hacker" but I've been in the software game a few years but really when it's software it's technically "cracking". Is that what you do? Pretty sad. I'm not a little kid who charges my mother's credit card. I pay for my own college, housing, etc. The reason I'm actually doing research over the holidays is for a pay incentive and a scholarship. I thought about Giganews at one point, and Diamond would be something I need but at $30 a month, I can't afford the expense, and I would rather not use the service than choke the bandwidth that I need for half the money.

From what I can tell, and what I've seen in the NOC, this University lacks an IDS. Granted I was given legal permission by the network administrator in the NOC to do exploitation like I explained, so if any noise came from my traffic he would have waived it if that is true, however I asked him to see if he noticed any of my traces around the network, and contact me, which he has yet to do. Even if there is an IDS I am at least legally permitted to do any exploitation. That's about all the creativity I've gotten out of this was that I need another machine, so if there aren't any other "clever" ideas, I'm sure this thread is done.

This is all blocked by hardware. The only way around this is a proxy, which does me no good. If you read the post, you would know that is exactly what I don't want to do. The reason being is that I will not be going home over the holidays to do some research, so to do that I would have to have someone set it up for me, and few of my friends are computer literate, so it's just ultimate fail. If I had access to another box outside of the network, there would be no problem, I would be done here, but I was looking for any extra ideas anybody had about how to torrent on the University network to get past hardware port blocking with some decent speeds.

Are you looking at something portable, minuscule, or massive? I don't have many ideas when it comes to anything generally small, but if you're looking at a larger build, some ideas can include a suitcase mod (more like a weapons case or a large tool chest), grill mod, or custom fabricated towers and all. I saw a sick mod about a year back of a guy who built a fully water cooled PC in his table, which had a glass covering.

Well I plan on setting up TorrentFlux if I get an external machine. However I'm still exploring some methods to get torrent traffic through on the network WITHOUT using a machine on another network.

Thanks I'll try out TorrentFlux and let you know if that worked. I am actually about to get a new wireless adapter, an Alfa b/g 1000mW adapter for my laptop. I can't reach any of the networks from my room, so I'm going to reach out and see if I can't get on my friend's apartment network, who happens to live about two blocks away, but my crappy Intel abgn chipset can hardly get a thing.

Well I'm sure it's the switches and routers stopping me. Both Cisco gear, so they have the ability to block certain port traffic, i.e. access lists, etc. I know it's basically impossible unless I have physical access to the network components, which I do not. The admin in the NOC specifically let me know he couldn't hand me passwords, but that what he doesn't know won't hurt, thus I can obtain them on my own, which I attempted with brute forcing and SNMP exploitation, etc. No luck really. So I was thinking along the lines of trying to mask torrent traffic as HTTP, FTP or SSH traffic, without the use of an external machine like I mentioned which is hard or nearly impossible at the least when I don't have another machine to point it to. I am forgetting another idea that I had, but certainly yes I am trying to do the torrenting myself.

I am actually very aware of the legality of the matter, however, I have some free playing grounds as a friend of mine is in the NOC, although he can't tell me how to torrent because even he doesn't know, he at least allowed me with the network administrator's permission, to do some exploitation. I wouldn't want to hog other people's bandwidth, but since I'll be one of the few people staying on campus during the holidays doing research, I can't imagine there being many other people to hog bandwidth from. The reason I asked was because I wanted to do some torrenting without an external connection to another computer, and I'm sure a friend of mine could allow me to VPN into a machine of theirs, but I was trying to scratch that method. I'll remember to post when I have legal permission next time.

Alright so I'm on a University network, and any method of torrenting that I know of requires a computer external to this network that I can VPN or SSH to, which I currently am lacking. I tried a few ways to get around the access lists on these routers, either by exploiting the IOS or brute forcing the router with known open services. No luck, the IOS was recently updated so I can't upload my own run-config, and my computer lacks sufficient power to brute force an alphanumeric 5-12char password in a time frame that I'm comfortable with. I currently am using a proxy, at least so I can get SOME torrenting done, which is a complete drag. If you get a max 7kB/s on a download and a simple music album takes a couple hours, it drives you mad. So really I'm looking for a way to get around the firewall/access lists on the network so that I may torrent at decent speeds without the use of an external machine. Any ideas would be great. Thanks.