Livehacking Book And Website

[The Hackster]

Hello,

My name is Mike and I've been watching the Hak5 for about 2 seasons and think it's a great show. I have a couple questions about how to become an ethical hacker. I found the site LiveHacking.com and it seems to have good info as far as i can tell. It even has its own distribution with tools. Are these good places to start learning about Hacking?

I also learned about the backtrack 4 dist. through Hak 5. Is it possible to do everything that is on the Livehacking CD in Backtrack? I am also wondering if there is a good book on the OS. There is formal training but i don't have the money to put down for it. Any advice and help would be great. Please, don't limit advice to these Distros. I'm really eager to get started, but have no clue about the best way to it.

Mike ^_^

[Mr-Protocol]

Take some linux courses at a college if they offer any. Or start google and learning about linux if you wish to go that route.

Pretty much to be a real ethical hacker as a profession you need to go to school for it.

Keep in mind.

http://www.hak5.org/backstage/hackers-versus-cyber-criminals

Hacking is just an extra knowledge of knowing exactly how things work and how to make them do what you want.

I think "Ethical Hacker" and Pen-Tester are closely related.

Edited August 2, 2010 by Mr-Protocol

[Infiltrator]

I think to become a Hacker, you have to have dedication, time and patience to learn new things. As MrProtocol pointed out, you should take some Linux courses.

Use Google for searching for things you don't know and buy good books, that way you can increase your knowledge.

I know of a few places where you can start learning as well.

http://securitytube.net/Security-Tools-Video-List.aspx

http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/metasploit-class

[H@L0_F00]

Truthfully, my advice to you is to not take college courses or buy books. Everything they can teach you and so much more is freely and legitimately available all over the internet.

Don't just google "hacking," "how to hack," etc... think of something you might like to do/attempt, and google THAT specifically.

Have questions? Questions are great, and, in my opinion, a core part of what "defines" a hacker.

As long as you attempt your own research and ask the queation(s) the right way, 99% of people will gladly help you.

I already like you, due to the way your formulated your first question/post, so go ahead and PM me if you'd like and I will help you to the best of my ability.

[moonlit]

Do stuff, learn stuff, experiment, explore, play around, theory is all fair and well but experience is better.

[BattZ]

I recently graduated from college in computer science, and I realized this might be something I want to get into. So I recently got together some old computers, put the best old stuff I had in them, and turned them into virtual machine servers, each running 2-3 VM's (server 2003, xp sp1, sp2, sp3(though the sp1 install has issues in VM for some reason)) and my main computer running a VM of backtrack 4. Networked them all together with my linksys router i recently replaced, now I got my own virtual network. I can't really damage anything on the OS's, and anything that is irreversible I can just roll back to a fresh install screenshot. I have learned a ton just playing around with this and watching videos.

The search function on the backtrack forums is also priceless FYI.

[Infiltrator]

I guess that's the only true way for you to really learn about something, breaking, experimenting, exploring and practicing. That's how you gain valuable experience and if you not sure about something, you can always hit us at hak5.org/forums with a question and we will be more than happy to assist you.

[The Hackster]

I think to become a Hacker, you have to have dedication, time and patience to learn new things. As MrProtocol pointed out, you should take some Linux courses.

Use Google for searching for things you don't know and buy good books, that way you can increase your knowledge.

I know of a few places where you can start learning as well.

http://securitytube.net/Security-Tools-Video-List.aspx

http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/metasploit-class

Thank you for the reply, i will check these websites out soon. :)

[The Hackster]

Truthfully, my advice to you is to not take college courses or buy books. Everything they can teach you and so much more is freely and legitimately available all over the internet.

Don't just google "hacking," "how to hack," etc... think of something you might like to do/attempt, and google THAT specifically.

Have questions? Questions are great, and, in my opinion, a core part of what "defines" a hacker.

As long as you attempt your own research and ask the queation(s) the right way, 99% of people will gladly help you.

I already like you, due to the way your formulated your first question/post, so go ahead and PM me if you'd like and I will help you to the best of my ability.

I appreciate the offer. I did read the disclaimer and tried to stay on track with it. I will PM you tonight :D