Hello all, foundation knowledge?

[The Stoned Wannabe]

Hi all,

I realise what is holding me back with learning the aspect of computer security I'm interested in;wireless security.

I lack foundation knowledge. I'm becoming a semi functional linux user now , being able to use and work out simple operating system problems and becoming clear with its interface (running kali among side my widows 8 to go.)

I need to educate my self of the basics of networking. What actually is a DNS? What are posts?

You hear about and use then all the time yet what actually are they?

How do they work, what is their purpose.

Could anyone recommend some videos or books highlighting basic networking features and their uses?

Thanks

The stoned wannabe

[cooper]

When it comes to DNS I'd actually have a look at Wikipedia first and then come back for further questions.

Best way to learn about networking I think is a combination of Google, Wikipedia and self-exploration and discovery.

For basic knowledge ("I don't care about the bits in a network packet, I just want to understand the concept") I would suggest that you first Google and Wikipedia the item of interest and if you want more detail have a look at the site of an open source implementation. They tend to be treasure troves of information about specific protocol issues and how they chose to deal with them.

When it comes to in-depth knowledge ("Why is bit 12 in this packet 1 and not 0?") the best tool to look at is Wireshark. It's by far the best packet sniffer around and does a great job of showing you just what is sent to and from your network card(s). You probably won't make any sense of it without the basic knowledge within your grasp.

[cooper]

I think to understand networking, you should read the following:

1. The Internet Protocol Suite where in particular the Abstraction Layers are important.

2. Ethernet - the lowest-level protocol that pretty much everything else you use today is built upon.

3. Internet Protocol, the IP in TCP/IP, which is 1 layer up from Ethernet and is, again, used by pretty much everything in use today.

4. Transmission Control Protocol, the TCP in TCP/IP, which is 1 layer up from IP and used by a vast majority of stuff in use today due to its reliable delivery.

5. User Datagram Protocol which is the non-reliable version of TCP. It's fire-and-forget, used when getting the next packet is more important than receiving the previous one. Commonly used in games and media streaming.

The vast, VAST majority of networking protocols (HTTP(S), DNS, FTP, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, etc) are built upon 4 of those 5 protocols. Understanding them is much simpler when you know about the underlying stuff.

[The Stoned Wannabe]

When it comes to DNS I'd actually have a look at Wikipedia first and then come back for further questions.

Best way to learn about networking I think is a combination of Google, Wikipedia and self-exploration and discovery.

For basic knowledge ("I don't care about the bits in a network packet, I just want to understand the concept") I would suggest that you first Google and Wikipedia the item of interest and if you want more detail have a look at the site of an open source implementation. They tend to be treasure troves of information about specific protocol issues and how they chose to deal with them.

When it comes to in-depth knowledge ("Why is bit 12 in this packet 1 and not 0?") the best tool to look at is Wireshark. It's by far the best packet sniffer around and does a great job of showing you just what is sent to and from your network card(s). You probably won't make any sense of it without the basic knowledge within your grasp.

When it comes to DNS I'd actually have a look at Wikipedia first and then come back for further questions.

Best way to learn about networking I think is a combination of Google, Wikipedia and self-exploration and discovery.

For basic knowledge ("I don't care about the bits in a network packet, I just want to understand the concept") I would suggest that you first Google and Wikipedia the item of interest and if you want more detail have a look at the site of an open source implementation. They tend to be treasure troves of information about specific protocolt issues and how they chose to deal with them.

When it comes to in-depth knowledge ("Why is bit 12 in this packet 1 and not 0?") the best tool to look at is Wireshark. It's by far the best packet sniffer around and does a great job of showing you just what is sent to and from your network card(s). You probably won't make any sense of it without the basic knowledge within your grasp.

Thank you for the guidance. I use wire shark at the moment to pentest my router and have managed to use SSLStrio and ettercap cap. But like you said, I need to grasp the foundation knowledge which is what I'm going to do.

[The Stoned Wannabe]

I think to understand networking, you should read the following:

1. The Internet Protocol Suite where in particular the Abstraction Layers are important.

2. Ethernet - the lowest-level protocol that pretty much everything else you use today is built upon.

3. Internet Protocol, the IP in TCP/IP, which is 1 layer up from Ethernet and is, again, used by pretty much everything in use today.

4. Transmission Control Protocol, the TCP in TCP/IP, which is 1 layer up from IP and used by a vast majority of stuff in use today due to its reliable delivery.

5. User Datagram Protocol which is the non-reliable version of TCP. It's fire-and-forget, used when getting the next packet is more important than receiving the previous one. Commonly used in games and media streaming.

The vast, VAST majority of networking protocols (HTTP(S), DNS, FTP, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, etc) are built upon 4 of those 5 protocols. Understanding them is much simpler when you know about the underlying stuff.

Thank you! Brilliant sources, appreciate this very much!

[Guest spazi]

A good book to get you started on hacking WiFi is "Backtrack 5: Wireless penetration testing Beginner's guide"

It's written for Backtrack, but it should fit Kali Linux too.