How to Get started with Hacking?

Today, we are going to discuss about a very Interesting and a Frequently asked Question related to Hacking.

We get a hell lot of questions like “Where do I start with Hacking?” , “How can I get started with Hacking?” and “Where to start with Hacking” .

Today, we will answer this question right here. So, tighten your seat belts as here we go!

Where to start with Hacking?

I have seen a lot of members asking for a tutorial on “where to begin with hacking”. So here is my opinion about how they should get around starting. But First of all, let’s discuss about the types of Hacker.
Types of Hacker:-

There are generally 3 types of skilled Hackers:

• White Hat Hackers
• Black Hat Hackers
• Gray Hat Hackers

White Hat Hackers:- White Hat Hackers are people who hack into systems or networks for betterment of their computers. They don’t do it with unethical intentions, instead they do it so that they can know the way other hackers can do, and then they fix the security hole, if there is any. White hat hackers are mostly security experts. They are usually hired by companies to test the company’s computers security. Bounty Hunters and Penetration testers are other names of White Hat hackers.

Black Hat Hackers:- Black Hat Hackers are totally opposite to white hat hackers. They hold unethical intentions and break into computers or networks for their own taste. Black hat hackers are also known as crackers. These types of hackers continuously keep an eye on victim computer’s vulnerability, as soon as they find it, they break into it for malicious intentions. These types of hackers are engaged in almost all types of cyber crimes, such as ID theft, money stealing from Credit Cards, piracy of paid content and so on. They can use malicious websites and malicious softwares to start their journey in victim’s network.

Gray Hat Hackers:- Gray Hat Hackers have both White hat and Black hat hacker’s habits. They surf the internet and look for a vulnerable computer system, network or phone system. Once they find one, they hack into it and inform the administrator what or how they have done it. They usually charge a small fee to fix the vulnerability. That’s why they are White Hat hackers too. But they do it all without any permission from owner of website, computer or network, this way they are black hat hackers.
Where to start?

Now, let’s move to the actual question “Where to start with Hacking”. You should know the answer to these questions before you start your hacking career:

• Which type of hacker do you want to be (White Hat, Black Hat or Gray Hat)?
• Which type of hacking do you want to work with (Website Hacking, System Exploits, Penetration Testing etc.)?
• What is your end-goal?

You must meet these requirements to become a successful Hacker:

• You should be patient.
• You should dedicate a lot of time to Hacking. You should never stop learning, since Hacking is a lifestyle.
• You should be interested in how the different computer systems works, and how to control them.

Now when you have an idea of what kind of hacker you want to be, we will look closer into the different topics you can work with as a Hacker.

Website Hacking:- You might have already guessed it that Website Hacking is about hacking websites. You have to use your skills to find exploits and vulnerabilities in websites and web applications. Almost all major hacking stories in the news are about websites and databases that have been hacked. Once you have enough experience in website security, you will be amazed about how easy it is to find vulnerabilities in websites. However, it will take a lot of effort and time to reach that level of skills. You will need to know a large amount of server-side languages and Web Development languages/technologies like HTML, PHP, JavaScript, SQL, Ruby. These are just some of the languages you should know about. I will recommend you to take JavaScript, SQL and PHP very serious since mostly the websites are using PHP & MYSQL at Server-side and in these languages you will find the most vulnerabilities.

Code Exploiting:- Not many people know about this. This will require you to be a complete expert at programming. You should be at least as good at these programming languages as your mother tongue like English. This kind of Hacking will take a lot of time, and will require you to be patient. Do not get me wrong, every company that releases software like Symantec, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and Oracle have hackers with these skills employed to check their software for vulnerabilities. Sadly, they cannot find every security hole and therefore some very smart black hat hackers are able to find them, and exploit them before the companies get the vulnerability patched. You should know the most popular languages like C/C++ and Java, etc.

Penetration Testing and Forensics:- Penetration Testing and Computer Forensics can earn you big money. It is these guys whom the company calls when they have been hacked. They are experts in operating systems, wireless connections and exploiting computers. This way will take a lot of time and effort since there is so much you should know about. You shall know about how the different operating systems works, which bug is there, how to exploit them, routers, encryption, malware etc. The list is almost endless.

Computer Security:- The work these people do looks a lot like the Penetration Testers. These people are able to detect and analyse new viruses and malware. They are working for companies like Symantec, KasperSky and Avira etc. Some of them are also working on labs that tests Antivirus and new viruses. They are experts in how viruses works and how they infect systems.