Learn to hack

How can I learn how to hack?

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Harmless Hacking | How to be a Hacker

Yahoo! Internet Life
UPDATED March 30, 2000 2:42 PM PT

Guru,
How can I learn how to hack? I haven't found any books that teach you hacking.

ANSWER:
A hacker, in the word's purest original sense, was just someone who works on computers with gusto and a sense of exploration equal to Columbus. Lately, though, "hacking" has come to mean electronic trespassing and acting with malice online -- which is really cracking, not hacking. Which explains why you probably can't go to the Barnes & Nobles and ask for the latest Hacking for Dummies.
Hacking is learned by trial and error -- but it's difficult without anyone to guide you through pitfalls and obstacles. There are some superb online resources, though, that will act as a wise old Yoda to your greenhorn Luke. Let me stress from the start that we're not advocating any electronic trespassing or acts of malice but rather want to give you a sense of the hacker's ethos and how this pastime has developed.
Though you do have to register (it's free) to get in, The New York Times offers a "tour" of HackStock, the 1997 Hacking in Progress Festival, which took place in The Netherlands. The site contains articles including the history of hacking, its ethics, and current technical challenges (i.e., the New York City subway's Metrocard system).
If you're interested in checking out the exploits of the more mischievous of the hacker brood, check out the archive of famously hacked Web pages at Hacked. Included here are the famous security breaches at the Department of Justice and the CIA. (For a nervous laugh, check out the ValuJet hack. Take your Guru's word for it: you'll never fly again.) The archive is part of 2600 magazine, itself as important to the history of hacking as, say, the Declaration of Independence is to the American Revolution, but I don't want to exaggerate.
The other granddaddy of hacker zines, Phrack is a font of information about hackers and their communities. Phrack has been stirring up trouble -- as well as providing valuable information on operating systems, networking technologies, and all aspects of telephony -- since 1985. You'll find links and documents on its site that I'm sure you'll find invaluable.
But of course, just like The Force, there is a light side to hacking as well as a dark. Carolyn Meinel, editor and publisher of the Happy Hacker mailing list, believes there's such a thing as healthy hacking and advocates it mightily in her Happy Hacker mailings. You can subscribe to the Happy Hacker Digest by sending an e-mail to [email protected] with the message "subscribe". You can also check out her Happy Hacker Guides, and past Happy Hacker Digests on the Web.

Check out the following sites on hacking:The New York Times' HackStock, the 1997 Hacking in Progress Festival

Hacked

Phrack

Subscribe to the Happy Hacker Digest by sending e-mail to [email protected]

Happy Hacker Guides

past Happy Hacker Digests on the Web.