I have two recommendations that anyone with a CS degree or equivalent knowledge should be able to jump into with 0 other training, and come out with a solid und

I have two recommendations that anyone with a CS degree or equivalent knowledge should be able to jump into with 0 other training, and come out with a solid understanding of how to find vulnerabilities and exploit them. * Hacking: The Art Of Exploitation This is an excellent book. It's lab-oriented, so you will be getting hands-on experience with reverse engineering and exploiting software. And: http://opensecuritytraining.info/ http://opensecuritytraining.info/ They have a graph of classes somewhere, and you can see "Oh I want to get to advanced exploitation, what should I take?" and you just follow along. Start with intro to x86, intermediary x86, then move on to the software vulnerability classes, life of a binary, etc. Really, with only these skills alone, you can self-teach the rest of the way. There's a book called The Art Of Kernel Exploitation, if I'm remembering right, that would take you into a more advanced but more niche area, and it's really up to you where to go after you get the basis (just like with programming).