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If you need to ask How to Become a Hacker, you are not going to be one. It all depends on your personal curiosity, either you have it or you don't. PS: Found 0

by hummel 6y ago

If you need to ask How to Become a Hacker, you are not going to be one. It all depends on your personal curiosity, either you have it or you don't. PS: Found 0day on Paypal when I was 12 in the early '00s, never got paid or recognized for it :(

elsjaako 6y ago
There is a certain kind of person that will become some kind of hacker no matter what, but with advice and guidance they will get a lot further than without.
- wiz21c 6y ago
  Definitely. I had an hacker's mind from age 0. Mind you, I felt in love with hackers of my time when I was 12 years old. But unfortunately, I had to learn by myself. I didn't have a mentor around me (and my parents could not keep up) for a number of years. Eventually, I ended in the demo scene and there I found a bit of help. It took me so much time. And when I compare to other hackers who had friends in the business, they just learned faster than me :-( So, even though it sounds obvious : the number one priority is meeting other people, sharing information. Social skills are sooo important if you're not an absolute genius...
- neatze 6y ago
  personally, I think it is false to think about skills as linear model, it is more inverse exponential model a like. In another words, what I am trying to is that; if you have sustained environment, discipline, and some luck, it is straight forward to become worst of the best. How fast you get there will depend to some extent of advice and guidance, but one has ask self; does he want to become in shortest time worst of the best or become worst of the best no matter what.
lvice 6y ago
Surely if someone is interested in the topic of "how to become a hacker", it shows the kind of curiosity that you are talking about. PS: Congratulations? How is this relevant, gate-keeping aside?
5m17h 6y ago
You mean you have to acquire the ability to actively collect and discriminate?
viraptor 6y ago
I think this is phrased wrong. I get what you mean, but this is just gate keeping. First, what do you even mean by hacker? There are many ways to describe this. Sure, if you mean the creativity, bending the rules of what's possible, general interest in discovery... that's traits people have in the first place before being called hackers. But that's not the only way.
- whynotminot 6y ago
  I find gatekeeping in the hacker world to be some of the worst in tech. There's a strong "if you can't figure it out on your own you're too stupid to help" vibe to it, while the rest of the dev world has actually made some decent strides toward valuing inclusion and education.
  - vertex-four 6y ago
    I find that this is largely the American hacker community - European hackers, and especially Germans, tend to be incredibly supportive of people with the drive to learn. They also tend to expand their hacker mindset to things other than computers - wherever there's a complex system, they're critical of it, enjoy learning how it works, learning how to break it and bend it.
nuclearnice1 6y ago
Note the article is about a different and older definition of hacker than you seem to be using. From the ESR article linked: “The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.”
mettamage 6y ago
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I normally don't call people out on this as we are human and we need wiggle room for conversation and the formulation of opinions. Plus, everyone is guilty of this, me included. In fact, the previous statement is me doing it as well. We are human after all. But I do tend to call people out on this when people stifle curiosity with these type of claims. Knowing myself, I know that 10 years ago I might've taken your advice to heart as I didn't know any better. I know that I've done this in other areas of my life and it has had a negative impact. So I am here to produce a counter voice loudly proclaiming that one should be very sceptical about taking your opinion to heart. Some people claim God exists. And I therefore should live quite differently than I am right now. I require extraordinary evidence. Some people claim that you can't become a hacker if you need to ask it. I require extraordinary evidence. In spirit of my sentiment, I'm going to give you a counterexample. I'm the counterexample. Step 1: Go to http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html Step 2: Complete Binary and Malware Analysis at the Vrije Universiteit Step 3: Complete Computer and Network Security at the Vrije Universiteit Step 4: Complete Hardware Security at the Vrije Universiteit Step 4b (bonus, I mean, you're there now anyway): Complete Kernel Programming at the Vrije Universiteit Step 5: Go to https://hackthebox.eu https://hackthebox.eu, hack at least 1 easy, 1 medium, 1 hard and -- for good measure -- 1 insane box Congratulations, you are now a hacker in every sense of the word: 1. You broke into computer systems. 2. You needed to be curious in order to do it. If you think this is my whole path then that's not true. This is simply the happy path that I uncovered. It's not optimal, but it works. It might not work for everyone, but I'm sure it will work for more people than just me. I am now a hacker. And I'm sure there are more counter examples stemming from the VUSec group that started hacking real machines after that. That's my evidence. I don't expect that you have enough evidence as your position is much tougher and I wouldn't even know how to begin on starting an argument that does. My point simply is: please be a bit careful about the accuracy of your statements if it implies negative consequences. Inconvenient truths are fine, but simply opinions without any backing that leads to something negative really feels disheartening to read. Note: I didn't downvote. I don't think you had any ill intentions. And you do provide your actual view in a succinct manner (something I could learn from O:) ). And that's what discussion is all about, albeit a bit rough at times, perhaps.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jtaft 6y ago
This is quite false! The mere fact that someone asks how to be a hacker shows they are curious. A true hacker asks a lot of questions. Lots and lots of questions. The longer you hack, the more obscure, interesting, and fascinating the questions become. In fact, a key part of becoming a hacker is figuring out the right questions to ask. You learn to do so by asking the wrong questions. As you gain experience, revisiting old questions can lead to beautiful solutions. Another important aspect of being a hacker is sharing knowledge! Hacking is about learning. A lot of what I learned is from reading what others have wrote. Also by failing and experimenting. When I was a kid, I did ask my friends "how do i become a hacker" and "how do I hack". I'm glad I did, because I've been enjoying the journey ever since.

by hummel 6y ago

elsjaako 6y ago

There is a certain kind of person that will become some kind of hacker no matter what, but with advice and guidance they will get a lot further than without.

wiz21c 6y ago
Definitely. I had an hacker's mind from age 0. Mind you, I felt in love with hackers of my time when I was 12 years old. But unfortunately, I had to learn by myself. I didn't have a mentor around me (and my parents could not keep up) for a number of years. Eventually, I ended in the demo scene and there I found a bit of help. It took me so much time. And when I compare to other hackers who had friends in the business, they just learned faster than me :-( So, even though it sounds obvious : the number one priority is meeting other people, sharing information. Social skills are sooo important if you're not an absolute genius...
neatze 6y ago
personally, I think it is false to think about skills as linear model, it is more inverse exponential model a like. In another words, what I am trying to is that; if you have sustained environment, discipline, and some luck, it is straight forward to become worst of the best. How fast you get there will depend to some extent of advice and guidance, but one has ask self; does he want to become in shortest time worst of the best or become worst of the best no matter what.

lvice 6y ago

Surely if someone is interested in the topic of "how to become a hacker", it shows the kind of curiosity that you are talking about. PS: Congratulations? How is this relevant, gate-keeping aside?

5m17h 6y ago

You mean you have to acquire the ability to actively collect and discriminate?

viraptor 6y ago

I think this is phrased wrong. I get what you mean, but this is just gate keeping. First, what do you even mean by hacker? There are many ways to describe this. Sure, if you mean the creativity, bending the rules of what's possible, general interest in discovery... that's traits people have in the first place before being called hackers. But that's not the only way.

whynotminot 6y ago
I find gatekeeping in the hacker world to be some of the worst in tech. There's a strong "if you can't figure it out on your own you're too stupid to help" vibe to it, while the rest of the dev world has actually made some decent strides toward valuing inclusion and education.
- vertex-four 6y ago
  I find that this is largely the American hacker community - European hackers, and especially Germans, tend to be incredibly supportive of people with the drive to learn. They also tend to expand their hacker mindset to things other than computers - wherever there's a complex system, they're critical of it, enjoy learning how it works, learning how to break it and bend it.

nuclearnice1 6y ago

Note the article is about a different and older definition of hacker than you seem to be using. From the ESR article linked: “The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.”

mettamage 6y ago

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I normally don't call people out on this as we are human and we need wiggle room for conversation and the formulation of opinions. Plus, everyone is guilty of this, me included. In fact, the previous statement is me doing it as well. We are human after all. But I do tend to call people out on this when people stifle curiosity with these type of claims. Knowing myself, I know that 10 years ago I might've taken your advice to heart as I didn't know any better. I know that I've done this in other areas of my life and it has had a negative impact. So I am here to produce a counter voice loudly proclaiming that one should be very sceptical about taking your opinion to heart. Some people claim God exists. And I therefore should live quite differently than I am right now. I require extraordinary evidence. Some people claim that you can't become a hacker if you need to ask it. I require extraordinary evidence. In spirit of my sentiment, I'm going to give you a counterexample. I'm the counterexample. Step 1: Go to http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html Step 2: Complete Binary and Malware Analysis at the Vrije Universiteit Step 3: Complete Computer and Network Security at the Vrije Universiteit Step 4: Complete Hardware Security at the Vrije Universiteit Step 4b (bonus, I mean, you're there now anyway): Complete Kernel Programming at the Vrije Universiteit Step 5: Go to https://hackthebox.eu https://hackthebox.eu, hack at least 1 easy, 1 medium, 1 hard and -- for good measure -- 1 insane box Congratulations, you are now a hacker in every sense of the word: 1. You broke into computer systems. 2. You needed to be curious in order to do it. If you think this is my whole path then that's not true. This is simply the happy path that I uncovered. It's not optimal, but it works. It might not work for everyone, but I'm sure it will work for more people than just me. I am now a hacker. And I'm sure there are more counter examples stemming from the VUSec group that started hacking real machines after that. That's my evidence. I don't expect that you have enough evidence as your position is much tougher and I wouldn't even know how to begin on starting an argument that does. My point simply is: please be a bit careful about the accuracy of your statements if it implies negative consequences. Inconvenient truths are fine, but simply opinions without any backing that leads to something negative really feels disheartening to read. Note: I didn't downvote. I don't think you had any ill intentions. And you do provide your actual view in a succinct manner (something I could learn from O:) ). And that's what discussion is all about, albeit a bit rough at times, perhaps.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jtaft 6y ago

This is quite false! The mere fact that someone asks how to be a hacker shows they are curious. A true hacker asks a lot of questions. Lots and lots of questions. The longer you hack, the more obscure, interesting, and fascinating the questions become. In fact, a key part of becoming a hacker is figuring out the right questions to ask. You learn to do so by asking the wrong questions. As you gain experience, revisiting old questions can lead to beautiful solutions. Another important aspect of being a hacker is sharing knowledge! Hacking is about learning. A lot of what I learned is from reading what others have wrote. Also by failing and experimenting. When I was a kid, I did ask my friends "how do i become a hacker" and "how do I hack". I'm glad I did, because I've been enjoying the journey ever since.