How to Become a Master Hacker – A Complete Guide for Beginners

Most of the aspiring techies have an intense passion for becoming a hacker but don’t know where to start. Some enthusiastic network newbies have a strong desire to learn how to be a wizardly hacker. In computer security, a hacker is someone who converges on the safety mechanisms of computer and network systems. Upon listening to the phrase Hacker, most of us get into mind is that they are the people who break into computers and mess up everything on your device. This is what many of the ordinary people symbolize hacking in modern culture. But, hacking culture is not just chopping one’s device rather it is much more complicated and ethical than most people know.

People often search on the web with queries like “How to Become a Hacker”, What are the Skills required to become a hacker”, What is the Best Way to Learn to hack,” “Where to start” and much more. I have come up with a detailed guide on how to become a hacker so that it can help all those enthusiastic techies who are craving to know much about hacking. If you are highly fascinated to learn basic hacking techniques, then you have landed in the right place. Check out this detailed guide on hacking and gain admiration to crack your way into the intricate world of hacking.

Hacker Attitude

Hackers are the one who build things and solve problems. The mindset of a hacker is not just confined to this software-hacker culture comprising of expert programmers and networking wizards. The attitude of a hacker is somewhat different from others as their nature is totally independent of the specific medium the hacker works in.

Hackers believe in freedom and voluntary cooperation. To become a hacker, you should behave as if you have this kind of attitude yourself. To behave as if you have the attitude, you have to believe truly the attitude. By cultivating hacker attitudes, it can help you learn more and keeps you motivated. The most powerful way to become a master in any field is to imitate the attitude of masters not simply intellectual but passionate as well. Here are few points that shows how one can become a hacker by cultivating their mindset and attitude.

1. The world is chock-full of interesting problems waiting to be solved.

Being a hacker often seems to be loads of fun, but it takes a lot of effort followed by motivation. To become a hacker, you have to get a basic boost from solving problems, sharpening your skills, and exercising your intelligence.

2. No problem should ever have to be solved twice.

You must keep in mind that creative brains are always precious, limited resource. Never waste your time on re-forming the wheel when there are so many interesting new problems waiting out there.

You need to believe that the thinking time of other hackers is valuable. Hence, it is a noble responsibility for you to share knowledge, solve problems and then give away the solutions so that other hackers can focus on solving new problems instead of holding to enduringly re-address existing ones.

However,  “No problem should ever have to be solved twice” does not mean that you have to consider all existing solutions as pious, or that there is only one precise solution to any given problem. We come across many problems and a solution for that. It is often necessary to consider that we can do better. But, sometimes technical barriers or something else might block a good solution from being re-used and instigate people to re-discover things.

3.  Attitude is no replacement for proficiency.

To become a master hacker, you need to develop some of these attitudes. But stealing an attitude solely won’t make you an immediate hacker. Becoming a hacker certainly requires intelligence, practice, dedication, and hard work.

Hence, you have to learn to disbelieve attitude and esteem competence of every kind. Hackers won’t let hypocrites waste their time, but they admire competence, especially proficiency at hacking, but proficiency at anything is assessed. Hard work and dedication are a must that plays a significant role to becoming a hacker.

4. Boredom and drudgery are destructive.

Hackers should neither be bored nor have to menial at mindless, monotonous work. Boredom and drudgery are not just disagreeable but truly evil. It is pretty much good that you need to stay away from boring bits, as much as possible, not just for yourself but for everybody else (especially other hackers).

5. Be Creative

If you wish to become a hacker, you need to be creative and start thinking artistically. Hackers should be like a blend of artists, engineers, and philosophers. Hackers have a diversity of interests culturally and intellectually, apart from hacking.

What Skills are Required to Become a Hacker?

In simple words, there is no magic to becoming a Hacker. But, like anything else that is important, it takes dedication and enthusiasm to learn. It is necessary to have a basic knowledge of various topics that you can check out in below steps. These are the basics that every hacker should know before even trying to hack. Once you have a good grasp on everything in this area, you can move into the intermediary level.

Fundamental Skills

The best approach to turn yourself into a hacker is to begin from the fundamentals. Initially, you will have to master the basics to build a solid foundation. And once this is done, you’ll be in a position to explore new ideas and start thinking like a hacker. You can follow the below-mentioned points to start off your job as a hacker.

1. Explore the Basics

It is an essential need to become a hacker you need some basic computer skills. These basic skills go above the ability to create a Word document or navigate the Internet. You need to be able to use the command line in Windows, edit the registry, and set up your networking parameters. Before heading to learn the concept of hacking, you need to spend pretty much time doing some online research to find out more information about hacking. This will help you lay the groundwork for your future steps and actions.

2. Technical Skills

If you’re aiming to become an average to a good hacker, you need to acquire the following technical skills.

>>Programming

• This is the fundamental hacking skill. Learning to program is like learning to write a good natural language.
• You need to learn how to solve problems and automate tasks.
• To become an elite hacker, programming is the most important skill that you can’t neglect.
• It is always better to have some basic knowledge of programming languages like C, HTML, PHP, JavaScript, etc.

>>Operating System

• There are several operating systems apart from UNIX.
• Windows operating system is one of the most commonly compromised systems. Hence, it is good to learn hacking Microsoft systems, which are closed-source systems.
• Learn everything about OS on how to operate them, working procedure, accessing to API’s and much more.
• To become a great hacker, you need to know the cons of these operating systems and try to target them in a systematic manner.

>>Networking

You need to understand the basic concepts of networking and the inner operations as well. You need to learn in deep how each type of packet is generated and the tweaks you can do manipulating them. You need to gain pretty good knowledge on the following concepts.

• Subnet, LAN, WAN, VPN
• DHCP
• IPv4, IPv6
• DNS
• OSI model
• MAC addressing
• ARP

>>Website Hacking

There are loads of techniques to do website hacking, just google OWASP.

If you wish to become a ninja, you need to gain more knowledge on below given concepts:

>>Cryptography

• If you acquire deep knowledge in cryptography that includes usage, implementation and breaking process, then it would be much better to become a great hacker.
• The more you learn the strengths and vulnerabilities of each cryptographic algorithm, the better the possibilities of overcoming it.
• Moreover, cryptography can be used by the hacker to conceal their activities and avoid detection.

>>Reverse Engineering (& debugging)

• Reverse engineering allows you to remove a bit of malware and re-build it with additional features and capabilities.
• You need to learn how to debug or disassemble and analyze software to understand how a software processes its data and the process of info extraction from memory at run time.
• Reverse engineering enables the hacker to take an existing exploit and improve its signature so that it can hop former IDS and AV detection.

>>(Anti-) Forensics

• You will be considered as an expert hacker only when you are not caught! If you were caught hacking, then you can’t become a pro hacker.
• The more you know about digital forensics, the better you can grow at avoiding and evading detection.
• Learn where incriminating information is stored and also understand how to erase them in a secure way.

>>Exploit writing

• You need to know debugging and computer memory to do this.

>> Virtualization

• You need to become proficient in using one of the virtualization software packages that includes VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation.
• You need a secure and protected environment to practice your hacks prior implementing them out in the real world.
• A virtual environment is the best place that provides you a protected environment to test and refine your hacks.

3. Find a Good Source to Begin

It is pretty much arduous to find the best source to begin from the basics. Despite there exists millions of books and other sources on the web that will teach you how to hack, they all need readers to have a set of pre-established skills and knowledge to understand the concepts introduced in them. However, all such sources might not suit your requirements.

Here is a great source that helps the beginners to gain much knowledge on hacking so that the readers could understand each and every concept with much ease. This book is called Hacking Secrets Exposed (HSE) that is advised for the aspiring techies who have a strong desire to commence their quest to becoming a hacker.

Hacking Secrets Exposed (HSE)

Hacking: The Art of Exploitation

How Long does it Take Become a Hacker?

This question is little difficult to answer since it is not something that can be mastered overnight. It requires knowledge, skills, creativity, dedication and, of course, the time. Everyone can become a hacker provided they learn it from the fundamentals and build a strong foundation. So, if you aspire to be a hacker all you need is passion and enthusiasm to learn and a good source of knowledge that will guide you through different concepts right from the basics. The most important factor to become the best hacker is persistence.

It also depends on how talented you are and how strong you work at it with much determination. Most people who try can obtain a decent skill set in eighteen months to two years if they completely concentrate on it. However, hacking is a vast ocean which takes years to explore its mystery. And if you are a genuine hacker, you will spend the rest of your life learning and developing your craft.

Age to Start Learning to Hack

The right age to start learning to hack is any age at which you are motivated. Most people seem to get interested between ages 15 and 20, but you need to know exceptions in both directions.

If you have all the above-mentioned skills, you can become a skilled hacker so that you can start implementation in the real world. Above mentioned are the full steps on how to be a hacker that can help you walk the road of being an expert hacker. Follow the complete guide which I’ve explained in the tutorial to gain pretty much knowledge about hacking and become a pro in hacking!

Keep in mind that for every hacking tool, there is always a counter hacking tool. Therefore, be a smart hacker and more importantly, be a responsible hacker.

Disclaimer: This tutorial is only for educational purpose. The author or the blog owner is not responsible for any kind of misuse of this information provided.