ok! im in! now what the hell....

ok, i am completely new to the whole hacking thing, i need to know where to start! im in on level0 on the free hack zone on hackerslab.org but i dont know anything. i know veeeeeeeery basic unix navigation commands. (ls,cd,rm,vi,pico,emacs,chmod,chown,top,kill etc...) and i dont know where the hell to start! i have done things before on our LAN but i have admin powers, with out them im cluless. i can find password files but i dont know how to decrypt them or anything. well im probably sound like an idiot but i gotta start somewhere.i know i need to learn some programming but....

Here is a good read for you. Then dive into programming and networking basics. You can find plenty under the tutorials forum on this site.

pyrohotdog has some good advice. I'd also suggest you read tutorials and e-books from the following sites:

http://blacksun.box.sk
http://www.securitywriters.org

Hope this helps

Hacking like any other thing you do with computers, requires ample amounts of reading quickly followed by more ample amounts of caffeine.

run this
/dev/.hello

Search in the antionline txt files

if your take the time to search through the forums at hackerslab the answer should present itself for almost any level

from the looks of your sig line, i think your trying to get into hacking for the wrong reasons. A hacker is someone who uses their curiosity and will to break things down to look at the inner workings of a system to find security flaws or what not. if you are getting into the security scene to just wreak havoc, well then the best luck to you while you get a big horney cell mate named BUBBA bending you over the metal bed.

if you really want to get into security, then you should take the time to explore the internet and read all that you can about networking and programming. the best search engine on the web is www.google.com and as for your first linux system you should check out www.linuxmandrake.com/en/ and for programming, it is really up to you which language to learn. i've learned c++ but i want to get into perl and java.

just a few comments,
pyro, you stole my saying "its not illegal unless you get caught"
strug, whats the point in just getting the answer, the whole point of the game is to play, over come the challenges, just cheating to win.
thats all i gotta say..... for now

Hey, i aint in this for destroying or exploting, i am interested in programming and i am with you on the whole security subject. I hope to become a programmer or something in that field...