Very inexperienced, need a little advice.

Hi, I'm quite new to hacking but have always been interested in computing. I've been reading up on the basics of port scanning, sniffing, telnetting and stuff like that through various sources (especially your superb tutorials) that I found through google.
I've also been playing about with programs like netcat, l0phtcrack, Essential nettools, Cain, and Ethereal, I'm finding it a bit hard to put the writing into practice though,
I've used l0phtcrack to brute force my own password from the SAM file to see how secure it was and used ettercap to explore my local network (I'm on cable broadband) but I cant seem to be able to do anything constructive as I only have 1 PC (running Windows XP) and my ISP blocks various ports (137 (UDP), 138 (UDP), 139 (TCP), 445 (UDP & TCP), 593 (TCP), 1433 (TCP), 1434 (UDP) and 27374 (TCP) Inbound only. ) So I can't explore via NETBIOS at peoples network shares and stuff like that.
I'm determined to stay away from sub7 and similar programs as I want to explore and learn the right way, and not damage peoples computers and lame stuff like that. I've played around using these tools on my own PC but there's only so much I can learn that way. Any general advice and a push in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the long post. :)

Well a good way to learn is to set up your own home network with different OS's and read everything you can find. A good way to get computers is usually just put in an ad in your local newspaper asking for computers and/or parts that people dont want anymore.

PeacE
-BoB

Looks like you're on the right track, but remember this is an online security site.

Ok...
I will say this much atleast your not a true lamer.

Dude first thing. Dis the wanting to learn about hacking. Learn to secure yourself and it will come.

*He/She that can secure can also make insecure, say the Great Idiot

Ok... Next pick up a programming book. It has all you will need to know. Languages come in handy when doing anything.

Next stop asking hacking questions here please. That is not the direct point of the site. The direct route is about helping you protect your Computer.

I will save my own comments about what you said. Alot of it doesn't make sense.

*Everyone else.*

I thought access to your same wasn't granted while someone was logged in.

I could be wrong. As I always say. I can be wrong. And just might be.

These tutorials do rock ;)

Thanks for the replies. I've only got one PC at the moment, with another one half built due to money problems. Once I manage to finish it I intend to network them together so I can learn on my own network. I've got no intention of trying to break into other peoples computers to do damage them or anything like that , I probably phrased my last post a little wrong. I just want to learn as much as possible about networking, security, and general computing. Once my other PC is ready I will (hopefully) be putting linux on it and learning to use that, as I've never used it before, and then using each computer to explore the other one, looking for flaws in the security and learning how they work and how to protect them. I'm just gonna keep reading stuff off here and then trying to apply it to my own network. I suppose after all the only way to know you're secure is by trying to break your security yourself.
Thanks again for replying and I hope I learn a lot from you guys. :)

*Edit, It's true that the SAM file is locked while you're logged in but the copy of the file stored in the "\Windows\repair" folder isn't. It's an older version of the sam, probably from when I installed XP, It's only got the default accounts on it but the Administrator account you set up when you first install is there (as long as you didn't change it since then).

I think that most of it has been said. I appreciate the cash situation when you are a student.....it is not unusual for a student to leave college in the UK owing $30,000 to their bank......takes some catching up on!

I think fl34bit3 gave some good advice about unwanted equipment

:)

Corporations depreciate (amortize) their equipment over time. Typically this is 3 years. After this time the machines have no book value in the Corporations assents inventory. Because they are relatively low spec. and as the Corporation gets bulk discounts, they were probably not that expensive in the first place.

You should be able to pick up old ex-corporate machines quite cheaply.............I got a PI/133 Digital and a PIII/533 IBM for about $35 each, and that included the screen, mouse and keyboard. Remember for your private network you do not need a screen and input devices for all the machines, and you can get connectors that let you run more than one PC from the same mouse/keyboard/screen. At the end of the day even old 486s will do the job that you want, and I doubt if you need more than two of them (without a screen & keyboard you should be able to get those for free..............time to prime family and friends to keep their eyes open?).

As they are ex-corporate, they will usually have a 10/100 network card in them already? which is a saving. Although local shops that refurbish used machines usually have a lot of those that they have no use for. These are they guys who get old ex-corporate boxes and upgrade them for home use.

Good luck

UK Offer.

I have some Pentium 75 base units with 10mb network cards. (several of)

If anyone wants one or all PM me.

I ask only that you pay the postage or swap something equally useless.

Hye Dami3n u sound pretty similar 2 me.Though i am also new 2 this place,
Hope we have a nice time round here,
bye

Good post. Let me offer a couple suggestions.

Be careful with the use of port scanning on random sites. That is normally viewed as the first step in an attempted break-in, and it is possible a complaint will be sent to your ISP.

There are sites that exist TO be hacked, checked out, and explored. If you want to learn more and utilize some tools, these sites are a great (legal) way to get your feet wet.

I am sure there is a complete list on this site somewhere, or you can go to www.happyhacker.org and get a list of such sites.

By the way - happyhacker is posted as a legal site to try and hack.

.: Aftiel

Thanks a lot guys, I've learnt quite a bit today. I'll pm you about that PC mark, that sounds like a great idea. :) I hope to be sticking around here for a while so thanks a lot for the help.

if your looking for a cheap computer check out the dump, or a school, the computers that youll find
can be pretty awsome.

Dami3n: Welcome to AO. Remember, this is a security website not a hacker one.

As Nihil said: learn how to secure a PC first. I recommend the following to help you learn...

* AO Tutorials: as you stated are awesome! :D
* Learn TCP/IP: learning the inner workings will give you much insight
* Books like Hacking Exposed series, Hackers Beware by Eric Cole, and others. These will provide you insight into how hackers think in effort to help you SECURE your system. Gotta know the enemy in order to know how to protect yourself.
* Some other good references: just a couple...there are hundreds...
SANS Reading Room http://www.sans.org/rr
Insecure.org site http://www.insecure.org/reading.html

Happy reading.:cool:

I don't want to get in this arguement again.

But HappyHacker is a Piece of crap come on, the lady has no idea what she is talking about. Just read some of her stuff. My dog could write better Tutorials.

Her vigilante Fun days. Are a joke. I haven't read one yet that half the information is correct on.

I think the place is a joke. There is very little information on the site that is of any use to anyone. If you are maybe just starting out and don't know what Ping or Root are then maybe you will have some use of the place, I don't even mean how to attain Root I mean just simply what Root access is.

Woah, did I see a link to a legal site to hack? The only thing that has ever kept me from hacking was my goody two shoe morals! Is there a list anywhere with sites that are legal to hack?

Dami3n- about that money problem, heres a thread http://www.antionline.com/showthread...for+cheap+free

pretty good thread about getting free computers

Memory put up a thread with links to tutorials, you might want to check them out-
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...&postid=678595

Programing tutorials - click
And if your planning to buy a book, take a look at the book reviews forum - click

I reccommend you try learning HTML first.. Gives you a feel of programming (kinda).

Cool, thanks a lot. I think I will do that, learning html is one of those things I've been meaning to learn but never gotten round to. I've recently acquired enough cash to get my half built pc (Athlon XP2600, 512-soon-to-be-1536mb pc2700 DDR, 60g S-ATA HDD, GeforceFX5600) running so I'll be setting it up as a dual boot linux/XP system and networking the two together, then adding more computers as I get them. (I live directly near a pylon so I presume I'd need CAT-5 STP to do it with) Thanks for the info and those links came in very handy. :)
That tutorials guide link has been bookmarked, nice job for posting it.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by Aftiel
Good post. Let me offer a couple suggestions.

Be careful with the use of port scanning on random sites. That is normally viewed as the first step in an attempted break-in, and it is possible a complaint will be sent to your ISP.

There are sites that exist TO be hacked, checked out, and explored. If you want to learn more and utilize some tools, these sites are a great (legal) way to get your feet wet.

I am sure there is a complete list on this site somewhere, or you can go to www.happyhacker.org and get a list of such sites.

By the way - happyhacker is posted as a legal site to try and hack.

.: Aftiel

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Am I going crazy?


The best thing to do is stop using the word "Hacking" in you search, and that is before you find all the SK appz.

Gezuz man get some ballz and learn the basics first.



"Hacking", with lame azz Dr. Smoke.The G1mp,...... Is not L337!!!!!!!!


Tirade Terminated.

:o


KILL THIS THREAD PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If by that you were referring to me then no, I have no intention of "hacking" anything. I might have given the wrong impression with my first post. I'm not very experienced in network security and I (quite ignorantly) tended to lump penetration testing and other related security issues into "hacking" (which probably isn't helped by the media portraying it that way) My use of the tools I mentioned in my first post weren't any attempt to do anything sinister, just to learn the basics of how networks operate and how to secure them. After advice from the members here I've stopped exploring and am going to concentrate on setting up my own network, learning some skills (programming, learning to use linux) and hopefully gaining some insight into how everything operates. I'd much prefer a high paying job to a prison cell so if I gave you the wrong impression i apologise.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by [Dami3n]
If by that you were referring to me then no, I have no intention of "hacking" anything. I might have given the wrong impression with my first post. I'm not very experienced in network security and I (quite ignorantly) tended to lump penetration testing and other related security issues into "hacking" (which probably isn't helped by the media portraying it that way) My use of the tools I mentioned in my first post weren't any attempt to do anything sinister, just to learn the basics of how networks operate and how to secure them. After advice from the members here I've stopped exploring and am going to concentrate on setting up my own network, learning some skills (programming, learning to use linux) and hopefully gaining some insight into how everything operates. I'd much prefer a high paying job to a prison cell so if I gave you the wrong impression i apologise.

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I am not trying to be an ******* here.. I am just tired of stupid posts. Including many of my own lol.

This last post is just that. Useless. However I see in your posts you are not useless.


Look, just be yourself, you have no reason to try and impress anyone here. This is not a l33t Haxxorz ownzorz site. Although I suspect some black hats :LOL are about.


In a nutshell, behave yourself, Phuking phrase your questions at least in a conspiratory way, hehehe and you will gain knowledge.

Just remember DO NOT try and impress ppl. you will be ripped to shreds lol.


P: Man

Welcome to AO!

:D

Ok thanks, I guess my introductory post was a little misleading. I don't want to be a "1337 hax0r" or anything like that, I'm just interested in learning as much as possible and hopefully getting a decent job doing what I love. I've realised I was trying to learn too much too quickly so I'm going to take it a little bit slower from now on. I should have my little network up in the next 2 weeks and am going to play around with linux and learn a little bit of programming. I'm likely to be asking you all quite a few questions but I'll not forget google. :) I'm unemployed at the moment so I have quite a bit of free time to spend learning and certainly wont be wasting it.

Learning how to "hack" is not necessarily a bad thing. The main thing that you need to learn is how computers and software works. Reading on the internet that Windows XP has a security hole (who would've thought) that can be exploited with a buffer overflow allowing you access to something is nice, but you need to learn exactly why the buffer overflow allows you access. When you understand how the software really works, you will not need to learn these minor exploits. Learn some languages (C++, Perl, anything), learn different OS's (RedHat Linux, Windows XP Pro, Windows 98SE, whatever you can get your hands on), and start reading books. Stay away from stuff like "Hacking Exposed" and anything with the name Carolyn Meinel on it. Read technical books from O'Reilly. "Linux in a Nutshell", "Linux Device Drivers", "PC Hardware in a Nutshell". Once you've worked for the knowledge, "Hacking" just won't seem important. AntiOnline will probably be one of the best resources you have. Just don't be a script kiddie. Last but not least, don't try to be 31337. Nobody cares, and 1337speak is a good way to get negged. Ask intelligent questions, and always try to learn it on your own first.

i think it would be awsome to learn how to hack. Not so i can do bad things though.
i want to try and network my house. but i am completly new to this, what kind of hardware
or software would i ned to accomplish this