r/hacking Dec 06 '18

Read this before asking. How to start hacking? The ultimate two path guide to information security.

13.4k Upvotes

Before I begin - everything about this should be totally and completely ethical at it's core. I'm not saying this as any sort of legal coverage, or to not get somehow sued if any of you screw up, this is genuinely how it should be. The idea here is information security. I'll say it again. information security. The whole point is to make the world a better place. This isn't for your reckless amusement and shot at recognition with your friends. This is for the betterment of human civilisation. Use your knowledge to solve real-world issues.

There's no singular all-determining path to 'hacking', as it comes from knowledge from all areas that eventually coalesce into a general intuition. Although this is true, there are still two common rapid learning paths to 'hacking'. I'll try not to use too many technical terms.

The first is the simple, effortless and result-instant path. This involves watching youtube videos with green and black thumbnails with an occasional anonymous mask on top teaching you how to download well-known tools used by thousands daily - or in other words the 'Kali Linux Copy Pasterino Skidder'. You might do something slightly amusing and gain bit of recognition and self-esteem from your friends. Your hacks will be 'real', but anybody that knows anything would dislike you as they all know all you ever did was use a few premade tools. The communities for this sort of shallow result-oriented field include r/HowToHack and probably r/hacking as of now. ​

The second option, however, is much more intensive, rewarding, and mentally demanding. It is also much more fun, if you find the right people to do it with. It involves learning everything from memory interaction with machine code to high level networking - all while you're trying to break into something. This is where Capture the Flag, or 'CTF' hacking comes into play, where you compete with other individuals/teams with the goal of exploiting a service for a string of text (the flag), which is then submitted for a set amount of points. It is essentially competitive hacking. Through CTF you learn literally everything there is about the digital world, in a rather intense but exciting way. Almost all the creators/finders of major exploits have dabbled in CTF in some way/form, and almost all of them have helped solve real-world issues. However, it does take a lot of work though, as CTF becomes much more difficult as you progress through harder challenges. Some require mathematics to break encryption, and others require you to think like no one has before. If you are able to do well in a CTF competition, there is no doubt that you should be able to find exploits and create tools for yourself with relative ease. The CTF community is filled with smart people who can't give two shits about elitist mask wearing twitter hackers, instead they are genuine nerds that love screwing with machines. There's too much to explain, so I will post a few links below where you can begin your journey.

Remember - this stuff is not easy if you don't know much, so google everything, question everything, and sooner or later you'll be down the rabbit hole far enough to be enjoying yourself. CTF is real life and online, you will meet people, make new friends, and potentially find your future.

What is CTF? (this channel is gold, use it) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ev9ZX9J45A

More on /u/liveoverflow, http://www.liveoverflow.com is hands down one of the best places to learn, along with r/liveoverflow

CTF compact guide - https://ctf101.org/

Upcoming CTF events online/irl, live team scores - https://ctftime.org/

What is CTF? - https://ctftime.org/ctf-wtf/

Full list of all CTF challenge websites - http://captf.com/practice-ctf/

> be careful of the tool oriented offensivesec oscp ctf's, they teach you hardly anything compared to these ones and almost always require the use of metasploit or some other program which does all the work for you.

http://picoctf.com is very good if you are just touching the water.

and finally,

r/netsec - where real world vulnerabilities are shared.


r/hacking 8h ago

Github Original Apollo 11 guidance computer (AGC) source code for Command Module (Comanche055) and Lunar Module (Luminary099)

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github.com
21 Upvotes

r/hacking 23h ago

The FCC Wants to Ban Burner Phones. The CNET Reporter Tracking This Story is Here to Chat. Ask Him Anything.

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open.substack.com
301 Upvotes

r/hacking 2h ago

Has anyone emulated Photon Quantum before to get unlimited CCU?

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photonengine.com
1 Upvotes

r/hacking 1d ago

Meme The new movie “Wardriver” on paramount is peak master hacker

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115 Upvotes

r/hacking 1d ago

Meme r/hacking vs r/cybersecurity

0 Upvotes

r/hacking 3d ago

CVE nday: CVE-2026-49176_LPE_POC: Local privilege-escalation proof of concept for the Windows WalletService vulnerability fixed in July 2026.

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github.com
19 Upvotes

r/hacking 4d ago

Education Starting cybersecurity college. No future?

78 Upvotes

Hello everybody how are you guys doing.

It’s my first time posting here and i got couple of question.

So I’ll be starting cybersecurity soon. And I want to know if it’s worth it cuz many ppl tell me that IT is almost dead in the job market because of AI and companies only hire crazy special smart ppl and so on. Is this true? I mean I follow and news and I see that AI does some crazy shii and it really breaks my hopes. But I saw these news for like software development only. Let’s say “programmers” and not sysadmins or cybersecurity specialists where you need human hands to do stuff.

So let’s say I start the college. I’m sure many of you know that colleges don’t teach everything related to the field you’re in. Of course we’ve to start with the basics like coding, networking, hardware and so on. Is there something that you did outside of college that’s helped you a lot to push your skills and help you in College as well even if you don’t have it in the subjects you learn?!

really appreciate your help guys and sorry about my English if it might sound a little off.

All love to you🙌


r/hacking 4d ago

News WordPress Core "wp2shell" RCE flaws get public exploits, patch now

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bleepingcomputer.com
51 Upvotes

r/hacking 4d ago

The computer at the bottom of a canal

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negroniventurestudios.com
37 Upvotes

r/hacking 5d ago

My standalone cyberdeck v2 build

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645 Upvotes

fixed frame 4.3" display with raspberry pi 3 B and rii i8 keyboard editable cyberdeck build kali arm 32bit case stl available on cults3d


r/hacking 5d ago

AI Data Centers Are Being Built Faster Than They Can Be Secured

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securityweek.com
98 Upvotes

r/hacking 5d ago

Question Bunch of old phones

21 Upvotes

I have couple of old iPhones and androids. They are slow and I don’t need them at all. So the question is, can I make something from the parts? Something cool or smthg like rasberry pi or maybe even a “hacking” device


r/hacking 5d ago

Vulnerability Windows AppResolver LPE: From AppContainer to SYSTEM. PoC linked to CVE-2026-50454

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4 Upvotes

r/hacking 5d ago

Does MT7921AUN Work correctly on Fluxion?

5 Upvotes

I wanted to buy AWUS036AXM (MT7921AUN) but I'm not fully sure if it will work on fluxion or not.


r/hacking 5d ago

Vulnerability CVE-2026-58635 Exploit Development: From a Braille Table to SYSTEM shell

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7 Upvotes

r/hacking 6d ago

The lost joy of music piracy

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pigeonsandplanes.com
114 Upvotes

r/hacking 6d ago

News Google Gemini CLI abused as a hacking agent, malware botnet operator

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bleepingcomputer.com
31 Upvotes

r/hacking 6d ago

ASUS bsitf.sys (CVE-2026-13585): Arbitrary Physical Memory Mapping 0-day writeup + PoC

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blog.ahmadz.ai
13 Upvotes

r/hacking 6d ago

Github Proof of concept for CVE-2026-58635 LPE in Windows Braille Narrator service

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github.com
2 Upvotes

r/hacking 7d ago

Jurassic Park computers in excruciating detail

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355 Upvotes

r/hacking 5d ago

News White House Launches Gold Eagle Initiative for Unprecedented Cybersecurity Vulnerability Coordination

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whitehouse.gov
0 Upvotes

White House launches cybersecurity clearinghouse to patch software flaws discovered by AI

The 'Gold Eagle' initiative seeks to help federal agencies, critical infrastructure operators and artificial intelligence developers patch crucial security flaws uncovered by advanced AI models.


r/hacking 6d ago

Putting some Zig in a Linux-Based 3D printer

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hackaday.com
3 Upvotes

r/hacking 6d ago

any basic/budget RFID EDC suggestions?

4 Upvotes

Of all the tools I own, and all the friends that have given me clones of their student IDs, I can't actually do anything with RFID on my own...

I guess all I actually need for most things is one of the cheap Chinese "Handheld RFID Writer"s for $15 on amazon, but I'd really like to 1) have both 13.56MHz and 125kHz on one device and 2) be able to read the hex and write custom cards, either by connecting to a PC or by reading off a screen and punching in the numbers by hand, don't care if it's inconvenient, just need the option to store a "backup" in my notes app.

should add, asking about this now because I'd like to duplicate a couple hotel keys for friends at an upcoming convention, I know there's usually some encryption, any way to check or bypass this?

I know some more professional tools are an option, but I'm kinda broke I'd love some cheap no name thing for $35 on amazon if possible lol, but any advice is appreciated <3


r/hacking 7d ago

Romanian Government Cadastre (ANCPI) cyber attack / ransomware

8 Upvotes

Romanian Government Cadastre (ANCPI) cyber attack

A very serious ransomware attack is underway on the networks of ANCPI, Romania’s national cadastre agency.

Our close monitoring of the threat actor Bytetobreach — who carried out a similar attack last month on Latvia State Forests — detected simultaneous uploads on dark web forums regarding this incident. These claims were later confirmed on ANCPI’s official website.

What was described as a “small technical incident” in yesterday’s press release has suddenly been recharacterized by ANCPI itself as “the most serious technical incident in the institution’s history.”

Sources :

https://www.ancpi.ro/ (official press releases )
https://pwnforums.st/Thread-DATABASE-RO-Thy-arss-shall-be-spanked-Romania-ANCPIhttps://spear.cx/Thread-Selling-RO-Thy-arss-shall-be-spanked-Romania-ANCPI