Eh... hacking (the lost art)

I don't really know why I should go on building my skills in hacking. I know a lot of stuff, but it all seems so pointless to me anymore to develop new skills. When I first got into hacking (a long, long time ago) I thought I would use my skills to take down sites that I didn't like (mainly prejudiced sites). But so far I havent taken down a single site.

Don't get me wrong, this site is great, Mr. Cheese you've done an awesome job! But there's just no way to get GOOD at hacking from this site. Sure it provides the beginner with a way in, but it doesn't do much more than that. Allow me to explain…

The challenges on this site are designed to teach you the most common vulnerabilities (such as SQL injection) around on the internet today. The problem with that is, unless your googling for vulnerable sites, chances are the site YOU WANT to hack is secure from silly little web based attacks.

So you've gotta dig deeper, scan for open ports, decide what services are running on those open ports, and possibly find version numbers for those services. Now you've got some information. Hopefully the system your hacking is *nix. It will make it a lot easier if it is since everything is OPEN SOURCE (oh goody). Now we've got version numbers for services on open ports, we find copies of those, look at the source, and try to find vulnerabilities. If we find a vulnerability in the code, we run to the kitchen, get some dr. pepper, and run back to our computer screen.

Now we program an exploit for the vulnerability we found. If we're lucky, the vulnerability will give us root and we can go to sleep happy. But in most cases, we won't get root, so we've gotta find a local exploit. We take another look at the services, find some services that we think may be able to get us root, and try to find a vulnerability. Find it… exploit it… boom your in… do whatever

So you see it takes a lot of work just to hack one site. This is also just a very basic method. There are hackers out there that know far more than any1 can imagine about the subject. My goal was to become an experienced hacker, by working with an elite hacker. But the problem is most of the people on this site are newbs themselves trying to learn.

If you're still with me good, I'm going to sum it up. I've made 2 important points. First, this site is aimed at teaching the newb hacker to get started. And second, most of the people on this site are not very experienced hackers themselves. The site is limited in terms of how much it can teach us. Although their are some events such as web wars, these events are set up so each team hosts a web site, which HAS TO HAVE a vulnerability in it (correct me if i'm wrong). Thats not hacking. Hacking is the skill of finding new vulnerabilities and exploiting them. Basically its just too easy the way its set up right now. We need to find our own NEW vulnerabilities in the site, not use some old vulnerability or method. In this way, i think hacking is becoming a lost art. The ability to recognize a hole in a program and create an exploit for it. How many exploits have all of you coded in C or C++? If your answer is 3 or more, i'd consider you a decent hacker.

Unless I find an ELITE team of hackers or at least one ELITE hacker who will help me develop my skills even further, you won't be seeing me much around here.

Mr. Cheese, None of this is ment to be disrespectful to you. The site is great, and it achieves everything one could expect. I don't expect this site to teach me to be an elite hacker. Its an awesome site, keep up the good work.

One word: duh.

HBH isnt meant to turn you into a 1337 hacker so you can hack the WTF…

Its a great place for newbs to introduced to hacking.

However, the thing that makes hbh so great is its community. Its simply fun to be here.

Its not meant for great hackers. They all go and make underground groups, then hate hbh saying its all a bunch of skiddies.

I cant dissagree, my guess is that 95% of all members here are skiddies. However, once people are past what they can learn here, they forget that without places like hbh, they wouldnt be where they are.

I know I know nothing about computers compared to some other people out there. I have never once called myself a hacker.

The problem on hbh is that people register on it, do some challenges, then go out and tell all their friends theyre hackers. Ive seen a kid impress the entire class with a javascript alert. The teacher took him aside and asked him if hes one of those kids that codes trojans. I just laughed to myself and continued working.

The one point people here dont realise is that hacking isnt for showing off. Thatll only lead to people hating you.

-BluMoose :ninja:

i've always found the key to being a excellent hacker is knowing how things work.

if you know the insides of how things work/why they work, then its easy to exploit that and develop your own exploits for it.

the other part to being a skilled hacker is just logical thinking.

combine the 2 and thats when you start to realise your potential.

it is possible to progress further on HBH, but only by anaylsing the challenges, working out why they work,what else could work on this challenge etc. which can be very very hard if your not use to that way of thinking.

i agree though, for the average user there is only so much that HBH can do. after you reached this point its up to you to continue down your own path.