FAQ
About HBH
What is HBH?
HBH is a completely legal, web-based security training ground. We offer challenges that teach you how computer based exploits work. The idea being, if you know how to exploit a website for instance, then you can go and secure your website, and help others in securing theirs. If you know how malicious hackers get in, you can keep them out.
HBH also supplies a vast library of downloads, articles, and helpful forum posts for you to learn as much as possible.
HBH is very pro self-teaching. We only act as a guide. We’ll show you the bits of information you need to learn, and it’s your job to go and read about it. Self teaching is by far one of the most effective ways to learn.
If you do need help and hints on what to learn, you’re more than welcome to contact any member in the community and they will be happy to point you in the right direction.
Can I change my username?
No you can’t. The username you register is the username you get.
If you really want to have your username changed you will have to delete your current account ehich takes 90 days and then register again with the desired username.
What is a warn level?
If a user’s warn level equals 100, then the user is banned.
On rare occasions a user might have a warn level of 100 without being banned, this means that the user has been unbanned, but not yet had his or her warn level decreased.
Beginning
I want to learn how to hack. How do I start?
First be aware that learning to hack is going to take work. A ton of work. There is no ‘easy button’ that will get you everything you want.
Also know that hacking as a topic is very wide and vague. Normally people start off with web hacking. First place you want to go is the appropriate article section here on HBH, where you will find various useful articles to start with.
When you feel that you know enough you can try the challenges or Labs to test your knowledge.
What programming language(s) should I learn?
When you start on HBH, it is almost essential to have at least basic knowledge of HTML, Javascript, and PHP, as those are the most employed languages amongst web-based applications.
For those who still need to learn, the most appropriate place would probably be w3schools.com, which includes various tutorials and tests for most (if not all) of the commonly used web-based languages.
When you decide to learn another language, you should give good consideration to what you want to do with that language, try some that fit your wishes and choose whichever you like to work with the most. Just remember that no one language is the best at everything which means picking one should take some time and thought.
I don't understand some of the terms used on HBH, what should I do?
Despite most of the people using proper English, there may occur a use of slang to some degree. If you are unsure about any term, try googling it, or try to search on the urban dictionary.
Challenges
The challenge asks me for a password, how do I get it?
That is the whole point. The whole objective of the challenge is to “hack” the challenge and find the correct password.
There are many ways to complete challenges, each with its own method. Such as exploiting an item of the challenge, solving a code sequence, or just by viewing the source.
When you complete a challenge you will be awarded points that are added to your profile.
A challenge isn't accepting my answer, is the challenge broken?
Fortunately for us admin, 99% of the cases there is nothing wrong with the challenge. You’re just doing something wrong.
If you do truly feel a challenge is broken, which is usually indicated by a blank page after submission, try to report it via shoutbox, or send a private message to one of the admins and it will be investigated.
How do I submit a challenge that I made?
Currently we are not accepting new challenges, However in the coming months we will have a template for a challenge which you can download to help you bulid a challenge. Once that template has been released we will also open up the challenge submission system which will allow you to submit challenges directly from the site.
Please ensure that the challenge is unique to the site, meaning that it is not copied from another site and that you use PHP if necessary. We would also appreciate it if you attached the “answer” and a hint for the challenge.
If you have further questions, please contact an Administrator.
Why don't I get points when I submit answers for logical challenges?
Each answer must be checked by a member of staff. Due to the considerable work load of the our staff, it is reasonable to expect a delay between the submission and receiving the points. Once the answer has been checked you will also be sent a private message to inform you if your submitted anwser is correct or not.
General
What is reputation and how do I get it?
Reputation is used to indicate how much you contribute to the community.
For now, those can be obtained through submitting acceptable articles, or posting useful posts in the forum, in which case people can up vote, or in case of a bad post they can down vote the post.
If you create a challenge or Lab which is accepted 100 Reputation is awarded along with any reputation that the challenge receves good or bad.
How does the rank system work and what is it for?
The rank is based on your sum of challenge points and forum posts. Then the rank is set against this scale:
Guest - 0
Newbie - 20
Apprentice - 200
Moderate - 350
Wiseman - 500
Active User - 700
Mad User - 950
Monster - 1200
Hacker Level 1 - 1500
Hacker Level 2 - 1700
Hacker Level 3 - 1900
Elite - 2100
Uber Elite - 2450
HBH Guru - 2700
God - 3500
Custom rank - 5000 + Exclusive member
Ranks are there to indicate how “skilled” the members are. However, don’t rely on it, usually members with higher points will be more senior than members with lower, but real skill and knowledge can’t be simply measured by the rank. Most members frown upon judging another member simply by the amount of points he or she has.
I've submitted an article and it hasn't appeared yet, What's going on?
Each article must be approved by a member of staff, which may take some time as staff don’t have all day to do the approvals.
If your article has been declined, you will receive a private message about it, therefore be patient and wait.
If nothing is received nor is the article published within 10 days from submission, you can try asking a member of staff or using the contact form.
Support
I tried to change my personal details but it can't update it, what am I doing wrong?
You need to verify your password each time you change the details.
I keep getting logged out
This is most likely because your session has expried. The session lifetime is currently set to 2 hours.
To increase this you can select the ‘Remeber me’ option when logging in which will keep you logged in untill you logout.
I can't login.
Use the forgot password function and have an email sent with a link to reset your password.
You should then be able to login with this new password. If this fails, please contact us using the contact form.