Is there any zone for discussing and asking about hacking techniques in codeproject?

[Fabio Franco]

Roger Wright wrote:

Hackers are the pond scum of computing.

Not every hacker is a scum. And the definition of a hacker is too blurry and with too many different beliefs to disqualify everyone. Many hackers out there are helping to improve security. Others disclosing vulnerabilities and some are doing the scum stuff. So please, hold on your words a little. This kid might not be starting right, but that doesn't mean you have to disqualify everyone. And kid, like others have said, if you found out a vulnerability it's your duty as a member of this proud community to report it to the site owner. Would you be happy if bad guys new how to get into your house through the back door? Would you be happy to have an unknown vulnerability to the safety of your home? Be responsible and report it. If you want to learn and practice, build your own web site in a vulnerable way and then you can explore its vulnerabilities the way you see fit, without the risk of being prosecuted or causing loss to anyone. There are plenty of books on security and web development that you can use to do things in the wrong way and explore that. Once you're a good hacker, use it to the benefit of the society. You can even earn some money that way, being a good kid. Edit: If you have missed it on CP's daily news, here is a fine example of a good Samaritan hacker: Hacking google for fun and profit.[^]

"To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" - Homer Simpson

[ii_noname_ii]

Well... You never know... Curiosity and testing can take you far... "Hmm, I wonder what happens if I test a ' or 1=1 here..?" "Oh WOW!" "Hmm, I wonder what happens if I 'DELETE FROM..?" "Oh WOOOOW!... .... Oh SHIIIITTTT!!!!! I never imagined.... Oh shit, it worked..." I don't think there is any one formula to "learn to hack". If you're programming, and have an interest in securing your own work and a general interest in security... You start analyzing other's work... You find holes in your own work... And before you know it, you're there. Fun: Start with firebug, and find javascript insertion points in your target; ways to inject some code. Then create an iframe with javascript. Then load up some popular website and try to read input boxes. Then send the content of those boxes to some other page with a querystring. Abusing existing javascript functions on the page can also sometimes yield fascinating results. [..self censorship, was getting too evil for this website..] If all this doesn't sound like fun, then you will never be a hacker. It would be fun to have such a section in The Code Project. What's the harm of talking about it? Acting on it with malicious intent is something else...

[BrainiacV]

Obviously you are not aware that WTC was an inside job perpetrated by the Bush Administration to give an excuse to invade Iraq and introduce draconian legislation like the PATRIOT Act. :laugh:

Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.

[OriginalGriff]

Your name is Captain C Sharp and I claim my Five Pounds! :laugh:

Ideological Purity is no substitute for being able to stick your thumb down a pipe to stop the water

[Trajan McGill]

Quote:

The reason I don't report the vulnerability to the webmaster is I don't want to loose a chance to practice what I have learnt.

So let's follow that trail where it leads. 1) Mr. A finds a vulnerability on Mr. B's web site. 2) Mr. A spends a bunch of time messing around on that web site trying out hacking techniques, mainly just to learn about security in the hopes that he can understand better what things to know and watch out for when administering systems. 3) Evil Mr. X also finds the same vulnerability on Mr. B's web site. He does malicious things. He also is more experienced, and leaves few traces of himself or his identity. 4) Mr. B discovers X's intrusion and studies server logs, which point him to...Mr. A, who can be seen all over those logs systematically testing the web site for vulnerabilities! 5) Police show up at Mr. A's house. Career and family fun ensue. Even a softer version is this: 4) Mr. B loses a lot of money at the hands of Mr. X, who exploited a vulnerability that Mr. A could have warned him about. 5) Mr. A lives with guilt for having used his neighbor's weakness for his own gain instead of giving him a heads-up that his back door was unlocked ahead of the thieves showing up. Bad idea all around. Set up your own system and try attacking that.

[Florin Jurcovici 0]

start here :-D

[crazedDotNetDev]

Checkout www.sans.org... They're training is expensive, but some of the best I’ve found. They teach white, gray, and black hat hacking. This is one of the places governments go to learn hacking. No joke, I seen ICE and FBI agents attending! This year I found people from Hong Kong's police force. (Talk about :wtf: moments.)

[Mateusz Jakub]

Just set up your own server, you don't know you can have free virtual machine whit which you can play as much as you want? Take some vulnerable codes from the internet or write your own. If you don't know that you can setup your own virtual machine with any OS and server you want then STOP doing "hacking" right now and go back to school and do your homework!

[Shizzell444]

I can't believe a software development forum would hate so much on a question like this. If you work for a dev company, theres a good chance your company hires a few of these "scum" to harden their product. Just a FYI, security is the most booming field in computers right now. Stop hating scrubs. To the author, setup a couple of different virtual machines and start plugging with metasploit or something.

[midnight_oz]

In Australia, they do teach computer security as an optional strand in university IT courses. It is a safer option (no police) and it is controlled (no damage). They teach you enough of the "bad stuff" so you hopefully can help business defend itself, but of course it is beginner territory. You still will not be able to walk out of uni and start mixing it with the military or hard core hackers. If you are still interested and you are a true white hatter not a mad hatter, get a job in a computer security firm. That way you have fun, get paid for it and stay out of jail. If you are any good at it, you will also be a benefit and not a curse.