Easy 7 Steps to Become An Ethical Hacker

Before moving ahead, or starting a new learning curve, I would like to ask you one question first! Why Hacking? Possible answers to this question can be,

• I am interested in hacking
• I want to hack my friends/cousin facebook account
• To work as a hacker in reputed organizations
• To test a system and be aware of fraud things

According to the above answers, I can help you to plan out the learning curve.

Short cut always kills! — Remember Wrong turn!

When you watch a movie, drama, or web series online related to hacking, your running blood in your veins will definitely say to your inner soul that you can hack anything, you are a hacker, so it will put much interest in your hacking skills. It happens to me most of the time! I also did some hacking-related courses during my college time.

From somewhat experience in Ethical Hacking, I would like to few important steps which I felt awesome!

1. Learn the mother of all Programming Languages

Yes, You are thinking right. I am talking about C Programming. C programming is the base of learning UNIX/LINUX as this OS is completely written in C. Thus, as a hacker C programming is something that you should aim to master since it gives you the power to blend the open-source operating system Linux in the way you want. Also, try more than one programming language. You should have good knowledge of at least 2–3 programming languages with their syntaxes.

2. Learn to be Anonymous

As a hacker, this is one of the important steps that one should know. As a hacker, you might do a lot of this, some might be legal, some might be without permission. Thus it is necessary to know how to be anonymous and how one can hide their identity online So that there will be one trace left and no one can backtrace you.

3. Get Hands-on experience in LINUX/UNIX

LINUX or UNIX is an open-source operating system that provides better security to computer systems. There is no skipping LINUX as a hacker because it is one of the most used OS for hacking and provides ample tools for hackers. Some of the common Linux distributions are, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Kali Linux, BackTrack, etc. Kali Linux is one of the most used Linux systems and is specially customized for hacking.

4. Explore the Hidden Web

The dark web is part of the internet that isn’t visible to search engines and requires the use of an anonymizing browser called Tor, etc to be accessed.

You’ve no doubt heard talk of the “dark web” as a hotbed of criminal activity — and it is. But not everything is illegal, the dark web also has a legitimate side. Thus it is necessary to know a bit about what it is and how it works.

5. Deep Dive into Hacking

Once you have good knowledge about the topics discussed thus far, it’s time to dive deep. Trying diving deep into hacking concepts and learning topics such as vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, SQL injections, and much more. In the field of hacking, learning is never-ending because security changes every day with new updates in the system. Thus you need to be updated with the latest tools and ways to crack a system or secure a system.

6. Experimenting and Practicing is the Key

After learning some concepts, sit back and nail them. Keep practicing them in various environments and various scenarios. Set up your own lab for experiment purposes. Use these labs to test various attacks, tools, and much more.

7. Learn Networking Concepts

Another important and essential step to becoming a hacker is to be good at networking concepts and understanding how the networks are created. You should have a knowledge of various networks, protocols since it is beneficial in exploiting vulnerabilities. Thus learning various networking concepts and various networking tools such as Wireshark, Nmap, etc will be really beneficial. Trust me, Hacking is all about playing around the Network.

Bonus: Add the Art of Secret Writing to your Skill Set

Cryptography, also called the art of secret writing, is something that as a hacker you should master. Encryption and Decryption are important skills in hacking. Encryption is widely used in several aspects of information security in authentication, confidentiality, and integrity of the data. Information on a network is always encrypted such as passwords, packets sent over the network, etc. Thus, as a hacker, it is necessary to identify the encryption and break it.

Remember, Cryptocurrencies and Cryptography — Both are different, never mix up em’all!

Free Advice: Join Discussion and Meet the Hackers

The most important thing for a hacker is to make a community or join online forums that will help you to join discussions with other hackers in the world. This will help in the exchange and sharing of knowledge and work as a team. Join various communities on various platforms such as Facebook, Reddit, Discord, and more.

I obtain an immense amount of satisfaction from helping others attain their goals and reach their potential through technology. Even if you wish to reach out and say “Hello”, I sincerely appreciate all of the wonderful correspondence I receive each day from readers. You all enrich my life, and I hope I am able to do the same for you all as well.

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Originally published on Medium.