How does one become a hacker?
RantThis is the one thing I hate about Quora. Someone redirected my answer/changed the question to how someone becomes a hacker. The original question was how does one learn hacking. To the person who made the edit: If you think the 2 questions are the same, you're probably better off spending your time somewhere else and not ruining content that people write. You can take your intelligence and apply it to something that might be more fruitful for you, I.e. Quackery! Works great for pseudo intellectuals! /RantRealize that learning hacking can be a slow and a tedious process. You'll achieve your goal if you enjoy the process of experimenting and by embracing the frustrations you face when things don't work, and when you suddenly get curious about an infrastructure.Step 1. Install Kali linux. (I liked it when they called this backtrack. : Rebirth of BackTrack, the Penetration Testing Distribution. Set this as your wallpaper till you don't get a firm grip on basic commands. Step 2. Start learning programming side by side. Also, set aside a specific time for working on networking and hacking everyday. Step 3. Learn about network infrastructures, cryptography and how things are built. The last one is really important, if you are to invade a building, it is very helpful to have a blueprint and knowledge of how it was built in order to start the invasion. Learn about routers and firewalls.Step 4. Don't read, do! Step 5. Learn common exploits, basic stuff used for wireless cracking WPA/WPA 2 airsniff, aircrack-ng. SQL-Injection, decryption techniques, brute force etc. When you read about them, do them. Make a lock, and break it. Doing is extremely important.I write this from my experience. When I was in 4th grade, I was crazy about computer networks. In 6th grade we had a hacking competition (not a hackathon) in school, where we had to hack the school server and get access to encrypted data (using a server client which had limited privileges). In my house, I had about 5 computers in a room, a CAT 5 cable and some free time with me.There were no 6th graders in the competition and I had to get special permission. So 9th and 10th grade kids were all up for the competition and everybody had a weird look when I walked in. Some even started laughing, that I'd try my hand at hacking. I hacked the server within 15 minutes and bagged the prize. They had about 6 hours and none of them could do it.Also, no amount of courses or books can teach you how to hack. Just like you don't learn driving by reading books, you need to learn hacking by doing it. Have a server set up, and try to hack it. Others have already mentioned it, but please don't be the next Ankit Fadia.[P.S. :Please don't message me asking me to teach you hacking or anything about it. I've already received a lot of messages along similar lines. I haven't and I won't reply to any such messages.If you sent me a message or were thinking about sending one asking me about hacking, know that hacking isn't really something someone can teach you. Really. If you're inquisitive enough, you'll pave your way to acquire the knowledge. You'll find the right resources, right mindset and the right results if you have a true desire to set on the path.]P.P.S: Anon now!