An introduction to the world of hacking for newbies


Before you start reading I'd like to point out that this is NOT a hacking tutorial....there are many good 
tutorials out there and it's really no use writing the same stuff again and again....I purpose of this short
paper is to give a definition of hacking so lamerz who got Winnuke or put in Javabombs realze that this is 
NOT hacking.

Hacking was originally defined as the act of penetrating computer systems. It was this kind of
hacking the Mentor referred to in his famous The Conscience of a Hacker aka Hacker Manifesto.
Unfortunately however, as time passed, ppl gave the term hacking a new meaning, it is now used to
discribe all the cool (WINNUKE IS NOT COOL!!) stuff you can do with computers, while braking into
systems is now called cracking.

As mentioned above, many peepz call themselves hackers who have never broken into another system.
Usually they keep running canned hacker tools, in most cases denial-of-service-progs, for instance a
mailbomber. Now personally I can‘t stand the thought that these guys call themselves hackers cause
hey, every lamer can run programs. For that reason the term elite (sometimes spelt 3l1t3 or 31337
cause hackers tend to use numbers instead of characters, more on this later) hacker/cracker was invented 
(sometimes also called ueberhacker/uebercracker). An elite hacker/cracker does NOT use hacker tools written by
some other guy but he uses his haqr smarts and does the stuph by hand,
command by command. So the well known and excellent HACKER TEST by ReDragon is not a test for today's average hacker, 
but for the elite. It is obvious that ReDragon does not use the term elite cause he referred to hacking in it‘s original 
meaning.

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Take a little quiz for me today. Tell me if you fit this description. You got your net account several
months ago. You have been surfing the net, and you laugh at those media reports of the information
superhighway. You have a red box, you don't have to pay for phone calls. You have crackerjack, and
you have run it on the password file at a unix you got an account on. Everyone at your school is
impressed by your computer knowledge, you are the one the teachers ask for help. Does this sound
like you?
You are not a hacker.

There are thousands of you out there. You buy 2600 and you ask questions. You read phrack and
you ask questions. You join #hack and you ask questions. You ask all of these questions, and you
ask what is wrong with that? After all, to be a hacker is to question things, is it not? But, you do not
want knowledge. You want answers. You do not want to learn how things work. You want answers.
You do not want to explore. All you want to know is the answer to your damn questions.
You are not a hacker.

Hacking is not about answers. Hacking is about the path you take to find the answers. If you want
help, don't ask for answers, ask for a pointer to the path you need to take to find out those answers
for yourself. Because it is not the people with the answers that are the hackers, it is the people that
are travelling along the path.

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However, in my opinion, ReDragon has forgotten something in the above text. He has forgotten the fact that many hackers 
start their career using hacker-tools to gain self-confidence. However as they gain more and more experience most 
of them stop using these tools cause they‘ve learned who things work and now use their knowledge instead. It is the 
technology that fascinates them, not the thrill of breaking the law. They‘ve stepped over the threshold that seperates 
the elite from the rest. Everyone gotta start somewhere, noone is born an elite hacker. So ppl must understand that 
ReDragon wants to encourage them to become elite, not sneer at them.          

Although you can also hack/crack using Windows (no matter if 3.xx, 95 or NT), this OS is nothing
compared to UNIX/LINUX. For those who do not know it yet, LINUX is a free UNIX-clone OS
that is extremely powerful. So I highly recommend it to those who are REALLY serious with
hacking/cracking, and haven‘t got enough money to get the real UNIX. LINUX can be downloaded
for free from the internet (go to my links section).
OK lets suppose you have read this far and you still want to become a hacker/cracker. It is important
that you read through the rules below....understand them and obey them! Then go and read IceKool's newbie
guide to hacking.

1. Never damage a server. This will only get you into trouble. And after all, we only seek after                         
    knowledge...it is fine to harrass a lamer who has offended you (OH YEEES!!!!), but don‘t
    damage the lamer‘s server in the process. There are exceptions....AOL for instance...and  
    others.....

2. Never alter any of the system files, except for those needed to insure that you‘re not
   detected and those to insure that you have access into that system in the future.

3. DO NOT play with government computers....if you get caught I can guarantee you that you‘ll go
    to jail for a couple of years!! 

4. Never speak about hacking/cracking  projects on the phone. Only talk about them with ppl you 
    can trust like other hackers/crackers.

5. Before you start hacking/cracking, read ALL the texts files you can find!!! There‘s no file that ‘s
   100% worthless !!

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This doesn't really belong in here but so what....
As I mentioned before, hackers have their own spelling, sometimes called haqrese:

/-    =   A		q or X    =   K       	$    =   S

|)    =   D		1 or |_    =   L	z    =   final S

3    =   E		/\/\    =   M		7 or +    =    t		

]=[ =   H		]\|    =   N		\/\/    =   W	

!    =   I		0    =   O   


--------------------------------------HAVE  PHUN--------------------------------------------

Oh yeah, I almost forgot....to keep up-to-date you should subscribe to the mailing-lists Happy
Hacker and Bugtraq and also read 2600 and Phrack....
I‘d also recommend you to learn a programming language....C/C++, and Perl for instance are very
good, or if you‘re a Windoze-only-hacker VB and Delphi....

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1997 by

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