How To Become
A Hacker
A talk and an open discussion
Slide 2
Slide 2 text
Hacker?
• A hacker is not a criminal
• Not a bad guy
• Not a nasty loser who will “break into
emails/cause financial loss”
• In short...
• What you know, is WRONG
Slide 3
Slide 3 text
Origins
• MIT, as always
• Amazing programmers and system
architects
• Real example: Kevin Mitnick
Slide 4
Slide 4 text
From Oxford
• “a programmer for whom computing is its
own reward; may enjoy the challenge of
breaking into other computers but does no
harm; "true hackers subscribe to a code of
ethics and look down upon crackers"
Slide 5
Slide 5 text
Ankit Fadia
• He fails it
Slide 6
Slide 6 text
Ankit Fadia
• He fails it
• He fails it
Slide 7
Slide 7 text
Ankit Fadia
• He fails it
• He fails it
• He fails it
Slide 8
Slide 8 text
Ankit Fadia
• He fails it
• He fails it
• He fails it
• And...
• HE FAILS IT.
Slide 9
Slide 9 text
But why?
• Years of computer security research
• Authentic work
• He has...
• MTV What The Hack!
• Books with documented “hacks”
• No verified claims
Slide 10
Slide 10 text
Certification courses
• Waste of time/money
• Well, not always.
• Eventually, the question must be asked...
• Are You Satisfied?
Slide 11
Slide 11 text
Cracking stuff
• Or cracking Facebook, Orkut, Gmail, Yahoo!
or most other popular services
• Do I have your attention?
• The simple answer is...
• YOU CAN NOT.
Slide 12
Slide 12 text
Cracking stuff
• Are you thinking “Oh really now?”
• What you see is not what it is
• The answer lies in 3 points...
• Cryptography
• Social engineering
Slide 13
Slide 13 text
Cracking stuff
• Albert Einstein once said...
• “Two things are infinite: the universe and
human stupidity; and I'm not sure about
the the universe.”
• We know he was right :-)
Slide 14
Slide 14 text
Cracking stuff
• One way cryptography
• Algorithms with collisions
• Salts
• Sheer smartness
Slide 15
Slide 15 text
Cracking stuff
• Social engineering means...
• इसका तो कट गया !
• Keyloggers, phishing and MIT
Slide 16
Slide 16 text
HTBAH?
• Learn the hacker attitude
• The world has too many problems
• No problem should be solved twice
• Freedom is good
• Learn how to ask questions on anything
and everything
• Attitude is NOT A SUBSTITUTE for
competence
Slide 17
Slide 17 text
HTBAH?
• Learn how to write code. Real code.
• Read real code. Improve it.
• Learn how to use Linux/UNIX/BSD
• Learn how to use the Internet
• Learn how to write proper English
Slide 18
Slide 18 text
BRAG TIME
Before we move to questions, it is necessary
for me to brag about my achievements
and prove my authenticity...
Slide 19
Slide 19 text
whoami
• http://pratul.in
• ex-Google Summer of Code intern
• Open source contributor
• Code runs on 4000+ websites
• And the usual...
• http://www.google.com/search?q=pratul+kalia
Slide 20
Slide 20 text
Questions!
• I will not fry you if you ask a stupid one
• This might be your best chance
• Now ask.