How To Become A Hacker

A talk to engineering students at BSAITM, Faridabad. Inspired by the famous essay by Eric Raymond, with the same title.

Transcript

1. How To Become A Hacker A talk and an open discussion
2. 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
3. Origins • MIT, as always • Amazing programmers and system architects • Real example: Kevin Mitnick
4. 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"
5. Ankit Fadia • He fails it
6. Ankit Fadia • He fails it • He fails it
7. Ankit Fadia • He fails it • He fails it • He fails it
8. Ankit Fadia • He fails it • He fails it • He fails it • And... • HE FAILS IT.
9. But why? • Years of computer security research • Authentic work • He has... • MTV What The Hack! • Books with documented “hacks” • No verified claims
10. Certification courses • Waste of time/money • Well, not always. • Eventually, the question must be asked... • Are You Satisfied?
11. 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.
12. 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
13. 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 :-)
14. Cracking stuff • One way cryptography • Algorithms with collisions • Salts • Sheer smartness
15. Cracking stuff • Social engineering means... • इसका तो कट गया ! • Keyloggers, phishing and MIT
16. 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
17. 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
18. BRAG TIME Before we move to questions, it is necessary for me to brag about my achievements and prove my authenticity...
19. 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
20. Questions! • I will not fry you if you ask a stupid one • This might be your best chance • Now ask.