How can I learn how to hack?



Yahoo! Internet Life  "Ask the Surf Guru" 
http://www.zdnet.com/yil/

Guru,

How can I learn how to hack? I haven't found any books that 
teach you hacking.

Zameer

ANSWER: 

A hacker, in the word's purest original sense, was just someone 
who works on computers with gusto and a sense of exploration 
equal to Columbus. Lately, though, "hacking" has come to mean 
electronic trespassing and acting with malice online -- which is 
really cracking, not hacking. Which explains why you probably 
can't go to the Barnes & Nobles and ask for the latest Hacking 
for Dummies.

Hacking is learned by trial and error -- but it's difficult 
without anyone to guide you through pitfalls and obstacles. There 
are some superb online resources, though, that will act as a wise 
old Yoda to your greenhorn Luke. Let me stress from the start 
that we're not advocating any electronic trespassing or acts of 
malice but rather want to give you a sense of the hacker's ethos 
and how this pastime has developed. 

Though you do have to register (it's free) to get in, The New York 
Times offers a "tour" of HackStock, the 1997 Hacking in Progress 
Festival, which took place in The Netherlands. The site contains 
articles including the history of hacking, its ethics, and current 
technical challenges (i.e., the New York City subway's Metrocard 
system).

If you're interested in checking out the exploits of the more 
mischievous of the hacker brood, check out the archive of 
famously hacked Web pages at Hacked. Included here are the famous 
security breaches at the Department of Justice and the CIA. (For 
a nervous laugh, check out the ValuJet hack. Take your Guru's word 
for it: you'll never fly again.) The archive is part of 2600 
magazine, itself as important to the history of hacking as, say, 
the Declaration of Independence is to the American Revolution, but 
I don't want to exaggerate.

The other granddaddy of hacker zines, Phrack is a font of 
information about hackers and their communities. Phrack has been 
stirring up trouble -- as well as providing valuable information 
on operating systems, networking technologies, and all aspects of 
telephony -- since 1985. You'll find links and documents on its 
site that I'm sure you'll find invaluable.

But of course, just like The Force, there is a light side to 
hacking as well as a dark. Carolyn Meinel, editor and publisher of 
the Happy Hacker mailing list, believes there's such a thing as 
healthy hacking and advocates it mightily in her Happy Hacker 
mailings. You can subscribe to the Happy Hacker Digest by sending 
an e-mail to hacker@techbroker.com with the message "subscribe". 
You can also check out her Happy Hacker Guides, and past Happy 
Hacker Digests on the Web.

Check out the following sites on hacking: The New York Times' 
HackStock, the 1997 Hacking in Progress Festival
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/hackstock/hack-index.html