My name is DManHack... I'm new to IExploit and to the world of security. Although I do have a degree in Information Systems.... and some basics in info sec. I'm noticing that I'm starting to really enjoy topics around... hacking, exploit writing, vulnerability discovery/analysis, forensics (you get the idea). The reason that I signed up to this BB is to hopefully find some information, some kind of publications that would help this new guy get his feet wet and start to go in the right direction in learning info sec related stuff... and hopefully avoid the current situation that I'm in right now where I am running around like a chicken with his head cut-off from finding all these cool stuff to learn, but doesn't know where to begin.
Do you have anything specific about security you want to learn about? Since security is such a wide field of topics you will have to focus on one path. For example, website security, OS security, network security etc. There are so many fields and it is now your turn to choose one.
If you want a more personal conversation, and a more personal answer you can add me on skype. Otherwise we can just take it in here.
The two areas that I'm really interested how to discover, analyze, and write malware, The second one would be forensics. The thing is I'm an IT guys and I don't know very much when it comes to programming and such...like someone with a CS degree would..
If you want to start out with the first one i would recommend you to look into how operating systems actually works, and how to manipulate with them. For the second one you will have to start at programming, if you haven't programming before you will have to start out with a little more simple programming language. Also I will need to know how serious you are about it because it will take a lot of time and dedication to reach that level of skills.
But for malware programming i will recommend you to look into VB.Net and properly the best language C++. I will recommend you to start out with an easier language because if you haven't programmed before C++ will most likely kill you. But try a language like Python and when you fill you are ready to go further, move on to one of the programming languages i mentioned above.
Forensics, again you will also need a lot of knowledge about computer systems works, and how to control them. You will need to know how people hide their tracks and where they properly leaves tracks anyway or where they lack og knowledge/preparation.
I hope that this has sorted things out a little bit for you. If you have other questions you want to ask, bring them on. It's important to start the right place, and with something you find interesting. Because hacking can fast take your courrage away if you start out with the wrong thing. But welcome to a fantastic world, of people who knows what they are doing. With people loves to help and loves to gain new knowledge. I'm sure you will find the world of hacking both interesting and amazing.
In my opinion; I would start with the terminal, get yourself very comfortable with CLI. From there shell scripting; this is the absolute basics of programming; getting used to syntax, process order, ect.. Personally I never cared much for VB 4/5/6 or .NET; it also wasn't my first language/s. I would suggest to get started with PHP; it is relative to both C/C++ and Java, as well as a higher MIPs rating then Python or VB... Otherwise, just get started with C, then C++... I say this cause if you truly want to learn to exploit; C and C++ does not do integrity checks on your variables. Hence the kill ya part; but learning off the bat to control your code, will help in learning how to break the code of others. As far as security is concerned; regardless of it being web app, OS, or network based, each one is only a part in the entirety of any systems integrity. True security, and integrity does not happen from simply one part, as with any system period, rather it be mechanical, biological, or electrical. If you want to do malware; simply learning some in's n outs of windows and VB can accomplish this. But if you want to learn how to analyse, and exploit; you should seriously have an understanding of not only the OS, but also all the variable scopes, types, ranges, heap, stack, bss, data, ect.. As for forensics; you first want to learn Bash like the back of your hand, a lot of forensics can be done with Bash. From there you want to know and understand binary, hex, complex algorithms, reverse engineering, ect.. As Phage said though, it does take some serious determination if you seriously want to get into it. Also I will give you a list of some of the books on my book shelf so you can hunt for those rather then running around like a chicken with it's head cut off...
Guide to Linux installation and Administration Web Servers, Security & Maintenance Guide to Linux Networking and Security Unix System V Beginning C (also have one for C++ as well as advanced C/C++) MySql 5 Php 5 Intrusion Detection Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment Modern Cryptanalysis Remote Access (CCHP prep mine is outdated but I am sure they have newer versions) Hacking: The Art of Exploitation
Happy hunting, and enjoy!! Also good luck to ya; and welcome.
"Mind, body, heart, and soul; when all work as one, this is control." - myself