This document discusses how the author learned hacking skills in high school by creating a virtual hacking lab. It recommends using virtualization software like VMware or Oracle VirtualBox to install systems like Kali Linux and vulnerable platforms like Metasploitable for practice. Some key skills to learn include SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and password cracking. Opportunities exist in penetration testing, bug bounty programs, capture the flag games, and online challenges. Responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities can build trust with companies and sometimes lead to rewards or jobs. Overall hacking skills are valuable for both offensive and defensive security work.

1. How I learnt hacking in
high school
Lokesh Pidawekar

2. The road ahead
● Why learn this?
● Creating the lab environment
● How to learn
● Caveats
● What next, opportunity?
● Conclusion

3. ● Security Engineer at Cisco Systems, Inc.
● Mastered Science of Information
Assurance from Northeastern University,
Boston (MA)
● Occasionally blog at
infosecforever.blogspot.com
● @MaverickRocky02
● lokesh [dot] pidawekar [at] gmail [dot] com

4. Disclaimer
The tools and techniques covered in the presentation can be dangerous and
are being shown only for educational purposes.
It is a violation of Federal and some states’ laws to attempt to gain
unauthorized access to information assets or systems belonging to others, or to
exceed authorized on systems for which access have not been granted.
Only use these tools with/on systems you own or with written permission from
the owner. Speaker does not assume any responsibility and shall not be held
liable for any illegal use of these tools.

5. Why learn this
http://www.wordstream.com/images/attention-economy-zoidberg-why.png

6. Penetration Testing
“Penetration testing is security testing in which assessors
mimic real world attacks to identify methods for
circumventing the security features of an application,
system or network1”
http://kcdigitalarts.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/simulation-network-security-consultation.jpg

7. Why Pentest?
● Better (cost and effort) to find holes before attackers
exploit them
● Vulnerability assessment is not enough
● Requirement from compliance standards such as PCI
DSS2
● Increases the security of the computing resources being
tested

8. How did I start
● Curiosity
● Self phishing (My first endeavor)
● Reading blogs about breaking things
● Practicing techniques on old software
● Attending security meetups

9. And why?
● They don’t teach how to break systems in schools
but employers expect to defend all attacks as if we
know how to do it
● Cruising through the interviews and practical tests
● To develop penetration testing skill

10. Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand
battles, a thousand victories
- Sun Tzu

11. Let the show begins
Recipe for making a hacking lab
● Some virtualization platform
● installing required software for attack
● installing vulnerable software
● learning key concepts

12. The infrastructure
● Raspberry Pi, old laptop
● Virtualization Software -
o VMware fusion/workstation (if the
school is giving free license),
otherwise vmware player, Oracle
Virtualbox, Qemu
http://catstechnology.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/03/0FVNM9EASJX.jpg

13. Attacking OS
Dedicated OS
● Kali Linux (Formerly known as Backtrack)
● Samurai WTF
● Santoku Linux
● Backbox Linux
● Pentoo
● Android Tamer (because it’s the age of mobile)
Recent developments to build frameworks for pentesting is exciting for e.g.
Pentestbox, Appie, Pentester’s framework etc.

14. Vulnerable Platforms for practice
Operating System Metasploitable 2
Vulnerability Specific
Images
Pentesterlab, vulnhub, CTFs images
Web Application WebGoat, BwaPP, DVWA, OWASP
Bricks
Mobile Applications GoatDroid, InsecureBankv2, DVIA
Custom Cloud based Hack.me

15. Learning, how to:
● Hacking is not point and shoot
● Fundamental from OWASP
● Security Researchers blogs e.g. Project Zero3, etc.
● Conference talks, videos (anyone heard of @irongeek or
@securitytube)
● Online courses on Coursera, udemy etc.

16. Practice and Dedication
SQLi,
XSS,
Password
Cracking
etc.

17. Opportunities

18. Huge Opportunity
http://money.cnn.com/pf/best-jobs/2015/list/

19. Security recruitment and hacking
● Hacking the company will put you in prison
● Companies are becoming more hands-on while
recruitment
● There is no dummies guide for cracking security
interviews

20. Wargames and Capture the Flag
● There are plenty of CTF games happening throughout the year (Check any
Con)
● Some CTF are live round the year
o http://overthewire.org/wargames/ - Challenges ranging from web app
to Linux command and overflows
o http://io.smashthestack.org/

21. Online challenges
The researchers, companies put online challenges for various attacks
● https://xss-game.appspot.com/
● https://github.com/yahoo/webseclab
● https://google-gruyere.appspot.com/
● https://github.com/cure53/xss-challenge-wiki/wiki/Older-Challenges-and-
Write-Ups

22. Responsible Disclosure
● Because we are white hats :)
● Builds trust between vendors
and security community
● Name and fame or even some
money
http://web.securityinnovation.com/Portals/49125/images/Disclo
sure.jpg

24. Bug Bounty
Most of the companies have started to reward
researchers as part of bug bounty program
Example - Google, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.
Responsible disclosed vulnerabilities to Sony,
Prezi.com, Eventbrite etc.
There are platforms such as BugCrowd,
HackerOne, Synack, CrowdCurity etc. to
mediate for crowdsourcing bug bounty

25. Some guidelines to follow
● Write a concise report with proper steps to reproduce
the vulnerability
● Test security for the targets that are where you have
permissions explicitly
● Respect the vendor, do not indulge in malpractice
against them
● Do not copy paste other researcher’s report (there are
hell lot of bugs yet to be found)

26. ● Rapid skill development is key to success in security
● They can’t teach everything in class
● It’s not easy to gain experience of exploiting all
vulnerabilities in real world
● Defense can be designed well if we will know attacking
techniques
Conclusion

27. References
1. http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-115/SP800-115.pdf
2. https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pdfs/infosupp_11_3_penetration_test
ing.pdf
3. http://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/
4. http://www.zdnet.com/article/pwn2own-2015-the-year-every-browser-went-
down/
5. http://www.google.com/about/appsecurity/reward-program/
6. https://www.facebook.com/whitehat?_rdr
7. https://community.rapid7.com/docs/DOC-1875
8. https://pentesterlab.com/

28. Questions
Email - lokesh[dot]pidawekar[at]gmail[dot]com