What are the initial steps to become a hacker?
As all say, the basics are what takes you ahead! For being a hacker (a real one) 1. Learn to program Learning to make your own tools is a must for a hacker, start with learning C/ Python. Upon advancing get hands dirty with Ruby/ Perl. These will help you make scripts to automate attacks and create tools. Reason: Being a hacker means building your own tools to automate attacks, fuzz through input fields, and create tools customized for different environments according to the scenario. Once you are adept at this, learn at least one server-side language ( preferably PHP, otherwise JSP/ ASP) At a glance, the languages you need to be good at least in basics: 1) C Programming (for low-level attacks such as buffer overflow/ memory attacks) 2) Java Programming ( helps code quickly tools for security testing) 3) Powershell ( much needed for exploitation on Windows and Red Teaming attacks) 4) Python ( a much hand scripting language needed for automating scripts/ writing explo