10000: The easy way to hacking

If you think hacking is very glamorous where you and a bunch of friends will ride around on Roller Blades fighting an evil corporate hacker like in Hollywood, you'd better go to Hollywood, 'cause that is not what hacking is about. If you started reading this section because you want someone to just give you all the knowledge you need to become a hacker, then you're not cut out to become a hacker. There are people that will help you, but that robs you of part of the experience of being a hacker. You can call yourself a hacker as much as you like, and you'll get away with it with people that think _WarGames_ and _Hackers_ is what it's all about, but as soon as you meet a REAL hacker, he'll call your bluff. Hacking can not be learned in one sitting. It can not be learned in a single year. It can not be learned in a life time if you do not have the mindset. Hacking, contrary to popular belief and biased by the media, is _NOT_ about gaining entry into computer systems. That is cracking. Most real hackers view cracking as a much lower occupation. Hackers fix the holes crackers create. They produce the software and find ways to circumvent hardware limitations. While hackers do break into systems, it's not about just breaking into them. It's about breaking into them to find out how they work.

So now that you know a little about what hacking is and isn't, read on to find out about how one becomes a hacker. The most important part is, and I can't stress this enough, is the mindset. You are either born with it or you're not. You can develop it, if you're willing to drive yourself totally insane. Do you like to party? Do you go out with friends alot? Be prepared to give those up. As you dive head first into your new love, you'll lose sight of your old friends, and they'll lose interest in you. You've got to read. That is what hacking is. Read your DOS manual. Read the Winblows manual. If you can't read them cover to cover, give up now and go back to partying. If you can handle those, look for ways to do your regular tasks faster and with less effort.

After digesting all the manuals for all of your software, go to the library. Check out books on just about anything technical. Learn how computers work, from the inside. Learn electronics theory. Learn about operating systems. Learn about phone systems. The computers the phone system employs have a seemingly infinite level of complexity, and you can never learn everything there is to know. Soon you'll find yourself with more time on your hands as everything you do takes less time because you've refined it. One day you'll wake up and just know you are a hacker.