Old bird teaches you how to be a good hacker

Old bird teaches you how to be a good hacker

Some may often ask me: "How can I get my first penetration test?" Like most other types of work, the company hopes that employees can bring substantial value to the company as quickly as possible, this requires you to have some experience before you can do it. What we want to discuss now is how to get the first job to gain these experiences. This is a typical zombie problem with chicken and eggs.

First, you do not have to have the experience of a professional penetration engineer to become a professional penetration engineer. You only need to be able to discover security problems and be passionate about penetration testing.

I think the best way to get involved in this field is to focus on penetration testing of Web applications. This is the work that is often done in this field and the minimum cost to enter this field.

Learning

Try to understand the operating system principles. Understand how your browser sends requests. You can use a proxy to intercept these requests and responses. Read some knowledge about DNS and understand how it works. Learn SSL. I learned how to use php,. Net, Ruby on Rails to write simple Web applications. In this process, I should think about what mistakes may be made in the coding process with the thinking of a programmer. In addition, there are some security tutorials on the network and some vulnerable applications that can be used for testing. Here I recommend some excellent exercises on the PentesterLab website. We also need to read Security Information frequently and conduct deeper research on topics that interest you. Penetration testing is to conduct research and testing to reach a deeper and higher level.

This is a good way to learn new technologies and compete with others. In addition, you also have the opportunity to meet people who have already become professional penetration engineers. And if they like your technology, they will be happy to help you and bring you into this field. A good bole brings great value to the company. That's why many companies have to pay more salaries to some headhunters than their employees.

Vulnerability Mining

And in a smart way. If you find a Bug, there are four ways to handle it:

"Oh, my God, the vulnerability I found is so hot that I have to publish it before someone else finds it ". Basically, when you find a Bug, it will be sent to some email lists, such as full-disclosure. if this vulnerability is not exactly reproducible, it may not bring you a penetration test job and your emails will be permanently stored on the Internet.

 

"Let's send an email to the official application." This is a good practice. You may be mentioned in the official announcement and gain some good reputation.

 

"Let's write a patch for this vulnerability and send an email to the official website." This is an outstanding feedback and public method. You may be listed in the official update record. In the future, recruiters will see that you have the ability to locate vulnerabilities and fix them correctly.

"Hide the vulnerabilities I found". This is also a good way to handle bugs, but you need people to know your capabilities, so it is not appropriate to do so now.

Most recruiters will apply for a wide variety of certificates from the establishment, but in most cases they do not have a lot of practical skills and some small honors recorded by the Internet. If you can find some vulnerabilities and help the Government fix them, you will probably pass the interview:

1. You will be able to demonstrate that you can exploit vulnerabilities.

2. You will be able to describe how you can fix vulnerabilities and introduce your ideas to developers. This is the most basic task of penetration testing: identify vulnerabilities, explain to non-security practitioners why they are insecure and help them fix vulnerabilities. So now you can understand this job.

3. You will be able to prove that you are passionate about security, because you have already begun mining and fixing vulnerabilities before you have entered this field.

So now, which applications are used for penetration testing. I think you certainly don't want to start with WordPress/phpmyadmin or some large projects that have been checked by many people. Start testing a small but active user group project. You cannot find the vulnerability :)

Simplify things

Do not write too many keywords when writing resumes. Don't make yourself look like an expert in a certain field, such as using "proficient in X ". If you use this word, the recruiter will expect you to give a very professional answer when asking questions. If I see that you use "I can ...... I have the ability ......", Then I will ask some simple questions and lower my expectations. Don't lie in your resume. Just write the facts. This will surprise the interviewer.

Raise Questions

If you have not passed the interview, you need to ask what needs to be improved after the interview, and what skills should the interviewer expect the applicant to master? Do they have any resources you can learn? If they see that you want to improve your skills, they will also be willing to give you a second interview in a few months to convince you of the skills you have learned during this period.