hacking myself

[paranoid4012]

hello all; i was wondering if you could answer this question.

i want to learn to hack. so as to not cause damage to anyone else, i would hack a computer that belongs to me. basically, i would set up an isolated network between only two of my own computers and hack one with the other.

is this legal? my friends said doing so is like me beating my car with a baseball bat; as long as it's my property i can do whatever i want to it. in light of the recent hype on hackers, though, im not sure who to trust.

thanks for your time.

[noid]

Ya, its your property. Lots of people and companies do this regularly. The only caveat to this would be the location of your machine. For example, lets say I put a computer at a colo company and want to hack it from home. I can hack my computer, as I am giving myself permission, however I may be violating my Terms and Conditions with the colo company or my ISP. Idealy, just put this other computer on your home network and hack away. One recommendation I have is to set it up to boot a bunch of different OS' so Monday you can hack Red Hat 8, Tuesday you can hack WinXP, Wed BSD, and so on..

[astcell]

If you have up your OS don't expect support form the manufacturer. But you have it right, hack yourself again and again. It's like playing chess against yourself. Strengthen one box as best you can ten start hacking. If you get in, find out how to secure that hole, then go back and forth. Enjoy.

[jesse]

I'm really bothered that someone would even think that it could be illegal at all to "hack" a computer that you own, on the privacy of your own home network.

Looks like the RIAA/MPAA/DCMA/BSA/whatever is really winning.

[astcell]

Welle Jesse, technically you do not own the software, you are only allowed to use it. Therefore, technically, you are indeed hacking into your box but "someone else's" software. I think it is a valid point.

[bascule]

Welle Jesse, technically you do not own the software, you are only allowed to use it.

At least in America, this is still a huge gray area due to a lack of precedent and definitive laws on the issue. There's been a great deal of debate as to whether any software license would hold up in court, at least with the interpration that the software manufacturers would prefer you use.

Personally I think anything you do with software you purchase which doesn't involve distribution of anything to other people is "fair use"

[Gadsden]

hello all; i was wondering if you could answer this question.

i want to learn to hack. so as to not cause damage to anyone else, i would hack a computer that belongs to me. basically, i would set up an isolated network between only two of my own computers and hack one with the other.

is this legal? my friends said doing so is like me beating my car with a baseball bat; as long as it's my property i can do whatever i want to it. in light of the recent hype on hackers, though, im not sure who to trust.

thanks for your time.

Hooking up with like-minded folks in your area can help as well. Try to find some folks interested in network security, etc. (avoid script-kiddies or asshats wanting to do illegal actions) Have a LAN party, with the people involved giving permission for everyone to hack each other's box.

[EeeekPenguins]

Hooking up with like-minded folks in your area can help as well. Try to find some folks interested in network security, etc. (avoid script-kiddies or asshats wanting to do illegal actions) Have a LAN party, with the people involved giving permission for everyone to hack each other's box.

This is alot of fun and a great learning experience. We did this at our last DC503 meeting and it was a blast. Hacking your own box's is one of the best ways to learn. Also read read and read some more.

[Xodia]

This is alot of fun and a great learning experience.

I agree, its a whole lot of fun. A great cheap way to fool around with hacking yourself is to go to your local little computer store and buy(or just rummage) for an old 486 or pentium, install a Linux distro on it with all the security you can and have fun. I have two boxes running at my friends house that we play wargames with.