What is on Your Mind?

Hi there,

First off NO, i'm not a black hat hacker or anything like that.
Not out for "lulz"/learn how to steal my friends facebooks id's or any of that business.

I am a developer and software tester by nature and the reason behind me wanting to learn penetration testing is so I can hopefully become a software analyst specialising in security.

I have some basic knowledge of this subject but have never really studied it in depth.
I have had a look around at courses (in the UK) but so far have only found a 2 day course which costs £1000!!!!

Basically was hoping one of you out there who shares a similar interest would be able to point me in the direction of a really good book or books or if there are some interactive online training sites (like w3schools.com) .

Failing that maybe somewhere which offers training at more reasonable price?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

---------- Post updated at 03:16 PM ---------- Previous update was at 12:30 PM ----------

hmm just noticed in the rules no questions about hacking :/
i'm guessing this would be classified as hacking so...
could someone please just delete the thread and please accept my humble apologies?

thanks

See Penetration testing training course. Armando Romeo is well respected.

ahh thats great thanks a lot for the link!

I don't think it's considered hacking to attack your own system.

I would consider that white hat hacking?
Maybe my definitions are wrong I don't know.

As I understand it 'hacking' is a pejorative and always negative.

Well i guess it's open to interpretation but as far as I am aware hacking is simply the process of taking something apart (hacking) and using it for any purpose for which it was not originally intended.

Correct me if i'm wrong but the first hackers I heard about were a group of people who took apart old telephone relays etc and turned them into a train set.

---------- Post updated at 05:27 PM ---------- Previous update was at 05:26 PM ----------

However a simple wiki search tells me this

"A hacker is a person who breaks into computers and computer networks for profit, in protest, or because they are motivated by the challenge"

Personally I find this statement to be pretty offensive.
I'd consider myself a hacker but not in that sense.