So I have been interested in computer security, hacking, cracking, preaking and everything around it since my early teenage years. It has mostly been for the fun of it and not something I would use for bad things.

Back in the early days (mid-90es) security was just beginning to be a thing so defacing a webpage, getting access to a BBS, forum or similar was not a big deal (nor was the consequences!!). Much have changed since than but my interest for it has never disappeared. The last 10 years has however mostly been about work and family and the time for security research has been on an all-time low.

Recently I decided to give it some more focus again. I searched around and via some friends from CPH:SEC, I found my way to some of the many “hacking” setups online. They are mostly a mix between a learning platform and basic CTF (Capture The Flag) games. So you learn a little and then you need to put your newly discovered capabilities to a test by gaining access to some system and find the “flag”.

Some of the more well-known platforms for this are:

I decided to focus mainly on the first one as it gives you way more “rooms” (sessions) for free whereas HTB is forcing you to pay after only a few rooms.

So what have I done so far? Gained access to a range of Linux boxes via badly configured services, via remote exploits, via various bad web site implementation. I have done privilege escalation via local exploits, bad SUIDs, buffer overflows and much more. I even gained access to a few windows servers, though I find these to be a lot less fun.

So how is did it go?

I started out December 1st and by today (December 4th) I ended up as ranking #1 for December in Denmark.

Leader of the pack (for just a short time probably)

This is all about activity and I gave it a good deal of time with 1-2 hours a day for the past 4 days. I have become Level 6 in their system and received 5 badges so far (for achieving different specialities)

With almost 15 years of Linux experience some of the badges came quite easily

If you’re new to this, I would recommend to check it out this December where they do a fun little Advents competition (even with prizes). Sofar they daily challenges have been almost too easy but for a beginner they give some pretty good info I guess.

Check it out and Enjoy!