How to Become a Hacker

This article is based on an essay I wrote in December of 1998.
Looking for advice on learning to crack passwords, sabotage systems, mangle websites, write viruses, and plant Trojan horses? You came to the wrong place. I'm not that kind of hacker.
Looking for advice on how to learn the guts and bowels of a system or network, get inside it, and become a real expert? Maybe I can help there. How you use this knowledge is up to you. I hope you'll use it to contribute to computer science and hacking (in its good sense), not to become a cracker or vandal.
This little essay is basically the answers to all the emails I get asking how to become a hacker. It's not a tutorial in and of itself. It's certainly not a guaranteed success. Just give it a try and see what happens. That said, here's where to start:

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