Seeking hacker mentor.

[coxdarwin]

i've teaching myself as much as i can with what i've found on the net, but i feel that if i had a teacher, or sensi if you will, i'd learn programming and security admin at a much faster rate then on my own. i aim to get my CEH. ( that is if that really worth anything) and thus bring about my other need for a mentor; guidance is a school going to teach me anything i cant myself should? should i just aim for certification? theres just so much i dont know and so many "right" answers out there. anyone please help...

[David Miller]

As for certification, I can't really say, I did the LPIC test a few years ago and I did learn alot by studying for the test, mostly all those little unix utilities like nl, od, join, cut, etc.. Did it help me get a job? I don't know but it was nice to put on my resume.

Stack had good things to say about the red hat program but that is an expensive proposition to go through. The cost of RHCE is in the thousands, I think you can take the LPIC test for about $100.

If you really want to learn try to set up your own server. Do your own web, email, and whatever else you want.

[stack]

I really liked the Red Hat Certified Engineer program. David is right in that it costs a lot. I had been saving for months before I figured out a way to have work pay for it. Will it get you a job? I can't say for certain, however, go to monster or dice and do a job search for Linux then filter out all the ones asking for RHCE. The difference is huge (one of the reasons why I started studying on my own). This is not an easy test. Be prepared. The new book by Micheal Jang is rather heavy but a great reference book. I don't agree with his method 100% but I do think it would prepare you for the RHCE. The test by itself is far cheaper then the class and test.

There are plenty of other certifications out there too. I have heard good things about the Canonical Ubuntu certs. I do not have them though.

If you are focusing on security I know a few people who have done the http://www.metasploit.com/ testing. They said it was really good. In fact they all have jobs doing penetration testing now.

Also, keep your eye out on http://www.damnvulnerablelinux.org/ .The last version is kinda dated now, but they had a BUNCH of training, tutorials, and tests that you could learn security from. I know they are working hard on the next version. If you really are serious about learning, it would be a HUGE help to the guys if you could get a pre-release and go through all the tutorials with a write up. If you could document the process from the eyes of a newbie you might uncover bugs and things that could help them improve the process before they do a final release. I thought about doing a blog and working through a tutorial per post documenting my findings, but I have been super swamped recently. Anyway, I have heard great things about DVL in the past and I went through a few of their tutorials on Apache vulnerabilities that I was able to fix in my own servers. Worth checking out. They are expected to make a release in the next month or so, if you have any desire to help test it out, now is the time.

Hope that helps.

~Stack~
RHCE