Learn Ethical Hacking From A-Z: Beginner To Expert Course

Explore the basics of networking, including what a network is, how data travels, and the roles of IP addresses, subnets, MAC addresses, ports, protocols, and public versus private networks.

Explore how data travels across networks by using IP addresses and packets; learn that packets act as envelopes with source and destination addresses, routed by network routers.

Explore how ports act as separate communication channels and learn common protocols like ftp, ssh, dns, http/https, smtp, pop3, smb, ldap, and rdp, plus tcp vs udp reliability.

Differentiate public and private IP addresses, showing how public IPs identify devices on the internet while private IPs identify devices on private networks.

Understand how subnets group devices into communicable networks. An IP address has four octets; a /24 subnet fixes the first three as the network address, leaving 256 hosts.

Explore how a typical home network uses a private IP range and a shared public IP via a router, then compare it to a remote VPN-driven corporate network.

Set up your hacking lab with virtualization to practice safely 24/7. Explore virtual machines, recommended hardware specs, and installing Kaldi Linux to run vulnerable systems for hands-on learning.

Understand virtual machines and how to run different operating systems on your computer, with hardware tips and using VirtualBox to build a hacking environment.

Set up a Kali Linux hacking machine by downloading the latest Kali Linux image, creating a VirtualBox VM with 4 GB RAM and 20 GB storage, and completing the installer.

Configure private host-only networks to connect two vulnerable virtual machines, set up a domain controller with active directory and DNS, join a Windows 10 client, and test connectivity with ping.

Explore Linux Bash and Python basics, plus PowerShell basics, and understand operating system fundamentals to see how scripting languages support ethical hacking.

Explore Linux basics and the command line for ethical hacking, including open source distributions, lightweight defaults, and essential commands for navigation, permissions, and root access.

Navigate essential directories from the root to the home folder, understand system and log files, and master copying and moving files with cp and mv using practical examples.

Install and update applications and files using package commands, search for updates, upgrade software, and perform distribution upgrades with root access.

Explore linux text editors like Vim, nano, and Leafpad for editing files. Learn basic commands: insert mode, escape, and saving with :w and :q.

Learn to search for files using locate and which, update the locate database with updatedb, and perform targeted or path-based searches within the PATH and defined directories.

Master bash scripting basics, from shebang scripts to variables, functions, and echo outputs. Learn to capture user input, pass arguments, and implement conditional statements for automation.

Master Python basics for ethical hacking, covering variables, functions, input, conditionals, loops, and sockets, to automate tasks and read code. Gain privacy-aware web practices for safe experimentation.

Discover how to protect privacy and hide your identity online using Tor, ANANA Surf, and a VPN, while understanding IP addresses, public versus home Wi-Fi, and a Digital Ocean VPS.

Explore the Tor browser, which routes your web traffic through three encrypted nodes to prevent surveillance and tracking, providing privacy and anonymity online, with setup and launcher guidance.

Explore anonsurf, a tool that routes all traffic through tor relays to enhance online privacy. Learn to download, install, and launch it on Linux via git clone and root start.

Install and run mac changer using sudo to change your interface's Mac address, boosting privacy and adding an extra layer of security for network traffic in ethical hacking.

Master online anonymity with vpn tunneling and tor, using a virtual private server for ethical hacking, then compare public vs private wifi and practice wifi hacking at home.

Explore what Wi‑Fi is and how it connects devices, and review hacking methods like sniffing, spoofing, wardriving, WPA/WPA2 hacking, and brute-force attacks.

Learn to set up a USB wifi adapter for a Kali Linux virtual machine in VirtualBox, configure USB and host-only networks, and enable monitor mode to detect networks.

Explore the vulnerabilities of WEP dating back to 1997, where 24-bit ivs with 64/128-bit keys enable decryption and forgery via rc4, using aircrack-ng to crack the key from captured packets.

Perform a fake authentication and replay attack to associate with a target network, capture packets into a file, and collect IVs to crack the WEP key with aircrack-ng.

Explore how WPA and WPA2 security operate, capture the four-way handshake, and use Aircrack-ng and Crunch to test password resilience in ethical hacking scenarios.

Explore passive and active reconnaissance to gather information about target networks using various tools. Learn to map networks, identify active machines, open ports, and fingerprint operating systems for ethical hacking.

Contrast passive reconnaissance with active reconnaissance, showing how passive gathers publicly available information without contacting the target, while active initiates connections and uses port scanners or vulnerability scanners.

Explore recon-ng for passive reconnaissance using open source intelligence, learning to install modules, create workspaces, and gather hosts, emails, and usernames across domains.

Explore whois enumeration for passive reconnaissance, gathering domain details like registrar, owner registration, name servers, and dns security to inform external assessment and information gathering.

Learn to use Netcraft DNS information to discover subdomains, IP addresses, server details, DNS admin data, and operating system information for ethical hacking and external assessments.

Explore Google hacking database to refine searches, filter results by file type like PDF, and target specific domains for ethical hacking and penetration testing.

Shodan.io offers open source intelligence by cataloguing devices connected to the internet. Search by IP or domain to learn assets and potential vulnerabilities, with caution.

Learn to use securityheaders.com to analyze a website's https headers, identify missing headers such as content security policies, and understand potential web-based vulnerabilities.

Use ssl labs to test a site’s ssl settings and identify vulnerabilities in older protocols like ssl 3.0 and tls 1.0/1.1, reviewing certificates and results.

Explore pastebin as a source of public text dumps containing emails, passwords, and other sensitive information, and learn how ethical hackers use it to assess exposed data and security risks.

Learn how to use Nmap for active reconnaissance, discovering open ports, operating systems, and running services, with version checks, UDP and TCP scans, and built-in vulnerability scripts.

Explore netcat as a reconnaissance tool for port scanning and listening to connections, and perform SMB and NFS enumeration with nmap to identify vulnerabilities and shared resources.

Discover how Nikto and Sparta automate web application scanning, combining Nmap-based discovery, port scans, and brute-force checks, with guidance on using Legian as an alternative toolset.

Explore SMTP enumeration and Nessus/OpenVAS scanning to identify vulnerable hosts, verify open port 25, and automate enumeration with a script for efficient reconnaissance.

Learn to ethically launch and analyze attacks through the five phases—from reconnaissance to covering tracks—using exploitation, evading antivirus, brute force, social engineering, and phishing.

Analyze information gathered from passive and active reconnaissance to map targets, enumerate IP addresses, operating systems, hostnames, open ports, shares, and user accounts, then search for exploits.

Demonstrate sniffing unencrypted Telnet traffic with Wireshark to reveal credentials on port 23, follow the TCP stream, and log in to a remote machine during a controlled ethical hacking assessment.

Search and understand public exploits using Exploit DB to support ethical hacking and penetration testing, verify reliability, review exploit details, and safely use public exploits and related frameworks.

Learn to use searchsploit to query a local exploit database, identify remote command execution vulnerabilities, copy exploits to your current directory, and review them for safety.

Learn to dissect exploits safely by opening and analyzing their code, understanding how backdoor commands execute, and evaluating the required arguments to launch exploits without harming systems.

Learn to launch exploits safely from the command line using Medfly, search and run exploits, gain shells, and explore service discovery and database access in ethical hacking.

Explore brute force attacks as an alternative to exploits, using Hydra on Linux to try logins with a wordlist against targets with weak or default passwords.

Learn how to crack password hashes using John the Ripper by extracting shadow hashes, preparing a word list, and matching hashes to reveal passwords.

Learn how arp spoofing impersonates a router on a local network to intercept traffic and capture credentials, then extend to dns spoofing and network traffic control in a controlled lab.

Learn how cryptography protects data using symmetric and asymmetric encryption, key concepts like DES, AES, RSA, elliptic curves, and hashing with salts, plus common attacks and defenses.

Master post exploitation after access, covering privilege escalation, back doors, malware, antivirus evasion, and data collection, transfer, and internal network pivoting within ethical hacking.

Demonstrate privilege escalation techniques on Linux and Windows, including system enumeration, kernel version discovery, and exploit delivery with a payload and remote desktop setup.

Master file transfer to a target and create custom malware, while evading antivirus defenses, using tftp, venom payloads, and shelter in realistic ethical hacking labs.

Demonstrate post-exploitation techniques by installing a keylogger that captures keystrokes, logs sensitive information, and dumps data for analysis to reveal login credentials and other secrets.

Learn to create a back door for persistent access using a payload and post-exploitation techniques with Metasploit and persistence.

Explore website and web application hacking, covering the OWASP top 10 vulnerabilities—injection, croci scripting, directory traversal, XML external entities, broken authentication, and insecure serialisation—with hands-on ethical hacking practice.

Conduct reconnaissance on a target web application using automated scanners like zap and burp to map urls, uncover vulnerabilities, and capture and modify http requests for testing.

Explore how the Directory Buster tool enumerates directories and files on a web server, revealing hidden content and potential entry points using targeted word lists for Apache and other servers.

Learn to use Nikto to scan web servers for known vulnerabilities, reveal admin login pages, and identify risks like command execution and sql injection.

Compare sqlmap and sql ninja for scanning web applications, enumerating databases, and testing for sql injection, highlighting practical usage and personal preference.

Learn how to perform brute force attacks on a vulnerable web app using Burp Suite, set security to low, and craft payloads to discover a valid username and password combination.

Demonstrates how unsanitized user input enables command injection to execute commands on a Linux system in a vulnerable web app, illustrating potential privilege escalation.

Explore how malicious file uploads enable remote code execution in web apps, and how insecure checks let attackers bypass image-type and extension validations to run commands and spawn a shell.

Explore local and remote file inclusion, perform directory traversal to read the shadow password file, and test remote inclusion using a hosted file, plus bypass tricks with case changes.

Explore sql injection basics and practical techniques, testing unsanitized inputs, extracting usernames and password hashes, and automating attacks with sqlmap, while understanding blind injection and data discovery through information_schema.

Explore cross-site request forgery (csrf) vulnerabilities by showing how a malicious link exploits a trusted session to change an admin password via cookies and referrer checks.

Learn how cross-site scripting enables malicious code injection through stored, reflected, and dom-based methods, showing how unsanitized input can load scripts and steal the cookie.