Although script kiddie is a derogatory term, script kiddies could also do harmful damage just like an average exploiter or attacker. We shouldn’t undermine DDoS / DoS attacks for example since it could take your business offline if there is no mitigation or protection. The purpose of this article is to add some spiced up humor about how some script kiddies act. As a security professional, do not follow this guide. Alan Wlasuk once said in his article “Help! I Think my Kid is a Script Kiddie” that no one likes a Script Kiddie except of course a fellow Script Kiddie. Following the footsteps of a script kiddie could lead you to jail. Nobody wants to end up in prison. I think everyone likes to improve their skills and boost their career so yeah keep trying harder. Read, read, and read; and apply what you learn. Study and learn programming, UNIX, Linux, exploit development, information security, and malware analysis. You can also take up good courses like CEH, CCNA, OSCP, etc. I would also like to add that there is nothing wrong with using Metasploit Framework, Nessus, and penetration testing distributions like Kali Linux and BackBox Linux as long as you understand what you are doing, and you know how it works. Contributing to such good tools is also one of best approaches to helping the community. If you think that you may be disappointed of what you have become I would suggest that you read the best reference and document for starters on how to be a good hacker which is entitled “How To Become A Hacker” written by Eric Steven Raymond (ERS). Therefore, I would like to quote the paragraphs that explain what a hacker is: The Jargon File contains a bunch of definitions of the term ‘hacker’, most having to do with technical adeptness and a delight in solving problems and overcoming limits. If you want to know how to become a hacker, though, only two are really relevant. There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the UNIX operating system what it is today. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you’re a hacker. The hacker mind-set is not confined to this software-hacker culture. There are people who apply the hacker attitude to other things, like electronics or music — actually, you can find it at the highest levels of any science or art. Software hackers recognize these kindred spirits elsewhere and may call them ‘hackers’ too — and some claim that the hacker nature is really independent of the particular medium the hacker works in. But in the rest of this document we will focus on the skills and attitudes of software hackers, and the traditions of the shared culture that originated the term ‘hacker’. There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren’t. These are people (mainly adolescent males) who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking the phone system. Real hackers call these people ‘crackers’ and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible, and not very bright, and object that being able to break security doesn’t make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word ‘hacker’ to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end. The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them. If you want to be a hacker, keep reading. If you want to be a cracker, go read the alt.2600 newsgroup and get ready to do five to ten in the slammer after finding out you aren’t as smart as you think you are. And that’s all I’m going to say about crackers. Pretty nice essay from ESR don’t you think? Resist the Script Kiddie side! Use the force to learn the hacker way. And if you’re interested in online hacker certification, check out InfoSec Institute’s training boot camps!
Sources and additional reading
How to Avoid Becoming a Script Kiddie Help! I think my Kid is a Script Kiddie How To Become a Hacker
