Good day all, Im what you would call a noob with linux, I have worked with AIX before but not the nitty gritty stuff that makes one a linux/unix pro. All im firmlia with is the LVM and the topas/top stuff.

can someone direct me to material I can use to advance my skills quickly and more effectively. you know the so called Black hat hacker's level etc.

Thanks Gothamus

I would suggest installing VirtualBox, installing a Linux into that, and going through a beginners guide to that. Learn your way around Linux. Then get GNS3 and learn your way around switches, routers and firewalls.

Once you have a few years under your belt, look up "Penetration testing" or "Ethical hacker" and go through the information provided. Within a few more years you will have the understanding required to set up and test network security.

...

Or you could download Metasploit/Nessus/Skipfish/GFI Languard et al and just fire blindly into the dark. Not sure you would learn much by using automated tools.

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Thank you, I'll get right on it, I have a fav distro, but im not sure if I have gone the more 'user friendly way by choosing linux mint any sugestions?

You're not forced to use the user friendly parts of the distro. Just hack you're way around using the command line instead of the GUI tools.

PS
Mint is based on Ubuntu if I'm not mistaken. If so, I don't consider it user friendly under the hood; it feels more complicated to me than e.g. Slackware.

I don't think that LQ is the appropriate forum to hone blackhat skills. Closed.

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