As a regular CTF competitor for over 4 years now, I cannot emphasize the value in simply playing CTFs if you really want to learn this stuff. So many people seem to think there's a secret manual laying around that teaches you all that is involved in going from a compiled binary to a shell. The referenced book should be used as a resource for when you come across a new topic and need some help. If you want to get started here are some useful links.
It stands for Capture The Flag, in these exercises it usually means completing a series of reverse engineering scenarios exploiting vulnerabilities in a simulated environment or possibly obtaining and holding root access to a host while others continue to search for and attack the host. The CTFTime FAQ has more information: https://ctftime.org/ctf-wtf/
Or is it more relevant to say "this is HOW I want to learn"? I'd contend that one of the best ways for a person to learn about technology / engineering /computing / ... is to open things up and see how they work.
It's an especially good way for teenagers to learn, before they get bogged down in the exam regime of the later years of high school, as they have insatiable curiosity and a seemingly infinite amount of time. In the hands of a curious teenager, a smart phone and an open-ended mandate to break it, could be a pocket sized, multi-year course in nearly every aspect of electronics and programming.
I have been contemplating taking up coding in my spare time, especially after the post about turning the $200 Chromebook into an el cheapo learning machine. This could be the starting block I have been searching for.
This is more of a knowledge expansion endeavor rather than career endeavor. Something to tinker with on the side was the appeal of the Ubuntu'd Chromebook in a threat here last week.
As far as learning and reversing goes, it has often been helpful to see how something is working while also attempting to make it work for me.
You should still be able to learn quite a bit with just the Chromebook. After reading the article, I'm thinking about getting one myself so I can get back into learning web development again.
Not quite yet. I usually wait until the semester is in full swing before I make purchases. Both for time and money's sake.
That will be the one I more than likely go with. I was worried about 2GB of RAM coming from a Windows background, 2GB isnt anything. But apparently it runs fine in Ubuntu.
I remember how I spent a summer going through Lenas videos tutorials (look them up). They were really good and I learned a lot. Reverse engineering is an addictive thing.
http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2011/09/06/stack-frame-layout-o...