Best websites to learn cyber security and hacking practically and legally in 2022

We have talked in the last post about the best YouTube channels to learn about hacking in 2022, today we are gonna show you the best websites to practice your hacking skills legally and for free:

What is a CTF?

CTF (or capture the flag) is a cyber security competition that challenges the contestant to solve various tasks from googling to breaking into a machine and get a hidden text inside the target called the flag.

CTF competitions are usually hosted by companies and universities for a limited time, but there are some practice websites that are similar to real CTF and are a great start to prepare for real CTF and learning to hack, and we categorized them by experience level as you can see here:

For beginners

OverTheWire

OverTheWire is a good website to get started, they have 12 series each series contains levels, the more you progress, the harder the challenge becomes, we recommend you to start with the first series “Bandit” even if you have some experience with Linux.

Do note that each flag is the password to the next level, for example, the flag of level 0 is the password of level 1 and you will need to know how to use SSH in order to login to the target machine.

TryHackMe

TryHackMe is one of the most popular cyber security training websites, it’s the best choice for beginners as they have step-by-step walkthrough rooms that teach you not just hacking but also other technical topics practically like networking, Linux, and so on, there are also some CTF rooms that let you practice what you learned.

Unlike OverTheWire, there is no need to complete rooms in order, and you don’t need to have a hacking lab to start hacking (but when you become more advanced you will need it), TryHackMe has a feature called “AttackBox” which lets you run Kali Linux directly from the browser.

Do note that not all the content is free, there are some paid rooms that require you to buy a VIP subscription, also note that free subscribers have only 1 hour of AttackBox per day but don’t worry, 80% of TryHackMe content is free and the subscription is not expensive.

For intermediates

HackerOne Hacker101 CTF

Hacker101 CTF is a free online CTF by HackerOne, a very popular bug bounty hunting website, there are multiple labs there, it’s not guided like TryHackMe, but you can get hints, which makes it a good choice for intermediates.

Do note that you may need a hacking lab in order to solve challenges in Hacker101 CTF.

HackTheBox

HackTheBox is one the most popular online CTF websites, it’s the best choice for intermediates, the website has both challenges that you can do them offline and labs which are real target machines, like Hacker101 CTF, challenges and labs are not guided, but you can ask for hints in HackTheBox forum.

Do note that not all the content is free, there are some paid labs that require you to buy at least the VIP subscription, they have a “Pwnbox” that’s similar to TryHackMe’s “AttackBox”, but you will need a VIP subscription for 24h per month or a VIP+ subscription for unlimited time.

For experts

If you are an expert, then I recommend you to participate in real CTF competitions (you can find them on CTFtime) or do bug bounty hunting (You can find bug bounty opportunities in Bugcrowd or HackerOne), this will let you do penetration testing in real-world legally, plus you will get paid if you found bugs, so it’s a win-win situation.

Thank you for reading this article, if you like our content, don’t forget to give us a clap and follow us, this encourages us to keep posting and staying consistent, thank you again, and I see you in the next article.