>>24729 If you're talking about distros designed for hacking / penetration testing then there are several, although Kali Linux is probably the best-known (www.kali.org). Simply chuck the words "Linux Penetration Testing" into your search engine of choice and see what appeals to you, though obviously you'll need to stick to legitimate targets like HackThisSite if you don't want the rozzers hurling you jailwards for a thorough cherishing...
>though obviously you'll need to stick to legitimate targets like HackThisSite if you don't want the rozzers hurling you jailwards for a thorough cherishing...
Not really. Just need seven proxies.
Microcorruption is a series of challenges to break into a digitally-controlled door lock. You need to know a bit of programming, but the challenges are designed to teach you assembly language and reverse engineering.
Stockfighter is a virtual version of a stock market trading system. Your goal is to get (virtually) stinking rich by any means necessary. You can play fair and develop algorithmic trading strategies, or you can just hack the system and steal everyone's money.
They are both serious, realistic challenges. Microcorruption was developed by a highly respected security consultancy (Matasano) and Stockfighter is used as a recruitment tool by tech companies.
It is basically complex maths problems that could only be solved with programing. (for example question 3 is to work out the largest prime factor of 600,851,475,143). But it doesn't offer any instruction on how to do it, the methodology is left entirely to the reader.
It has been ideal practice for me since I 'know' how to code in the sense that I could read and understand it, but I would need to look up commands to write it. This has been giving me the practice for the writing to become more fluent.
>>25412 Not sure if those kind of problems are exactly what OP was thinking of but I can recommend Project Euler. I first found out about it from an employer in the tech industry, the first few problems are a good benchmark when you are learning a new language whilst the latter ones are more of a mathematical challenge combined with a programming implementation.
Probably better if you are interested in high-level stuff rather than the low-down nuts n' bolts (though I do enjoy the indecipherable Assembly language and J solutions that people post on almost every problem).
