Hacking Courses

One curriculum, from your first flag to Active Directory takeover. Every chapter ends with something you can do, not just something you read.

  • Every chapter ends with a question. Answer it to validate the chapter and move on.
  • Courses are independent. Follow the levels in order, or jump to the domain you need.
  • Start free. Pro opens the whole curriculum.

HackerDNA's cybersecurity courses turn theory into skill. Each course pairs clear, structured chapters with hands-on labs on real vulnerable machines, so you don't just read about web hacking, privilege escalation or network attacks - you actually do them and capture the flag.

Courses span the full path from absolute beginner to advanced red teaming: Linux and Kali basics, web and API security, Active Directory, cloud, mobile, OSINT and reverse engineering. Start free, learn at your own pace and earn XP as you progress toward certifications like the OSCP.

All domains

Level 1 Beginner

Your first flag and your first tools. No prior knowledge needed.

01

Hacking 101

Beginner Security Fundamentals 10 chapters 3h 20m +10 XP

Your first real taste of hacking. Capture a flag, decode hidden data, spot a password hash, and see how real breaches happen, all from your browser. No install, no terminal, no experience required. Start in seconds.

  1. 1 The hacker mindset 20 min
  2. 2 Hidden in plain sight 20 min
  3. 3 Encoding is not encryption 20 min
  4. 4 How passwords break 20 min
  5. 5 Open-source intelligence 20 min
  6. 6 The network underneath 20 min
  7. 7 Hacking humans 20 min
  8. 8 Vulnerabilities and exploits 20 min
  9. 9 The hacker's toolkit 20 min
  10. 10 Your roadmap 20 min
03

Security Careers & Certifications

Beginner Security Fundamentals 10 chapters 3h 50m +10 XP

Map your path into cybersecurity. Pick a career track from pentesting to GRC, build your skill stack on HackerDNA's courses, labs, and challenges, and ship a portfolio that gets you hired.

  1. 1 The cybersecurity industry 20 min
  2. 2 Penetration testing careers 25 min
  3. 3 Security operations and defense 25 min
  4. 4 Governance, risk, and compliance 25 min
  5. 5 Cloud and application security 25 min
  6. 6 Digital forensics and incident response 25 min
  7. 7 Bug bounty and freelance security 20 min
  8. 8 Building your security skill stack 25 min
  9. 9 Building your security portfolio 20 min
  10. 10 Landing your first security job 20 min
04

Web Security Basics

Beginner Web & API Security 10 chapters 4h 25m +10 XP

Understand how the web works from an attacker's perspective. HTTP, cookies, authentication, TLS, same-origin policy, and the vulnerability classes every hacker needs to recognize before picking up a tool.

  1. 1 HTTP requests and responses 20 min
  2. 2 URLs, domains, and DNS 20 min
  3. 3 HTML and the browser 25 min
  4. 4 Cookies and sessions 25 min
  5. 5 Authentication mechanisms 30 min
  6. 6 HTTPS and TLS 25 min
  7. 7 Same-origin policy and CORS 30 min
  8. 8 HTTP security headers 30 min
  9. 9 Common web vulnerabilities 35 min
  10. 10 Browser DevTools for recon 25 min

Level 2 Easy

Set up the hacker workstation and run the classic tools yourself.

01

Kali Linux

Easy Security Fundamentals 10 chapters 3h 54m +10 XP New

The operating system every hacker runs, from zero. Install Kali in a VM or WSL, update it safely, then drive Nmap, Burp, hashcat, and Metasploit through a real recon-to-exploit workflow on legal practice targets.

  1. 1 The Kali distribution 18 min
  2. 2 Installation and virtualization 30 min
  3. 3 First boot and updates 22 min
  4. 4 Desktop and shell 22 min
  5. 5 The Kali toolset 20 min
  6. 6 Reconnaissance tools 25 min
  7. 7 Web and password tools 25 min
  8. 8 Exploitation tools 25 min
  9. 9 Your practice lab 22 min
  10. 10 The pentest workflow 25 min
02

Password Cracking

Easy Cryptography 10 chapters 6h 50m +10 XP

Crack password hashes with hashcat and John the Ripper. Covers dictionary attacks, brute force, rainbow tables, wireless, PDF, ZIP, Office, Windows NTLM, and Linux shadow files in real pentest scenarios.

  1. 1 Password fundamentals 35 min
  2. 2 Dictionary attacks 42 min
  3. 3 Brute force attacks 38 min
  4. 4 Rainbow tables 40 min
  5. 5 PDF cracking 45 min
  6. 6 ZIP cracking 40 min
  7. 7 Office Documents cracking 40 min
  8. 8 Wireless cracking 45 min
  9. 9 Windows hash cracking 45 min
  10. 10 Linux hash cracking 40 min
03

Social Engineering

Easy OSINT 10 chapters 5h +10 XP

Design and execute social engineering campaigns. Master phishing with Gophish, pretexting techniques, vishing, and payload delivery while maintaining ethical boundaries.

  1. 1 Social engineering basics 30 min
  2. 2 OSINT and pretexting 30 min
  3. 3 Phishing attacks 30 min
  4. 4 Vishing attacks 30 min
  5. 5 Smishing attacks 30 min
  6. 6 Physical access attacks 30 min
  7. 7 Malicious payloads 30 min
  8. 8 Detection evasion 30 min
  9. 9 Campaign automation 30 min
  10. 10 Security awareness 30 min
04

Linux Terminal Basics

Easy Security Fundamentals 10 chapters 4h 35m +10 XP

Command line from zero. Navigate filesystems, manage permissions, chain commands, monitor processes, and script your first security tool on the OS hackers trust.

  1. 1 Your first terminal session 20 min
  2. 2 Filesystem navigation 25 min
  3. 3 Reading and manipulating files 25 min
  4. 4 Searching for what matters 30 min
  5. 5 Users, groups, and permissions 30 min
  6. 6 Pipes and data pipelines 30 min
  7. 7 Process management 25 min
  8. 8 Network commands 30 min
  9. 9 Environment and package management 25 min
  10. 10 Bash scripting for security 35 min
05

Steganography

Easy Digital Forensics & IR 10 chapters 5h 20m +10 XP

Find data hidden in plain sight. Pull secrets from images, audio, and text with steghide, zsteg, binwalk, and exiftool. Covers LSB, metadata, file carving, spectrograms, QR codes, polyglots, and steganalysis through hands-on challenges.

  1. 1 Steganography foundations 30 min
  2. 2 Metadata and EXIF secrets 30 min
  3. 3 Appended data and carving 30 min
  4. 4 LSB image steganography 35 min
  5. 5 Steghide and passphrase cracking 30 min
  6. 6 Audio steganography 35 min
  7. 7 Text and whitespace hiding 30 min
  8. 8 QR codes and visual encodings 30 min
  9. 9 Document and polyglot stego 35 min
  10. 10 Steganalysis and detection 35 min
07

Burp Suite

Easy Web & API Security Opens Oct 13, 2026

The proxy every web hacker lives in. Intercept and rewrite real traffic, replay requests in Repeater, brute force with Intruder, decode cookies, and run a full workflow against a target. Community Edition only, so nothing here costs you a licence.

08

Security Cheat Sheets

Easy Security Fundamentals 10 chapters 3h 30m +10 XP

Comprehensive cheat sheets for essential cybersecurity tools. Quick reference commands, syntax, and examples for Nmap, Hydra, Metasploit, Burp Suite, SQLMap, and more.

  1. 1 Nmap Cheat Sheet 20 min
  2. 2 Hydra Cheat Sheet 20 min
  3. 3 Metasploit Cheat Sheet 25 min
  4. 4 Burp Suite Cheat Sheet 25 min
  5. 5 SQLMap Cheat Sheet 20 min
  6. 6 Gobuster Cheat Sheet 15 min
  7. 7 Nikto Cheat Sheet 15 min
  8. 8 John the Ripper Cheat Sheet 20 min
  9. 9 Hashcat Cheat Sheet 25 min
  10. 10 Wireshark Cheat Sheet 25 min

Level 3 Medium

Break real applications, networks and APIs from first scan to flag.

01

Web App Attacks

Medium Web & API Security 12 chapters 7h 18m +12 XP

Break into web apps using SQL injection, XSS, SSRF, and 9 more attack classes from the OWASP Top 10. Hands-on payloads with SQLMap, Burp Suite, and ysoserial, plus the defenses that stop each one.

  1. 1 Web Security Intro 25 min
  2. 2 SQL Injection 35 min
  3. 3 XSS Attacks 40 min
  4. 4 CSRF Attacks 30 min
  5. 5 SSRF 35 min
  6. 6 Auth Bypass 40 min
  7. 7 File Upload Attacks 35 min
  8. 8 XXE Injection 40 min
  9. 9 File Inclusion 38 min
  10. 10 Command Injection 35 min
  11. 11 SSTI 40 min
  12. 12 Deserialization 45 min
02

Network Pentesting

Medium Network & Infrastructure 10 chapters 6h 20m +10 XP

Scan, exploit, and pivot through enterprise networks from first port scan to final report. Covers Nmap, Metasploit, Responder, Chisel, and the full pentest methodology against real service configurations.

  1. 1 Network fundamentals 30 min
  2. 2 Active reconnaissance 35 min
  3. 3 Service enumeration 35 min
  4. 4 Vulnerability scanning 40 min
  5. 5 Service exploitation 45 min
  6. 6 Password attacks 35 min
  7. 7 MITM attacks 40 min
  8. 8 Pivoting 45 min
  9. 9 Post-exploitation 40 min
  10. 10 Pentest reporting 35 min
03

API Hacking

Medium Web & API Security 10 chapters 6h 25m +10 XP

Hunt vulnerabilities in REST and GraphQL APIs. Master BOLA, authentication bypass, injection attacks, and the OWASP API Top 10 using Burp Suite, Postman, and custom scripts.

  1. 1 API security basics 30 min
  2. 2 API recon 35 min
  3. 3 API authentication attacks 40 min
  4. 4 BOLA and IDOR 40 min
  5. 5 API injection 40 min
  6. 6 Mass assignment 35 min
  7. 7 Rate limiting bypass 35 min
  8. 8 GraphQL attacks 45 min
  9. 9 API fuzzing 40 min
  10. 10 OWASP API Top 10 45 min
04

Bug Bounty

Medium Security Fundamentals 10 chapters 5h 40m +10 XP

Start your bug bounty journey the right way. Learn to choose programs, build a methodology, find real vulnerabilities, and write reports that get paid. From setup to first bounty.

  1. 1 Bug bounty basics 25 min
  2. 2 Program selection 30 min
  3. 3 Hunting setup 35 min
  4. 4 Recon fundamentals 40 min
  5. 5 Hunting methodology 35 min
  6. 6 Quick wins 40 min
  7. 7 Report writing 35 min
  8. 8 Avoiding duplicates 30 min
  9. 9 Automation 40 min
  10. 10 Bug bounty career 30 min
06

Cloud Pentesting

Medium Cloud Security 10 chapters 5h +10 XP

Assess cloud environments for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities. Enumerate IAM, exploit SSRF to IMDS, and run tools like Pacu, ScoutSuite, and CloudFox.

  1. 1 Cloud security basics 30 min
  2. 2 AWS enumeration 30 min
  3. 3 AWS privilege escalation 30 min
  4. 4 Azure enumeration 30 min
  5. 5 Azure exploitation 30 min
  6. 6 GCP enumeration 30 min
  7. 7 GCP exploitation 30 min
  8. 8 Serverless security 30 min
  9. 9 Cloud containers 30 min
  10. 10 Cloud defense 30 min
07

SOC Analyst

Medium Digital Forensics & IR 10 chapters 6h 5m +10 XP

Work the SOC analyst chair: detect, triage, and hunt threats live. Build SIEM queries in Splunk and Elastic, write Sigma and Suricata detection rules, map alerts to MITRE ATT&CK, and run threat hunts on real log and network data.

  1. 1 SOC fundamentals 25 min
  2. 2 Log sources and SIEM 35 min
  3. 3 Log analysis with queries 40 min
  4. 4 Windows telemetry detection 40 min
  5. 5 Network detection 40 min
  6. 6 MITRE ATT&CK mapping 30 min
  7. 7 Detection engineering with Sigma 45 min
  8. 8 Threat hunting 40 min
  9. 9 Threat intelligence 35 min
  10. 10 SOC operations and metrics 35 min
08

AI Security

Medium AI Security 10 chapters 5h 6m +10 XP

Attack the language models behind modern apps. Extract system prompts, run prompt injection and jailbreaks, poison RAG, and hijack AI agents and their tools. Mapped to the OWASP LLM Top 10, from your first injection to defending production.

  1. 1 AI and LLM security fundamentals 30 min
  2. 2 LLM application architecture 30 min
  3. 3 Prompt injection attacks 30 min
  4. 4 Indirect prompt injection 30 min
  5. 5 Jailbreaks and guardrail bypass 32 min
  6. 6 Sensitive information disclosure 30 min
  7. 7 RAG and embedding attacks 30 min
  8. 8 LLM agents and tool abuse 32 min
  9. 9 Insecure output handling 30 min
  10. 10 LLM application defense 32 min
09

Cryptography

Medium Cryptography 10 chapters 5h 45m +10 XP

Break ciphers like a CTF player. Decode encodings, crack substitution, Vigenere and XOR, then attack AES modes and RSA with CyberChef, Python and RsaCtfTool. Covers hashing flaws, key exchange and weak randomness.

  1. 1 Encoding and encryption 30 min
  2. 2 Substitution ciphers 35 min
  3. 3 The Vigenere cipher 35 min
  4. 4 XOR cryptanalysis 35 min
  5. 5 Hash functions and collisions 35 min
  6. 6 Block cipher modes 35 min
  7. 7 RSA fundamentals 35 min
  8. 8 RSA attacks 35 min
  9. 9 Key exchange and randomness 35 min
  10. 10 Cryptography in the wild 35 min
10

Threat Hunting

Medium Digital Forensics & IR 8 chapters 4h 30m +8 XP

Hunt the attackers your alerts miss. Run hypothesis-driven hunts across endpoint and network telemetry, map them to MITRE ATT&CK, then turn threat intelligence into YARA and Sigma detections with Velociraptor, Zeek, MISP and the Pyramid of Pain.

  1. 1 Threat hunting foundations 30 min
  2. 2 The hunt loop 30 min
  3. 3 MITRE ATT&CK hunting 35 min
  4. 4 Endpoint and network hunting 40 min
  5. 5 Threat intelligence fundamentals 30 min
  6. 6 IOCs, feeds and platforms 35 min
  7. 7 YARA and Sigma detections 40 min
  8. 8 The hunt program 30 min

Level 4 Hard

Root the box, pivot deeper, and investigate what happened.

01

Linux Privilege Escalation

Hard Privilege Escalation & Post-Exploitation 10 chapters 6h 20m +10 XP

Escalate from low-privilege shell to root on Linux systems. SUID exploitation, sudo abuse, kernel exploits, container escapes, and automated enumeration with LinPEAS to own every box you land on.

  1. 1 Linux privesc fundamentals 35 min
  2. 2 Manual enumeration 35 min
  3. 3 Automated enumeration 30 min
  4. 4 SUID exploitation 40 min
  5. 5 Sudo abuse 40 min
  6. 6 Cron job abuse 35 min
  7. 7 PATH hijacking 40 min
  8. 8 Kernel exploits 45 min
  9. 9 Container escapes 45 min
  10. 10 Linux hardening 35 min
02

Windows Privilege Escalation

Hard Network & Infrastructure 10 chapters 5h +10 XP

Escalate privileges on Windows systems using token manipulation, service exploits, UAC bypasses, and automated enumeration with WinPEAS and PowerUp. From standard user to SYSTEM access.

  1. 1 Windows privesc basics 25 min
  2. 2 Windows enumeration 30 min
  3. 3 WinPEAS and PowerUp 25 min
  4. 4 Service exploitation 35 min
  5. 5 Registry attacks 30 min
  6. 6 Token impersonation 35 min
  7. 7 UAC bypass 30 min
  8. 8 Credential harvesting 35 min
  9. 9 Windows kernel exploits 30 min
  10. 10 Windows hardening 25 min
03

Mobile Pentesting

Hard Mobile Security 10 chapters 5h 30m +10 XP

Test Android and iOS applications for vulnerabilities. Master APK reverse engineering, certificate pinning bypass, Frida hooking, and mobile-specific attacks.

  1. 1 Mobile security basics 30 min
  2. 2 Android architecture 35 min
  3. 3 iOS architecture 35 min
  4. 4 Static analysis 35 min
  5. 5 Frida instrumentation 40 min
  6. 6 Certificate pinning bypass 30 min
  7. 7 Data storage flaws 30 min
  8. 8 Mobile API testing 35 min
  9. 9 Runtime manipulation 35 min
  10. 10 Security reporting 25 min
04

Wireless Hacking

Hard Network & Infrastructure 10 chapters 5h +10 XP

Attack wireless networks with Aircrack-ng, Bettercap, and the WiFi Pineapple. Crack WPA2/WPA3, run evil twin attacks, and exploit Bluetooth.

  1. 1 Wireless security fundamentals 30 min
  2. 2 Wireless recon 30 min
  3. 3 WPA/WPA2 cracking 30 min
  4. 4 WEP cracking 30 min
  5. 5 Evil twin attacks 30 min
  6. 6 WPA Enterprise attacks 30 min
  7. 7 Client-side attacks 30 min
  8. 8 Bluetooth attacks 30 min
  9. 9 Advanced wireless 30 min
  10. 10 Wireless defense 30 min
05

DFIR

Hard Digital Forensics & IR 10 chapters 5h 30m +10 XP

Investigate security incidents and run forensic analysis. Disk forensics, memory analysis with Volatility, log analysis, timeline reconstruction, and incident reporting that holds up under scrutiny.

  1. 1 DFIR fundamentals 30 min
  2. 2 Disk forensics 35 min
  3. 3 Memory forensics 35 min
  4. 4 Network forensics 30 min
  5. 5 Windows forensics 35 min
  6. 6 Linux forensics 35 min
  7. 7 Incident response 30 min
  8. 8 Malware incident response 35 min
  9. 9 Ransomware response 35 min
  10. 10 Forensic reporting 30 min
06

Container Security

Hard Cloud Security 10 chapters 5h 35m +10 XP

Attack and harden Docker, Kubernetes, and the supply chain that feeds them. Container escapes, RBAC abuse, Secret extraction, Sigstore signing, Falco detection, and Pod Security Admission rollout from one chapter to the next.

  1. 1 Container security fundamentals 30 min
  2. 2 Docker security 35 min
  3. 3 Container escapes 35 min
  4. 4 Kubernetes architecture 30 min
  5. 5 RBAC exploitation 35 min
  6. 6 Pod security 30 min
  7. 7 Secrets exploitation 35 min
  8. 8 Supply chain attacks 35 min
  9. 9 Service mesh security 35 min
  10. 10 Container defense 35 min

Level 5 Advanced

Domain takeover, binary exploitation and full red team engagements.

01

Active Directory Attacks

Advanced Network & Infrastructure 10 chapters 5h 15m +10 XP

Compromise enterprise Active Directory environments using Kerberoasting, AS-REP Roasting, Pass-the-Hash, DCSync, and BloodHound. From initial foothold to full domain takeover.

  1. 1 AD fundamentals 30 min
  2. 2 AD enumeration 35 min
  3. 3 Kerberoasting 30 min
  4. 4 AS-REP Roasting 25 min
  5. 5 Password spraying 30 min
  6. 6 NTLM relay 35 min
  7. 7 Lateral movement 35 min
  8. 8 Delegation attacks 35 min
  9. 9 DCSync 30 min
  10. 10 AD persistence 30 min
02

Binary Exploitation

Advanced Reverse Engineering & Binary Exploitation 10 chapters 5h +10 XP

Exploit buffer overflows, format strings, and heap vulnerabilities. Learn x86/x64 assembly, shellcode development, ROP chains, and modern exploit mitigations.

  1. 1 Exploitation fundamentals 30 min
  2. 2 Buffer overflows 30 min
  3. 3 Memory protections 30 min
  4. 4 ROP chains 30 min
  5. 5 Format strings 30 min
  6. 6 Heap exploitation 30 min
  7. 7 Pwntools 30 min
  8. 8 Shellcode 30 min
  9. 9 Advanced exploitation 30 min
  10. 10 Exploitation defense 30 min
03

Reverse Engineering

Advanced Reverse Engineering & Binary Exploitation 10 chapters 5h +10 XP

Analyze binaries and malware using Ghidra, IDA, and x64dbg. Master static and dynamic analysis, unpacking, deobfuscation, and behavioral analysis techniques.

  1. 1 RE fundamentals 30 min
  2. 2 Ghidra 30 min
  3. 3 Malware basics 30 min
  4. 4 Static analysis 30 min
  5. 5 Dynamic analysis 30 min
  6. 6 Unpacking 30 min
  7. 7 Windows malware 30 min
  8. 8 Ransomware analysis 30 min
  9. 9 Threat intelligence 30 min
  10. 10 Malware defense 30 min
04

Web3 Security

Advanced Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Security 10 chapters 5h 45m +10 XP

Audit Solidity the way real firms do. Reentrancy, flash loan exploits, oracle manipulation, access control flaws, and bridge attacks, from your first Slither run to a full Foundry proof-of-concept, chapter by chapter.

  1. 1 Blockchain basics 35 min
  2. 2 Solidity security 35 min
  3. 3 Reentrancy attacks 35 min
  4. 4 Access control flaws 30 min
  5. 5 Flash loan attacks 35 min
  6. 6 Oracle manipulation 35 min
  7. 7 Analysis tools 35 min
  8. 8 DeFi attacks 35 min
  9. 9 Bridge security 35 min
  10. 10 Contract auditing 35 min
05

Red Teaming

Advanced Privilege Escalation & Post-Exploitation 10 chapters 5h +10 XP

Conduct full-scope red team engagements. Master C2 frameworks, AV/EDR evasion, OPSEC, persistence mechanisms, and adversary emulation techniques.

  1. 1 Red team basics 30 min
  2. 2 Attack infrastructure 30 min
  3. 3 C2 frameworks 30 min
  4. 4 Initial access 30 min
  5. 5 Defense evasion 30 min
  6. 6 Persistence techniques 30 min
  7. 7 Lateral movement 30 min
  8. 8 Mission objectives 30 min
  9. 9 Engagement reporting 30 min
  10. 10 Purple teaming 30 min
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