Any serious hack will involve some prepara-tory research long before the hacker sets foot near a computer. This is simply because to hack intelli-gently, one must have knowledge of certain facts and ideas.
With computer hacking, you should obviously have some knowledge about computers and telecommunications (ideas) but to actually carry out a hack requires just one fact: a phone number. Or if not a phone number, at least one way of accessing a computer. Either case requires some research. Once you've called the computer for the first time, some on-line research is required to tell you how you should proceed with the hack. And finally, there is the ongoing research you will do once you've gained access to a system, to help you make full use of the facilities you've conquered. The "after re-search" is discussed in the chapter "What To Do When Inside." For now, let us discuss what to do to get started.
