Understanding how malicious actors infiltrate networks is the first step to building resilient infrastructure.

To help developers and aspiring security analysts learn the fundamentals of offensive security legally and safely, we just released How Ethical Hackers Actually Break Into Systems on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel.

Taught by cybersecurity instructor Declan Middleton, this 2.5 hour crash course walks through terminal navigation, target reconnaissance, vulnerability assessment, web exploitation, and automation scripting against a dedicated Capture The Flag (CTF) virtual machine.

Core Skills Covered

Linux and Terminal Operations

Master command line navigation, permission modeling, user management, and process execution inside Parrot OS.

Network Reconnaissance with Nmap

Scan target IPs to identify active hosts, open ports, running services, and specific software versions using stealth and decoy flags.

Web Content Discovery and Fuzzing

Enumerate hidden directories, files, and endpoints…