Welcome to the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Today your adventure begins, today you decide to stop being who you are to become who you want to be. Cybersecurity is a fascinating world, full of complexities, mysteries, uncertainties, secrets, and discoveries. You will continue this process at your own risk: You will not see the world the same way, you will discover the dark side of things, and you will learn that every system you interact with in the cyber world can be compromised, and your information, secrets, and privacy can be leaked. You will learn web hacking techniques, hacking in Windows and Linux environments, cryptography, OSINT, cracking weak passwords, and you will build a solid technical foundation to continue your journey. The true black pearl of this challenge is to hack your own system: Hack your mind to remove all the malware that comes in the form of procrastination, hopelessness, and a sense of failure. Today, that ends.

🚩 What is the challenge about?

For the next 30 days:

You will have lessons in text format (Yes, it’s time to get used to reading, but you’ll thank yourself later—hackers have to read a lot of documentation)
A target machine you can download to solve.
Each machine may contain one or two flags in this format: 4GEEKS{r4ndom_t3xt_her3}
On the platform, you’ll find the material you need to solve each machine, but of course, you’ll still have to research some things on your own—that’s what being a hacker is about: Curious, insatiable, tireless minds. Culturally, a hacker is a researcher in constant search of truth and knowledge.
You’ll not only have resources on the platform but also an army of peers who will give everything for you. Peers who, like you, decided to shed who they were to rebuild themselves, who will give blood, sweat, and tears for you—and as a good peer, you must do the same. This journey may seem terrifying, but you don’t have to fear your best version. That version of you who overcame procrastination, fear, and insecurity. In 30 days, you won’t be the same person—that’s a fact.

It will be hard; you will face and defeat your darkest demons but in the end, you will win and see the light. It’s not easy, it’s not fast. But your path starts today and there’s no turning back. What’s at the end of this path is another version of you that was always with you but whom you never met. Each flag you capture is a step closer to that new you, and you’ll be surprised at how much you can learn.

The Community

On the 4Geeks Discord server, you’ll meet your peers. The community is the most important resource of the challenge, and that’s why it deserves your respect, appreciation, and support. Feel free to interact with your peers, enjoy the good times, and support each other in the bad.

Take initiative: Learn, teach, play, laugh, fight, lose, win, help, be helped. You need to forgive every version of yourself that couldn’t move forward or didn’t have the tools or conditions to do so—today things are different, and you have a golden opportunity. Are you ready to enter? If you feel a mix of fear and adrenaline, the answer is yes.

Before continuing, you need to commit to this challenge and prepare for what’s coming. Read and repeat this decalogue to yourself as many times as you need, and tattoo it on your soul with indelible ink.

Challenge Decalogue

Repeat this until you feel it as a truth engraved in your soul:

I will bet on myself and carry my will to the last consequences
I will not give up when it gets hard and I will hold on tight
I commit to finding my best version
I will not sabotage my learning by using direct solutions
I will ask for help when I need it, even if it feels uncomfortable, because this is part of my growth
I will not abandon my peers and will support them in their difficulties as they support me in mine
I will gratefully receive the help provided by my peers, because I recognize that I deserve to be helped
I will stand firm and active with my peers during calm and during the storm
I forgive myself for the times I failed and will become a stronger person
I will continue my training even after I have completed this challenge because this is just the beginning

✉️ Letter to the Impostor Within Me

1Yes, I’m talking to you.
2I know you’re there. You’ve always been.
3Sometimes you disguise yourself as logic. Sometimes as humility. Sometimes as a protective voice.
4But I know who you are: you’re the fear that learned to speak with my voice.
5
6You’ve been present at every step I’ve taken, right before achieving something important.
7When I was about to raise my hand.
8When I applied for that job.
9When I wanted to say “yes, I can do this.”
10There you were, whispering:
11“You’re not enough.”
12“You’re faking it.”
13“They’ll find out soon.”
14
15And I believed you.
16I believed you so many times that I built my world to your measure:
17small, safe, mediocre, comfortable.
18I believed you to the point of letting you speak for me when others saw my talent.
19I let you write messages that I later deleted.
20I let you close tabs that contained dreams.
21I let you live in my mind as if you paid rent.
22
23But something has changed.
24
25Today I start this path to become a hacker.
26And that doesn’t just mean learning commands, techniques, or tools.
27It means I’m going to break systems that keep me prisoner, including yours.
28
29I’m going to track your entries.
30I’m going to find your backdoor.
31I’m going to expose every one of your vulnerabilities.
32And when I fully discover you, I’ll look you in the eye and say:
33“Thank you for trying to protect me, but I don’t need you anymore.”
34
35Because the truth is, I’m not a fraud.
36I’m a learner. And like every learner, I’m growing.
37Mistakes don’t disqualify me, they build me.
38And knowledge isn’t the exclusive domain of geniuses, but of those who persist.
39I persist.
40
41So, impostor, I’m not going to eliminate you.
42That would only make you stronger in the shadows.
43I’m going to do something worse for you:
44I’m going to expose you.
45I’m going to let others talk about you too,
46because if there’s something that kills you faster than silence,
47it’s community.
48
49Today I join others who, like me, are tired of pretending they don’t doubt.
50Today I show up with everything I am:
51clumsy, brilliant, insecure, passionate, slow, persistent, inexperienced, unstoppable.
52
53And you, impostor, can keep talking.
54But you no longer have the microphone.
55
56Sincerely,
57Me.

✉️ Letter to My Future Self

1Hello.
2I don’t know exactly where you are now, but if you’re reading this,
3you made it.
4Not everything, maybe. But enough to keep going.
5
6I’m still here, where you started:
7with trembling hands, a mind full of noise,
8and that fire I don’t know if it’s fear or desire.
9I’m right at the beginning,
10when I still struggle to believe I can be you.
11
12I don’t know how many times you thought about giving up.
13I don’t know how many sleepless nights you had,
14staring at an empty terminal as if it were a mirror.
15I don’t know if you cried, got mad at yourself, or doubted again.
16But if you’re reading this,
17then you also endured.
18
19I write this letter like someone throwing a bottle into the sea,
20hoping the current of time will carry it
21to your shore.
22
23I want you to remember who I am.
24I’m that version of you who still stumbles over basic commands.
25Who still doubts if they’re “cut out for this.”
26Who still freezes before entering a Discord room.
27But I’m also the one who dared to take the first step.
28
29If you ever feel like you’re not enough,
30remember me.
31I did see you.
32I imagined you with affection and hope.
33I dreamed of becoming you.
34
35You don’t owe me perfection.
36You don’t owe me fame, glory, or being the best in the world.
37I just want to know that you didn’t betray us.
38That you were honest.
39That you learned with love.
40That you fell a thousand times, but didn’t bury yourself again.
41That you built community.
42And that when someone else started from scratch,
43you reached out your hand without forgetting your own origin.
44
45And if one day you feel lost,
46read me again.
47I’m here, waiting for you,
48to remind you that before everything,
49you were me.
50
51With all I don’t know yet, but with all I hope from you,
52Your past self.

Ready to begin?