Getting Started With TryHackMe

TryHackMe, commonly known as THM for short, is an online platform that teaches individuals about cyber security though a hands on lab type of approach. They say their platform is “for both complete beginners and seasoned hackers.” And they are not wrong. TryHackMe gives you everything you need to start learning right now, TODAY!

If you do not pay for the premium subscription, you will have to download and install a common Debian Linux distribution called Kali Linux made by Offensive Security. It is free and comes default with a host of common cyber security tools already installed for your ease of use. I recommend you do this at some point and install it on your own virtual machine and connect to THM through openVPN (we might even do an article on that, maybe even with a video, at a later time) but, for now and for the purposes of this article we will not be covering this. On a side note, there are already a host of videos on the internet that will walk you through installing a virtual machine and specifically Kali Linux.

To get started, all you need to do is go to www.tryhackme.com and click the “Sign Up” button. Provide them a username, (cannot be changed at this time) password, and e-mail address. Once you get signed in, click on the “Learn” tab and scroll down to “Learning Paths” and click on “Complete Beginner” and then enroll.

These “Learning Paths” are groups of rooms that have been put together by the THM team to provide some core skills in each of the selected categories. The “Complete Beginner” path will provide you with information on just how to get started with THM and it is a great way to start your journey. It will give you some foundational skills that you will build on in later rooms. This path takes approximately 28 hours to complete over the span of 27 rooms. Disclaimer: I don’t know if all of these rooms are free. About 80% of the content on this site is free. But, they do need to keep the lights on, so there are some rooms that are behind a subscription wall. The price is currently $10 USD a month. I find it a well worth $10 if you ask me. My suggestion for those on a tight budget, go through all the free content you can. Skip over the paid ones if you can and when the time comes that you can pick up the subscription, burn through the paid labs as much as you can for that month.

Once you feel comfortable enough, you can move on to the other paths or, if you’d like to just try something at random, you can always go to the “Learn” tab and click “All Rooms” and change the “Show” to “Free Only” and you will get a list of all the free rooms. At the time of this writing, I believe there are 248 free rooms and only 64 requiring a subscription. At the request of TryHackMe staff, we cannot show any of the premium content.

Individuals can also, and often do, put up their own rooms for others to complete. This is a great opportunity for experienced hackers to give back to the community by putting up a variety of challenges.

If you are looking to get started with free cyber security hands on training, I would recommend this be your first stop. Some of the writeups we will be doing will come from this platform. I don’t think you will be disappointed once you start using TryHackMe. Also, don’t forget they have a Discord channel where you can interact with their community so you can get help if it’s needed or just to hang out with like-minded people.

Happy Hacking!