Prerequisites

Learn Python basics

You should know enough Python to be able to write and debug short scripts. Get comfortable reading documentations for the things you don’t know. You need to have an understanding of Python concepts in order to learn Hylang, which is essential if you want to use Raider.

Learn Hylang basics

Raider’s configuration files are written in Hylang, a LISP dialect on top of Python. You can’t really use Raider if you skip this step. But you also don’t need a lot to start using Raider. You just have to learn to accept the LISP paranthesis and write simple scripts like you should already be able to do with Python. If you’re already familiar with LISP and Python, this step will be easy for you.

Resources

• Hylang Tutorial

Get comfortable with a web proxy

Pick up a web proxy you like, and learn how to use it properly. We recommend BurpSuite, ZAProxy or mitmproxy. You will need this to reverse engineer the HTTP processes for arbitrary web applications.

Resources

• Burpsuite Homepage

• Burpsuite Tutorial Video by John Hammond

Learn the basics of authentication

Now that you already know how to use a web proxy, you should learn how the authentication works on web applications. Log into different websites while using the web proxy, and try to understand how it works, i.e. what information is being sent to the server, what does the server responds with, and where each piece of information comes from. Try first with simple websites, and gradually move to more complicated until you understand the process.