Merge pull request 'Sync with upstream' (#1) from s00ner/Baltimore-hackthebox-knowledgebase:main into main

Reviewed-on: http://git.doublehack.me/testing/Baltimore-hackthebox-knowledgebase/pulls/1

SUMMARY.md

@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Summary
 
 [Welcome](./welcome.md)
----
+
-[Test](./test.md)
+# Getting Started
+- [Create an Account](getting_started/create_account.md)
+- [Set Up a Hacking Machine](getting_started/machine_setup.md)
+- [Start Hacking](getting_started/start_hacking.md)

getting_started/create_account.md

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+# Create a Hack the Box Account
+
+Back in the day you had to hack your way into creating a Hack the Box account but now it's much easier.
+
+1. Go to <https://app.hackthebox.com/invite>
+2. Pick a username, enter your email address, set a password, and click "Register"
+3. Hack the Box will email you a verification link. Open the email and click "Verify Your Email"
+
+That's all, you now have a Hack the Box account and can start on the labs.
+
+## Optional
+
+Some other useful things you can do to get involved and stay up to date.
+
+- Join our [Hack the Box team](https://app.hackthebox.com/public/teams/overview/145). Message s00ner in our Discord to be added.
+- Join the [Hack the Box Discord Server](https://discord.gg/hackthebox). Good for keeping up with Hack the Box and you can get help with labs if you get stuck.
+- Join the [Hack the Box Forum](https://forum.hackthebox.com/). Great place to discuss Hack the Box labs.

getting_started/machine_setup.md

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+# Set Up a Hacking Machine
+
+It is highly recommended to use a dedicated virtual machine as a hacking platform so that you don't clutter your primary computer with hacking tools or mess up its configuration. There are tons of options for this but our recommended set up is easy and straightforward. This guide assumes you're running Windows on your primary computer.
+
+## Install VirtualBox
+VirtualBox is a free virtualization platform that will let you run other operating systems as virtual machines(VMs).
+
+1. Go to the [VirtualBox Downloads Page](https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads).
+2. Download installer for Windows.
+3. Run the executable to install VirtualBox.
+4. Run VirtualBox to ensure it installed correctly.
+
+## Create a Kali Linux VM
+Kali Linux is a Linux distribution created for penetration testing and security research. It's great for Hack the Box since it has tons of standard hacking tools available in its repositories.
+
+1. Go to <https://www.kali.org/get-kali/#kali-virtual-machines>.
+2. Download the VirtualBox image, this will be an ova file.
+3. In VirtualBox, click the "Import Appliance" from the File menu.
+4. Select the Kali ova file you downloaded and import it.
+5. Click the "Start" button in VirtualBox for your new Kali VM.
+
+That's it, you now have an operational Kali VM. The default credentials for the Kali VM are "kali/kali". You'll probably want to change that password. To learn more about using Kali Linux, check out the [Kali Linux Docs](https://www.kali.org/docs/). You'll need to get comfortable using Linux to be proficient at Hack the Box Labs.
+
+## Keep it Updated
+Kali recommends checking for updates every few weeks. Kali does not automatically pull in updates so you have to do it yourself. [This page](https://www.kali.org/docs/general-use/updating-kali/) of the Kali docs go over how to install updates. The two commands you need to use are:
+```shell
+kali@kali:~$ sudo apt update
+kali@kali:~$ sudo apt full-upgrade -y
+```
+
+## Other options
+- [Parrot](https://parrotsec.org/) is another good Linux distribution for hacking.
+- [VMware Workstation Player](https://www.vmware.com/products/player.com.html) is a different desktop virtualization platform.
+- [Hack the Box Pwnbox](https://help.hackthebox.com/en/articles/5185608-introduction-to-pwnbox) is a cloud hosted Parrot Security VM that automatically connects to Hack the Box labs. You must be a Hack the Box VIP user to use this for more than 2 hours.

getting_started/start_hacking.md

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+# Start Hacking!
+
+You've got your Hack the Box account and your hacking VM so you're ready to go.
+
+## Connect to the VPN
+To work on Hack the Box Machines you'll need to connect to their VPN. Follow their [guide](https://help.hackthebox.com/en/articles/5185608-introduction-to-pwnbox).
+
+## Starting Point
+If you're new to hacking you should try to complete this content to get familiar with basic tools and techniques and the Hack the Box platform. [Starting Point Labs](https://app.hackthebox.com/starting-point).
+
+## Machines
+Machines, also referred to as Boxes, are stand-alone VMs with intentional security flaws designed to be hacked into. There are four difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Insane. Active machines are the newest ones and you'll get points for completing them. You can often find hints for them but writeups are not available. Retired machines are older machines that do not grant points on completion. Free tier users on HTB have access to 5 retired machines while VIP users can access all of them. These have writeups available so you can view the solutions. You can learn more about Hack the Box Machines [here](https://help.hackthebox.com/en/articles/5185338-how-to-play-machines) and view active machines [here](https://app.hackthebox.com/machines).
+
+## Challenges
+Challenges are small applications that require a variety of techniques. You can learn more about Hack the Box Challenges [here](https://help.hackthebox.com/en/articles/5185436-how-to-play-challenges) and view active challenges [here](https://app.hackthebox.com/challenges).

test.md

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-# This is a test
-
-This is a test page
-
- - list
- - ok
- - more list
- - one more
- - and another
-
-```
-This is a code block
-```
-
-That's all for now.
-
-More testing text.
-
-Adding text here to test out a pull request.