Ask HN: What do I need to learn to be useful as a hacker to defend my country?

learning Metasploit would be a good start

You should connect with your country's leadership to put the pressure where it belongs here. You are a citizen showing interest in supporting your nation. So they need to be able to offer you training starting from the basic frameworks, usually the "why" and "what" and later down to the "how" and "when".

As part of that training, they should be showing you which skills they want, how they can be acquired, and so on.

This is also important because you need institutional legal support and an objective ethics framework to affiliate with. Otherwise one misstep and you can end up looking like a vigilante even though you had the best intentions. Or you could end up ready to take action yet without the infrastructure or other resources that would be needed to carry out your work in a wartime environment.

If they can't meet that minimum bar it's a non-starter IMO. You are left to your subjective estimations of what is needed and are without formal support. Contact your representatives and hold them to it.

Edit: Is op from UKR? I can't tell--if so the first priority is connection with community of experts no matter how small.

The time to start a campaign against Russia on behalf of Ukraine was weeks ago. It’s too late now, like calling up the national guard hours before a massive shock and awe blitzkrieg campaign. Zelensky should have been making these appeals a long time ago but was delusional.

from past

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Orbit_Ion_Cannon

Lots of great things being shared here. We never know if OP is actually Russian and aiming to do the opposite of claimed -- nevertheless let's share what we'd normally share anyways.

Adding on to what others have said I would say start with this. To be a useful "hacker" to *defend* your country start with ensuring you are not immediately exploitable yourself & then repeat for others close to you. A incomplete shortlist off the top of my head

1. Ensure all your devices are secured including great passwords, updates applied, minimal/no ports expose

2. Secure your financial instruments w/ great passwords and multifactor options. physical devices like yubikey is (afaik) top of the line, other styles are an improvement over nothing.

3. Create backups of important things so you're unlikely to be blackmailed by ransomware

(others, what am I missing?)