Sources and References Policy (Official Docs First)

Beginner Study time: 20-45 min Last reviewed: 2026-02-26

hack3rs.ca prioritizes official documentation, standards, and primary references where practical, then teaches how to interpret and apply that information in defensive workflows.

prerequisites

$Interest in white-hat network security learning.

1. Primary Source Preference

For tools, standards, and protocols, official project documentation and primary standards references are preferred where possible. The site aims to help learners build habits that scale: read docs, validate behavior, document findings, and update workflows when tools change.

Third-party articles may be useful for context, but the site avoids long quotations and encourages learners to verify current behavior directly in official docs and authorized labs.

This reduces drift and helps readers learn how to maintain their own knowledge as tools and ecosystems evolve.

2. How References Are Used

References are used to support learning and interpretation, not replace explanation. The site focuses on teaching why a tool exists, what defenders use it for, what evidence it provides, and how to use it responsibly in a workflow.

Source links are selected to help learners continue beyond the page: official docs, release notes, standards, and practical references that support ongoing maintenance and version-aware learning.

Readers are encouraged to keep their own notes and version-aware workflows rather than relying on static command snippets.

3. Reader Responsibility and Validation

Because tool behavior, platform defaults, and vendor implementations can change, readers should validate commands and assumptions in their environment before using them operationally.

Use this site as a workflow and concept guide, then confirm details with official documentation, change controls, and internal runbooks.

The most reliable defenders combine documentation reading with lab validation and disciplined note-taking.

sources-policy-checklist

$Prefer official docs and primary standards references.
$Use references to support explanation, not replace it.
$Avoid copy-paste learning without validation.
$Keep version-aware notes and workflows.
$Validate commands in lab/authorized environments before production use.

next-links

open /learning/tools Tool pages include official docs and release links open docs workflow module How to learn deeply from vendor and community documentation open /.well-known/security.txt Security disclosure contact and policy pointers open /learning Continue into the core curriculum modules open /learning/tools Jump into tool guides for hands-on defensive workflows