A friend and I are pretty competitive when it comes to computer science and design. Recently he proposed the idea that we should see who can pull off what by accessing the other person’s computer remotely, but we don’t have any idea of where to start with network cracking. Are there any widely read texts on this subject that offer insight on where to start all the way up through advanced techniques?
Edit: to be clear I am not interested in hacking web servers or taking down websites or anything of the sort, so things involving sql/javascript injection or the like are not what I am looking for
You’re going to want to look into Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking. That being said, this is a programming forum, and you’re going to be looking more for networking.
If you want to really get into programming for networks, where you can work on these types of things, check out Beej’s Guide to Network Programming: http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/
Other than that, some tools like Wire Shark, EtherApe, OWASP may help you out.