Advice on where to start | Defend the Web

senorass
6 years ago

0

FIrst, if this is the wrong place for this please let me know and I will amend that.

Second, I have been working in IT since 1997 in one capacity or another. I have done a little of everything, with Windows Server support and desktop support in general being my primary duties. Since then I have also fooled around with Linux as a hobby of sorts but again, mostly in the area of systems and not so much networking and security. That being said I have been trying to decide for several years where I want to take my career next and I have decided that penetration and “white hat hacking” is the area that I am the most interested in pursuing. I have been going through the levels on this site but I am finding that it is easy to find somewhere that will give you the answer, but much harder to find a site that will explain in detail the “how and why” of each challenge. My question is, where should I start if I want to learn and pursue a network security and penetration testing skillset? I am fairly knowledgeable of networking but the security side I am deficient in.

Thanks in advance! Hope this isn’t too stupid!

dimooz
6 years ago

0

There are several cyber-security curses available online, you could find some links in the forum to download complete ones. I would also suggest that you setup a laptop with a dedicated linux distro, as kali or pentoo for example, and learn how to use each interesting tool available in it. However, you could start by completing some hacking challenges without googling the answers ;) there are maaaany interesting challenges sites online… You could also try to join a team to play CTF challenges near your place. And remember that if you’re looking for solutions online, you’re just cheating on yourself. Try to use your brain first! Each level you complete by yourself will add some strong knowledge to your brain database :D
Otherwise you could try to go back to school, there are many security degrees available nowadays, I know there wasn’t any in 1997…

senorass
6 years ago

1

Yes I am completely self taught. I try to google the “process” without just looking at the answer. Some of it I just flat have zero experience with so my googling is more of a learning process than anything. I try to get a general idea of what process and knowledge is required to solve a challenge then I try to find sources to research and learn about it. I totally get what you mean though. I keep a vm of kalil on my macbook and have been trying to learn how to use some of the tools. It’s all a work in progress! I just know that when you want to learn something and you don’t know how to do it, you ask advice from those who know and you listen. Thanks for the feedback man. I am open to any suggestions that anyone has to offer.