Cementing the Basics!
Cyber Security is all the craze across the world now. And rightly so!
What is the need?
With drastic progress into the digital world, we observe huge amounts of data flowing through the wire. Each one of our identities, personal information, is out there somewhere. Digital services and devices have become an integral part of our lives. With it, there is a dire requirement for safeguarding all information available about us. As it were, this requirement is gradually being recognized, and in an amazing shift, the value of cybersecurity is skyrocketing. There is a huge gap between supply and demand currently, with the demand ranging in the millions as of 2021. Cybersecurity is one of those avenues demanding constant upskilling. It requires one to keep up with the technologies at a much faster pace than in other fields. Mediocrity won’t do!
Towards that end, many different resources have come up to help the professionals along the way. One of the best such resources I know is TryHackMe. (Sign up here) The THM, as its affectionately known, contains a set of exercises called rooms around a selected topic such as Linux, Windows, OSInt, etc. The cool thing about this particular approach is that the users are free to select what topic they are interested to learn. These rooms typically contain interesting exercises, hands-on and theoretical. In fact, if you do not know how and where to start, THM has you covered there as well by providing what’s being called learning paths. These are a sequence of rooms that cover a particular topic by breaking it down to several related sub-topics and covering it one room at a time.
THM for Newbies?
Catching up and all is fine; however, what about the newcomers, who are grossly unaware of cybersecurity? Can they jump right into the thick of the action? Well, as it turns out, there is a way! In fact, for those completely new into this field, with no background, THM has come up with a new and interesting learning path: Pre-Security!
Oh, and what a path it is! Consisting of about 15 rooms spanning across topics such as networks, Linux and windows, these rooms contain some excellent quality material and really beginner-friendly too! I especially liked how they have interesting animations interacting with the user, which get down really to the point and make the user actually relive the lessons. This really drives the concept home!
The Pre-Security Path covers various topics, starting from basic background information about cybersecurity, network architectures, web architectures, and introductory concepts about operating systems such as Linux and windows. Each of these entries contains multiple rooms, covering topics in-depth with additional “tasks” to be completed by the user. Some of the tasks require a virtual machine, which is also provided in the tasks and deployed in-browser!
I encourage you to go and have a look for yourself, even if you are an experienced professional – it gives a refreshing outlook on the known concepts and is quite fun!
Pre-Security, an outline
Well, you know what!
Let me give an outline of the path. It will kind of serve as a journal entry for me…saves me time by combining multiple post contents…(Sorry, its gonna be a bit longer post than originally intended :P)
So beginning with the first topic, we encounter a single room in the Cyber Security Introduction, which is a kick-off into the learning path. It outlines the path we would be following and why. Its a really short and quick. Subsequently, we start with the Network Fundamentals. This module, consisting of 5 rooms, is a real gem, in my opinion. It beautifully covers the OSI model, Packets, Devices, Topologies. It demonstrates actual use cases with fun games and interactive animations. It’s perhaps one of the best introductions to networking I have come across. Perfect for beginners!
We come out into the digital world from the network, the worldwide web, in the “How the Web Works” module. It consists of 4 rooms covering web concepts such as DNS, HTTP, web architectures, etc. Again the content is top-notch for beginners. I particularly liked the concepts when the user can trace all the steps happening in the backend. It really brings the concept together in a cohesive manner.
The learning path tops this off with quick introductory modules for Linux and Windows. We are taken through the basic interface and interactive commands and utilities, which would prove invaluable for the journey ahead.
Wrapping up
Albeit, to be honest, this learning path does not cover all pre-requisites. It cannot be the sole introductory point for a career in cybersecurity. However, it does give a good start to the user and helps them plan the path; a peek into the world, so to speak.
Disclaimer: I did participate in the contest hosted by THM around this path. However, the views presented above are genuinely my own. You can sign up for THM using my referral link.