Beginner Advice

Hey guys, I am new here and just starting to learn about Cyber security. I will be going to college in the fall to start a major in this subject. I was wondering what advice you have about what to focus on first. you can email me if you want at zackjoiner@students.hamptonpark.org

Here is my advice:

1.) Become a power user. Learn to use both Linux and Windows via the command line and try to master the top 50 Linux commands, top 50 Windows commands, and top 50 PowerShell commands. Cybray’s Linux CLI Basics, Windows CLI Basics, and PowerShell Basics are a good start.

2.) Read and write. Video learning is fine, but you must activate your whole brain to remember things. Reading and writing both help focus your mind.

3.) Learn the tools of the trade. These books will get you started:

How Cybersecurity Really Works

This book covers different types of attacks, common tactics used by online adversaries, and defensive strategies you can use to protect yourself. You’ll learn what security professionals do, what an attack looks like from a cybercriminal’s viewpoint, and how to implement sophisticated cybersecurity measures on your own devices.

Cybersecurity Blue Team Toolkit

This book teaches how to use many security tools such as ping, tracert, PuTTY, pathping, sysinternals, NMAP, OpenVAS, Nexpose Community, OSSEC, Hamachi, InSSIDer, Nexpose Community, Wireshark, Solarwinds Kiwi Syslog Server, Metasploit, Burp, Clonezilla and many more."

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Thank you for the advice! I’ll definitly look into these books!